{
  "id": 12578589,
  "title": "‘Parkwood was never going to be the limit of my dreams’: Kaylin Jansen’s journey against the odds",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/07/parkwood-was-never-going-to-be-the-limit-of-my-dreams-kaylin-jansens",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-07T08:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "IOL",
    "slug": "iol",
    "url": "https://iol.co.za/capeargus/news/2026-10-07-parkwood-was-never-going-to-be-the-limit-of-my-dreams-kaylin-jansens-journey-against-the-odds/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Kaylin Charlene Jansen, a 31-year-old woman hailing from Parkwood, defied the odds to become a registered professional nurse and a specialized scrub nurse in the operating theatre at Groote Schuur Hospital. Despite growing up in an environment rife with gangsterism, drugs, unemployment, poverty, and drug abuse, Jansen chose a different path. She credits her circumstances as the driving force behind her success, stating, \"I could have allowed everything I saw around me to become an excuse for why I couldn’t succeed. Instead, I chose to use it as motivation.\"\n\nJansen grew up as one of six siblings in Parkwood, a community she remains proud of, despite the harsh realities she witnessed. Some of these struggles, such as her family's experience with addiction, pushed her to ask how she wanted to define herself. She realized she didn't want to become a statistic or succumb to teenage pregnancy, drugs, unemployment, or her challenging circumstances.\n\nAfter failing Grade 10, Jansen used this setback as a lesson in resilience. She worked in a factory for a year before applying for tertiary education, despite having no financial means to pursue it. Her determination paid off, and she completed both her nursing degree and postgraduate diploma in peri-operative nursing, all without personally paying for her studies.\n\nThe most significant challenge Jansen faced came in 2019 when her mother died just hours before her final year of nursing degree. Her mother had left her with the words \"Study, study, study,\" which she carried through her grief and helped shape her career choice. Jansen credits her father, family, partner, friends, and the Macedonian Baptist Church congregation for their unwavering support, while also crediting her Christian faith for carrying her through her darkest periods.\n\nJansen hopes her achievement will inspire others to see that success is possible, regardless of their circumstances. She encourages young people in Parkwood, who may believe their money, neighborhood, or family circumstances have closed doors for them, to not disqualify themselves. She advises them to look for opportunities, apply for funding and bursaries, ask questions, and not be afraid to try. To the \"next Kaylin\" in Parkwood wondering whether her dreams are possible, Jansen leaves a simple message: \"If my story can show one young person from Parkwood that it is possible to achieve something despite your circumstances, then I know my journey has a greater purpose. I want the next Kaylin to look at me and say, 'If she could do it, so can I.'\"",
  "summary": "After failing Grade 10 and losing her mother during her final year of study, Parkwood-born Kaylin Jansen qualified as a professional nurse and peri-operative nursing specialist at Groote Schuur Hospital.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}