My naam is Wildskut, Ricardo Wildskut… Hey?
How cool would it be to say your name like that. And if there is one thing you need to know about Educator Ricardo Wildskut, it is that he is super cool, and...he is a poet! The super cool part is the kind of cool that makes his high-school learners at Rosendal High in Delft, listen-up when he teaches them.
Ricardo holds a Bachelor of Education Degree from UNISA and teaches Geography for grade 10, 11 and 12, in a community which I have described here previously. And the reason the learners listen up is because Ricardo has been there, done that, got the T-shirt, lived the movie and wrote the book. And now he writes poetry.
This man's life-story is, in a word (or few), insane, incredibly inspiring, hilariously funny at times, desperately sad in parts and ultimately heroically triumphant. I chatted to him at his home in Ruyterwacht which he shares with his partner of more than 18 years, Daniella Pereira, his two nieces and his 63-year-old mom, who lives in a Wendy-house in the back. And of-course the beautiful and friendly Sparkles, their long-legged American Pitbull "daughter".
Okay, now you’re going to have to hold on tight, ‘cos I am going to try to sum up Ricky’s journey in a short space by paraphrasing and sketching the unbelievable highlights.
The first time he sees his father is when he does his own investigation, at the age of 9, and tracks the man down to an informal settlement near District Six. That was the first and last time he ever saw Henry Wildskut, and during that meeting, his dad used him as a foil to con “an old white lady" out of some money. Ricardo was born in Leonsdale, Elsies River, he has an older sister, Abigail, and another sister, Jermaine, who is about 3 years younger than him.
During the interview, every so often Ricky tells me to brace myself "‘cos it’s going to get weird". Here goes, in no particular order, and we’re time traveling now cos we are jumping to and fro with a different version of Ricardo at various ages.
Before the age of 16, he had: participated in a robbery without the robbers even knowing he was there with them; left school to be a taxi-gaatjie, lived with his mom and sisters and mom’s new boyfriend in a shack in “Die Bos” on the land where District Six used to be; experimented with alcohol, weed, and sniffed glue and petrol; sold cigarettes at school; lived and went to school in the Bo Kaap, Mitchells Plain, Clarke's Estate and Leonsdale; discovered his mettle when he had to fight a kid called Skyfie and earned the respect of the entire school thereafter, especially when Skyfie’s dad came to school and gave Skyfie “’n moerse klap” in class in-front of everyone; realized he had a soft spot for the underdog and always stood up for weaker children and fought off bullies; discovered his empathetic and nurturing side when he was forced to take care of his sister’s kids during his “gap-year” from school (he left school in grade 10 for a year).
Now we’re going to the highlights of Ricky after 16. Stay with me, ‘cos this is where the time traveling headline begins to make sense.
Ricky says: “Every day at school, I teach from a place of passion that allows me to see these learners as the version of myself back then, if I had a teacher like me, I might have made different choices or had different experiences. So, when I teach the learners in our community, it’s like I’m teaching my 16-year-old self, and I know the drill, the life, the challenges, the excuses, the temptations, the trauma, and the beauty and brilliance of who we really are, because I have lived it myself. And I think the children intuitively know and respect this.”
At 16, the teen hormones have firmly set in and his experimentation leads to other substances which still plague our communities today. However, it never became anything more serious than a phase. He did however get a huge scare when he got to spend an Easter Weekend in the Mitchells Plain police cells. After graduating from high school; he lands his first job in the plumbing trade for about a year.
Then things start to get lucky for him when, despite not having any experience, he lands a job in a warehouse where cocoa and other food products are stored. This good run lasted about 8 years before he “self-sabotaged” and started looking for something else.
And then... he gets really lucky! “I went to a house party about 20 years ago and met Daniella. We became friends and about two years later we started dating. She was studying to become a teacher and she was basically the inspiration I needed to guide me into the education sector. And the funny thing was, the way I got my first teaching job,” he laughs out loud at the memory.
“Although I successfully applied for a bursary to pay for my studies, I sold some goods which weren’t readily available during Covid, to make extra cash. One of my regular customers turned out to be a school principal, and, totally by chance, I mentioned it to him after I got my degree and he gave me my first job at a private teaching institution.”
I ask him if things are changing in our communities, if he sees a difference from his experience to now. “I think so, some of the kids are getting it, they are realizing that they have it within themselves to be what they can be. When I teach, I often use a sneaky little tactic to get them to visualize and see themselves in the future, to see their future-selves in the roles they want to be in, and I encourage them to think big.”
I wonder if it’s a coincidence that Zoë October, Delft resident and South African National Women’s Football star is a 17-year-old learner in one of Ricardo’s classes.
I am truly inspired by Ricardo’s journey, the full details of which, left me without a doubt that nothing is impossible and anyone’s life can change for the better in an instant.
“I believe that the key is to have a positive attitude, to be ready when opportunity knocks. It also helps to have a healthy outlet for the frustration and anger that comes with surviving our collective community trauma, and one thing that really helped me, was writing poetry.”
Yes, I know, you want to read it, don’t you?
It will be available here, soon...very soon.
