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VC inspires at Women in STEM event
27 August 2019 | Story Sarah Middleton. Photos Je’nine May. Read time 6 min.
“Your background, your history, your poverty doesn’t define you. Focus on what you can do, not what you are right now.”
This was the inspirational message from University of Cape Town (UCT) Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, speaking to an audience comprising hundreds of female learners and educators.
The occasion was a Women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) event, held at Protea Heights Academy in Brackenfell, Cape Town, on 24 August. It included an expo with demonstrations of virtual reality software, robotics and drone technology as well as science and chemistry displays.
Other guest speakers were Carolina Ödman-Govender, professor of astrophysics at the University of the Western Cape, and Leandra Taylor, director at Tutor House and Split Second Science.
Phakeng used the platform to share her personal story of hard work and determination.
She was born into poverty as one of three children. Her mother was a domestic worker, and neither of her parents had a matric qualification.
“When you look at where I am now, you’d never guess where I come from,” she said. “Sometimes when you think about who makes a future scientist, you don’t think about yourself. There was a time that I was like you and I didn’t think I would be an academic.”
“There was a time that I was like you and I didn’t think I would be an academic.”
It was a life of poverty, she explained.
“The poverty that I’m talking about … is where you borrow mealie meal from next door just so you can eat pap with water and sugar.”
Her family also moved frequently and she attended eight different schools in her 12 years of basic education.
“What helped me get to where I am is that my parents had goals for us. My parents never told us that mathematics was hard. I had no clue that mathematics was hard and so I just pursued it.”
Academic career
After matriculating, Phakeng worked as a teacher and project manager for a non-profit organisation before deciding on an academic career. With that goal in mind, she joined a research team at the University of the Witwatersrand while completing her doctorate.
When her friends found out that she was being asked to make coffee for the research team, they disapproved.
“They would say, ‘You are the only black person in the team; you’re a slave for white people’. I said to them, ‘I’m not. I want a career. I’m in that team to learn … That research group is giving me a way in.’
“So here’s a tip for you: If you want to get ahead, make sure you surround yourself with people who are working hard, who are pursuing excellence. It doesn’t matter what race they are. It doesn’t matter what it looks like to other people who are far from you.”
“Make sure you surround yourself with people who are working hard, who are pursuing excellence. It doesnʼt matter what race they are.”
She was awarded a doctorate in mathematics four years later.
“I wasn’t just getting a doctorate, I was getting a career, because in the four years I worked in this team … I got to publish in international journals, I got to go to conferences and present my work.
“I didn’t listen to the talk of people who told me that I am being used as a black person. I decided that I want in. I want a career. I want to learn, and I’m going to learn … Why? Because I had an agenda.”
Hard work and self-belief
Phakeng urged the learners to decide for themselves on their goals and ambitions.
“What is your agenda? What is it you want to achieve? If you don’t have an agenda, somebody is going to give you their agenda.
“I think that what got me to where I am is being clear about my agenda, working really hard, and believing in myself that I can do it,” she said.
“What got me to where I am is being clear about my agenda, working really hard, and believing in myself that I can do it.”
“Hard work definitely got me where I am, and really believing that I can do it. If you don’t believe you can do it, you lose your intellectual confidence. And it is very important never to lose it.”
She included some advice to the learners about pursuing mathematics: “Make sure that you don’t miss the big ideas in mathematics. Mathematics is connected, so if you’re learning fractions, don’t ever think they will end. If you don’t get fractions, algebra is going to be a nightmare. If you don’t get algebra, calculus is never going to happen.
“Don’t underestimate what you learnt in the lower grades. Spend at least an hour every day just going through your maths. Don’t let a day go without doing it.”
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