Ufrieda Ho : It’s a Saturday afternoon and you’re studying. Is this your usual schedule?
Tshianeo Tshivhase : Yes, we do a lot of work during the week. I have to study on Saturdays and even on Fridays and Sundays. I just don’t feel right if a day goes by and I haven’t studied.
UF: But what about parties and relaxing?
TT: I’m not really interested in that, maybe because of my background. But I do like music and I love R&B and gospel music.
UF: Tell me a little about your background.
TT: I come from Venda. It’s very, very
rural. I matriculated at the Mbilwi Secondary School, which was one of the
best in the area, but compared with schools here in Jo’burg it was not well resourced. My dad is a principal and my mom is a teacher. We are four children and I am
the third-born. When I was at school I
knew I had to work hard for a bursary. My parents would not have been able to afford having three children at tertiary level.
UF: How did you get a bursary?
TT: I had to fight. When I was in grade 12, I didn’t sleep at all. But that year I got four As and two Bs and I got a bursary from Carnegie. They cover everything from tuition to my residence fees. They even give me some pocket money.
UF: How did you come to be interested in engineering?
TT: It wasn’t my first choice. I wanted to do actuarial science, but I’m better in science than in maths. I heard that mechanical engineering was difficult, but I like a challenge, so a few weeks before registration I decided to go for mechanical engineering.
UF: How many girls are there in your class?
TT: We are about 10 girls and there are maybe 110 guys. I like to work with guys, and I knew that there would be a lot of guys before I started. It worries me that there are so few girls in engineering.
UF: What do you think can be done to change this gender imbalance?
TT: Women must stop looking down on themselves. Older people must stop telling girls there are things that they can’t do.
There was a guy in my class who had done technical drawing for six years and I had never done it before. He said to me, ‘Girls are afraid of drawing.” I didn’t fight with him, but in the end we both got the exact same marks for that project.
UF: What is life like for you here in the city?
TT : I love Jo’burg. I like to go shopping and the weather is so nice. In Limpopo it is HOT! I also get to see all the lovely cars that give me ideas for my own designs. One day I want to design cars.
UF: What about your immediate future?
TT: I want to improve my marks. And I want to tell girls that they can do this, because women before me have done this and now I’m doing it.