Pictured above L-R: Dean of Humanities, Professor Sakhela Buhlungu, Michelle Mzamo with UCT Council member, Debbie Budlender.

Michelle Mzamo obtained her Higher Certificate in Education, Adult Education in December 2014. However this is no ordinary graduation story because Michelle achieved this whilst employed as a cleaner at the University of Cape Town. In this article, she shares her inspirational journey to academic success:

HN: Tell us about your family background and upbringing?
MM: I live in Site C, Khayelitsha with my husband Mcebisi Gxalaba and my sister Nozizwe Mzamo. We are blessed with three beautiful children Simthembile (9 girl), Zukhanye (5 boy) and Avuya (4 boy). I currently work for Supercare at the University of Cape Town’s, Faculty of Heath Sciences. I am assisting within the department of Medicine. I commenced with the Adult Education Diploma in 2013 whilst I was a cleaner in the EDU (Education Development Unit) at the Medical School in the Anatomy Building.  

I was born in Johannesburg and was raised by my mother Lindiwe Mzamo who was a single parent. I later had to move to Cape Town to stay with my Aunt whilst I attending St Marks primary School. I was a normal child, so they say, however I was always very curious about everything. In 1998, I moved back to Johannesburg. Back then I worried little about education because I did not know how much power it has to stimulate ones brain in asking questions about everything around them. When I was in grade 12 my mother passed on. I suddenly had to become a mother to my siblings so we moved back to Cape Town to stay with my aunts. My mother had always encouraged me to take my studies seriously. She told me how education would make me a better person and how it is the best tool to get out of poverty. I still remember her words as if she had spoken them yesterday: “Ndifuna ufunde mtanam ukuze uphumelele apha kobubom banamhlanje”. Loosely translated, this meant that she wanted me to become educated in order for me to have a better future in this life. Living in Cape Town, there was nobody who encouraged me about furthering my education but my mother’s words always stayed with me.  

HN: What made you want to become an adult educator?
MM: When I was growing up I always loved to play ‘school’, now I just love to teach other people about whatever is around me. When I look at our education system I perceive there to be a lack of passion within the teacher’s. When I look at the students, they do not seem to be inspired to become teachers either. I think that we need to ask ourselves why is this happening?  I have always had a strong desire to help others through teaching. ‘Each one teach one’ as they say.

HN: What did you enjoy most about the Education programme at UCT?
MM: I enjoyed learning about popular education and understanding the way this has challenged my life on a different level. I particularly enjoyed the readings on Paulo Freire, a popular education theorist from Brazil, as well as learning about the different methods used for educating others. The experience has taught me that teaching is not just about imparting information to others who then just need to take what you give to them. But it is also about asking critical questions such as: who, why and what and having discussions around the issues.

HN: What are your future plans?
MM: I would like to apply my knowledge within my community by helping to bring about change in our youth and their behaviour. Drug abuse is one of the major things in our communities.  I still have an urge to study further because for me, it is all about the passion for teaching others. I would like to start an organisation to help people know about their rights in the workplace because people are not always aware of the abuse happening to them within the workplace, especially the ones at the bottom of the pyramid 
    
HN: What would you say to encourage other individuals who are thinking about studying further?
MM: I always wanted to do something better with my life but, I always had a problem accessing funding as well as the right information. But when I started working at the University of Cape Town (for Supercare), I became exposed to one of the many privileges available to employees of the University. The Supercare Workers Forum is very much supported by their management and the University. We had a meeting and one of the things that came out of the meeting was education for the workers and their families. And I was one of the people who wanted to study even though I didn’t know which career path I had wanted to take. After the meeting Debbie Budlender contacted me to go and see Associate Professor Linda Cooper in connection with the Adult Education Diploma. I was not so keen to but, I went and she inspired me to do the Diploma and to see where it would take me. I am so glad I did because now I am an inspiration to other workers contracted at the University of Cape Town. I would also like to thank my lecturer, June Saldanha (UCT School of Education) for her support and encouragement.

To find out more on academic courses and programmes available from the UCT School of Education, please visit their website.