Graduation Brings Back Warm Memories

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A study titled: Evidence of Malnutrition Screening Tools for Children Under Five Years in sub-Saharan Africa: A Scoping Review earned Ms Tlharihani Phisac Maphosa a Master of Medical Sciences degree. One of her supervisors, Professor Tivani Mashamba-Thompson is the daughter of Maphosa’s kindergarten teacher. Her other supervisor was Dr Delarise Mulqueeny.

When Mashamba-Thompson asked Maphosa if she had already reserved a gown and she said ‘no,’ she was offered her former teacher’s graduation gown. ‘I saw it as a way of honouring my teacher. It was a fantastic feeling,’ she said.

She added, ‘It was as if the universe was conspiring in my favour. I was dressed in the same graduation gown that my pre-school teacher wore 29 years ago when she congratulated my pre-school group on graduating in Mudavula village, Limpopo. It was an encounter with a very happy past.

‘I immediately recognised the values that Mashamba instilled in her daughter. She was too sweet and not too strict. I recall that when I was in Grade three, we were taught by her when our class teacher was absent. However, the daughter is sweet but very strict,’ laughed Maphosa.

Words: Nombuso Dlamini

Photograph: Supplied