Success Story – Khunedi Mashishi

A Path Out Of Poverty – Khunedi Mashishi

Perhaps the most compelling example of the transformational impact of INMED’s Health in Action programme, and the epitome of what INMED South Africa strives to accomplish with this programme, is from one of the student participants. Khunedi Mashishi was a fifth-grader at Paradise Bend Primary School in Diepsloot, Gauteng, when our team at INMED South Africa first met her. An avid runner, Khunedi has big dreams of competing in the Olympics one day.

She has won 32 medals since she started competitive running in 2013. In fact, Khunedi runs so fast that her schoolmates have nicknamed her Caster after 2016 Olympic Gold Medal runner Caster Semenya. In 2017, she won a regional gold medal and was invited to compete nationally.

Khunedi, the child of a single-parent impoverished household, could not afford the travel and lodging expenses to participate. Thanks to INMED South Africa, which covered the costs and special apparel, Khunedi participated and won gold at the national event. Since then, INMED South Africa has helped Khunedi secure a scholarship to a boarding school in Johannesburg known for its athletic training programme. Look for Khunedi in the 2020 Olympics. INMED South Africa will be cheering her on!