Women’s Month: Merging love, passion and wonder

A Mandela Rhodes Scholar, Merlyn Nomusa Nkomo, who is also currently a PhD student at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, is passionate about conservation science – not only the scientific pursuit thereof, but also the equality, transformation and inclusivity in science and more so in natural resource management.

This Women’s Month, UCT News caught up with Nkomo, who shared more about her field of study and what it’s like being an African woman in science.

Tivania Moodley (TM): Why did you get into the field of conservation science?

Merlyn Nkomo (MN): I was privileged to find a resolve early in my career that there was nothing I loved more than birds and studying them, and I was determined to pursue this passion. I have been fortunate since then that life has led me to many people and organisations that have given me opportunities, mentored me and made it possible to stay and soar in ornithology and conservation.

(TM): Tell us about the impact and importance of being a Mandela Rhodes Scholar?

(MN): The Mandela Rhodes Scholarship programme is more than just a fund for postgraduate study. The intangible impact Mandela Rhodes Foundation has is bringing together impressive young Africans that have realised that, more than just being engineers, doctors, lawyers, scientists etc, they are innovators and leaders. The scholarship residence programme has many professional and personal development programmes with phenomenal African leaders visiting and interacting with scholars.

(TM): Why do you think it’s important for more girls to be involved in the sciences?

(MN): All around the world, communities such as women, queer people, people with disabilities and people of colour have been damaged, subjugated, excluded and not well represented in science and as a result we find ourselves as the most at risk to disease, death and climate change impacts.

“All around the world, communities such as women, queer people, people with disabilities and people of colour have been damaged, subjugated, excluded and not well represented in science.”

I love this quote by Alondra Nelson: “If we want to understand anything about science and technology, we need to begin with the people who have been most damaged and subjugated by it.” I’ll add “excluded, under- and misrepresented by it”. To create an equitable and better world for all, we need all these voices, the vast majority of which will be women, to rise in all the ranks of scientific research and leadership and be at the helm of discovery and innovation that draws from a more realistic picture of the state of the world and its people.

(TM): What women empowerment initiatives are you currently engaged in?

(MN): One of the initiatives I am most proud of is a youth conservation society I founded called Matabeleland Youth Conservation Society. It is a space for young people to experience nature, get safe access to wild and recreational spaces while being mentored for careers in science and conservation. Within our community, young women are encouraged and supported to lead and self-express in a field that can often be masculine and exclusive. We have some women training to be professional hunter guides, rangers, agronomists and other careers traditionally viewed as being for men.

(TM): As is the case of most women, you’re far more than meets the eye. You’re creative and logical. Tell us about your creative work as a writer/poet/photographer?

(MN): For the love of “education” and the prestige science and academic success offered, my parents discouraged my art. I had to separate these two and inhabit only just the academic.

I have in the past few years come to embrace science as art and I find that I am the most creative when I am drawing connections between science and art. I write to share my thoughts on issues that often lie at the interface of society, history, culture personal experience and science. In my photography, I see it more as stories than artwork. As a black woman in conservation, my photos are an attempt to tell stories to my people who may never get the proximity or experience my work affords me with nature. My poetry on the other hand is a play with words, a way of personal expression.

(TM): Tell us about your family life.

(MN): I am the first of four children. My siblings and I are very close but also very different. Our parents are hardworking self-employed traders who did everything they could to ensure we had the opportunities they did not.

(TM): What legacy do you hope to leave in this world?

(MN): I want to leave a legacy of kindness, generosity and tolerance, like my name Nomusa says. I strive to live up to being a Nomusa, being kind, merciful, empathetic and accepting of others and everything that lives. Nomusa is a Nguni name that translates simply in two parts: No – Mother of; and Musa – kindness, generosity, mercy. No-Musa, she who exudes or brings forth these qualities. I want my legacy to be living up to my name.

“I want to leave a legacy of kindness, generosity and tolerance.”

(TM): If you could sum yourself up in one word, what would it be, and why?

(MN): Expansive – I think this word sums me up very well. I’ve always been ambitious and imaginative for a life beyond what my immediate environment offered. I’ve always sought complexity and difference to learn and grow. I do this to find out about the parts of me my upbringing, society and immediate environment either neglected, erased, or were incapable of offering. I am in constant evolution.

(TM): If you could give the 18-year-old version of Merlyn just one bit of advice, what would it be?

(MN): I think there is much my 30-year-old self could learn from that girl. I would enquire about her audacity, courage and her dreams. In return, I would tell her that her dreams are all possible and her work pays off sooner than she expects. I would tell her she is beautiful, and that mental health struggles are real, her teenage angst deserves help and there is no shame in seeking it. I would advise her to not second guess herself, embrace herself and be confident in her imperfections because all that is fleeting and pales in comparison to what she owes herself to achieve.