Music was the first sign of Faith Mamba’s bright future. She didn’t know much about melodies – except that they provided her with the warmth she yearned for. After Mamba’s mother passed on, her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. Foreseeing the impending outcome, the matriarch placed the young girl in an orphanage. When her grandmother died, Mamba was left to face life on her own. “It felt like my whole world had gone quiet,” she says. Social workers and caregivers reached out by offering Mamba a host of recreational activities. In sonorous sounds, she discovered profound comfort.
It was while attending a student concert at the Durban Music School that Mamba noticed the saxophone. Her newfound interest drove her to enrol at the institution. There, the shiny gold instrument fast became her favourite and enabled Mamba to channel her emotions. “I wasn’t able to express what I was feeling all the time,” she says. “Music really helped process everything.” During her adolescent years, she focused her energy on rehearsing elegant compositions.
Mamba’s dedication has turned her life into a symphony. Today, the university student has reached Grade 6 in Classical Music and remains loyal to the family that supported her. “Everyone eventually finds somewhere they belong,” she says. “For me, it was the Durban Music School.” Using her saxophone, Mamba is creating her own repository of resilience against adversity. As long as she has an instrument in hand, she’s home.
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