Springboks captain Siya Kolisi opened up about his upbringing in a heartfelt Instagram post shared by RugbyPass.
Reflecting on his childhood, Siya recounted the year and place of his birth, Port Elizabeth, in 1991.
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He bravely shared that his mother was just 15 years old and his father around 20 when he was born, and he spoke of the challenges they faced as a young family, including his father’s departure.
‘I was born in PE in 1991, I think my mom was 15 then and my dad was about 20, we weren’t a very privileged family in my community. We struggled a lot and my dad was obviously young and he left while I was still young,’ he said.
Siya continued speaking about their struggles to afford proper food, highlighting the hardships they endured.
‘I loved going to school because we got bread at school, we used to get at Lunchtime a slice of bread with peanut butter and jam on it with powdered milk, that was my only meal in a day.’
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Picture: Siya Kolisi / Facebook