Ladies Breakfast – Bonita from 7de Laan
Your past does not determine your future. Nobody could have guessed that an awkward little girl from one of the smallest Cape cities, could have blossomed into an icon of beauty recognized across the country.
Immensely popular local soapie 7de Laan’s Bonita (Hildegardt Whites Silkiewicz) gave a soulful testimony at a ladies breakfast at New Life Church on Saturday, 8 August. She felt it important to give an insight into her past as an inspiration on Women’s Day where an array of young and old wore outfits complimented by the theme of Africa.
I am not afraid to tell people where I come from,” she said, “and I am not ashamed of my past.
Her story began in 1986 when she was born in the little town of Nieuwoudtville in the Northern Cape, where she jokingly admits might not even have had 2000 people as residents. She remembers sharing a room with her four older brothers, and although she ate a lot of bread, she cannot recall ever wanting for anything. “My mother always said, “If you want something ask God and He will provide.”
It seems similarly her mother’s prayers were answered when her family moved to the West Coast in the year 2000. “I had my own room and was so excited that I would run to it and call to my mother from across the house, “Mamma, ek het my eie kamer! (Translated – I have my own room!).”
While the family tried their upmost to stay united and enjoy the new fortune of bigger house and better work for her father, he was a man that struggled with bouts of alcoholism which took its toll on her mother and each of the children. Through an emotional roller-coaster, her mother stayed an unfaltering force of love and guidance and she also found a place in the local church community where she sang and performed in the youth ministries.
In her final year of high school she heard about an audition for the musical, West Side Story and got the role of Anita, her first experience as an actress on stage. This was the moment she decided to pursue acting as a career.
While pursuing a career in drama at TUT in Pretoria, previously known as Pretoria Technikon, it was at this institution that she met her husband, Kuba Silkiewicz, a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes and totally like nobody she could have imagined would like her. “I was very awkward growing up. I had a big gap between my teeth and never grew in confident to flirt with boys,” but it was destined to be as before they even met each other, their relationship started with a prayer. They had both said the same prayer, to find their soulmate, about a week before they met.
They happened to bump into each other when she went to a Valentine’s Ball on campus, solely looking for a warm plate of food as she had nothing in her fridge, and he happened to be the sound engineer for the evening. Somehow he lost his footing while walking past and literally bumped into Hildegardt at the dinner table. What started as an apology, turned into a conversation and now a life-long commitment.
While things were looking rosy, her roller-coaster continued after school when she took almost two years to find work in the acting industry and even endured a life-threatening accident when equipment fell from the stage and hit her in the head. Far from the glamour of the small screen, she sat for weeks waiting to recuperate. She lost all the odd work she did to keep up to date with her bills but continued in faith to pursue her commitment in the church, when at one point her pastor said, “Hildegardt, what you are doing right here and now is preparing you for what is coming next.”
And after a few screen shots and phone calls, she finally got the job as Vince’s girlfriend and now wife on 7de Laan. “Watching 7de Laan years before I wondered what position I could fill when given the opportunity and God knew my deepest desires and stayed true to His word and promises. I now have a full time career in television and I am so incredibly grateful and blessed.”
She concluded the talk with a reminder that God will always keep His word but in His time and sang two heartfelt songs, one that portrayed the women at the well and Jesus’s love for her and another worship song that she was delighted to share.
While Bonita might be capturing hearts on TV, Hildegardt has definitely captured hearts in person.
Article By: Stacey Venter