True To Herself

With her distinctive facial birthmark, Kgothatso Dithebe is shaking up the image-obsessed modelling world.

- Qhama Dayile

SHE was called “two-tone” and “zebra” and bullied mercilessly as a child. For years the mark that spread across the left side of her face defined her life and turned her into a defensive and angry girl.

To Kgothatso Dithebe, her birthmark was a curse and she tried everything she could to hide her face from the world.

But those days are over. The 22-yearold is now a sought-after model, her face a source of pride and the stand-out feature that sets her apart from the rest of the pack.

Beautiful, slim and elegant, she credits Canadian model Winnie Harlow – who has the skin condition vitiligo – for being her main source of inspiration, helping her to embrace her face and teaching her how to love herself for who she is.

Now a law student at Unisa as well as a successful model, Kgothi is living a full, happy life – but memories of her miserable childhood in Pretoria still linger.

“When I look back, my face almost destroyed my life,” she tells us. “People made fun of me and I was bullied so much and called so many hurtful names.”

She also had to endure a different kind of attention whenever she went to visit her grandmother’s village of Magogoe in Mafikeng.

“People said I had a magic face,” she recalls. “They called it ‘the lucky scar’ and thought if they touched it, they would win the lottery. But it’s just a birthmark.”

Like many kids living with something that makes them “different”, school was close to torture for young Kgothi.

“I built an imaginary wall to protect myself. Even if someone just tried to greet me, I would think they were going to attack me and I would become aggressive to defend myself.