One of 6 SA female scientists selected by the SA Academy of science, Shireen joined more than 500 undergraduates and PhD students from around the world to engage with 30 Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany.

As a result of her research into the disease of addiction within the Cape Flats communities in and around her home suburb and neighbouring areas, Shireen was awarded a Fullbright Scholarship and will be heading off soon to the University of Missouri for nine months.

“My original research was situated squarely within the context of substance abuse. My neighbourhood, like many others in the greater Cape Town, experiences high levels of substance abuse, in particular methamphetamine – and this inspired me to look at the science behind it.

“In my honours year I investigated the effects of methamphetamine on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability, since the mechanism may be linked to the integrity of the BBB, which regulates the movement of ions, pathogens, and an array of harmful substances across brain capillaries, protecting the cognitive integrity of the central nervous system.

“UWC has been my stepping stone in many respects. I’m looking forward to learning more about how my research may one day be able to make a meaningful contribution to treating addiction.”

Shireen has already been published in leading scientific journals and was the first recipient of the Wyndham Prize from the Physiology Society of Southern Africa in 2014

Source: News 24, UWC, Goodthingsguy.com

A gender revolution has begun in what were exclusively male industries, led by a still-tiny vanguard of women artisans produced by South Africa’s TVET College system.

It’s pretty much a given that any schoolgirl (or schoolboy) asked to describe a  ‘boilermaker’ or ‘shipbuilder’ will not imagine anyone remotely like Lee-Anne Andrews or Candra Pedro, but this is destined to change if they have anything to do with it. And it’s not just because gender prejudice and stereotypes have no place in our democracy.

With the country experiencing an official unemployment rate of 27,6% and a youth unemployment rate of 63,4%, our economy needs double the number of artisans it currently produces annually if it is to grow to a level that provides decent work for everyone.

In Lee-Anne’s case, she enrolled at Northlink College in 2008 for the newly launched NC(V) Engineering Fabrication certificate course.

After passing many of the 21 subjects with distinction, she joined Damen Shipping as an Apprentice Boilermaker in 2011 and passed her trade test in Boilermaking in May 2013, becoming the first female boilermaker in South Africa.

Only 27 years old, Lee-Anne is a lecturer at False Bay TVET College.

With a father and brother being artisans, Bonteheuwel-born Candra began making unusual but natural choices in high school, including taking Woodwork as a subject. After matriculating at Spes Bona High in 2010, she enrolled for the N5 level National Certificate in Multi–Disciplinary Drawing Office Practice.

Soon thereafter, she saw an Armscor advert for a shipbuilding apprenticeship. She was placed in the Shipbuilding Apprenticeship Programme based at Simonstown Dockyard. After completing her Structural Steel and Plating N2 Certificate at Northlink College and six years of work to meet the work experience requirement, she took the trade test at False Bay TVET College in May 2019.

Lee-Anne says, “As the first qualified female boilermaker I felt honoured to test Candra during her Shipbuilding trade test. I admired her confident ability to perform under tremendous pressure. I’m really proud of her for setting a benchmark and being so inspiring to other young women.”

False Bay TVET College Trade Test Centre coordinator, Ndileka Ndzolo, is quick to disabuse anyone from thinking that the path female artisans choose is easy.

“The artisan environment is not easy at all. Having been a male-dominated environment historically, learning and succeeding in it requires a lot of courage, focus, determination and resilience.”

Despite this, Ms Ndzolo says there has been a substantial increase in females successfully completing trade tests, “especially in the past two years or so”, which she ascribes to the DHET’s strategy from around 2014 of publicising artisanship through national roadshows.

Candra says her male supervisors and head artisans were protective of her as the only female and the youngest apprentice in her class. Candra’s achievement no doubt had the added value of helping her class and workmates to see their trades less in terms of gender and more in terms of competence and skill.

Having blazed the trail, Lee-Anne and Candra feel more women will become artisans, as role models now exist who proved that it can be done. Says Candra, “if you can stand heights and tight spaces and getting dirty, all you need to succeed is determination, perseverance and self-belief.”

The 2018 winners for the Toughest Firefighters Alive are:
Woman: Baigum Abrahams, a 23-year-old mom from the Cape Flats
Men: Emile Conrad from the Eden District Municipality

The competition is designed to bring international standards to South Africa, improve relations between communities and emergency services and equip firefighters to deliver service excellence.

Firefighters from around the country signed up for the event, which is recognised as the most difficult firefighter competition in the world. The challenge includes an individual category as well as a relay category.

Baigum Abrahams, a 23-year-old mom from the Cape Flats has been named the toughest female firefighter in South Africa.
The mom of one had only been in the job for 13 days after graduating and trained a total of seven days, yet she reigned supreme in one of the toughest competitions for firefighters.
A proud JP Smith, Mayco member for Safety and Security, says: “Baigum scorched the competition just weeks after she graduated in July and is doing the Cape Town Fire and Rescue Service proud.”

The firefighters had to complete a number of challenges in full gear, including a hose drag, obstacle course, tower ascent and an 800 metre sprint.

The rookie firefighter stationed at Mitchells Plain Fire Station says: “The best thing was seeing how proud my son and fellow firefighters were, winning the gold was great. We couldn’t let them [other firefighters]beat us on our own turf.”

“The winner of the male competition, Emile Conrad from the Eden District Municipality, is no stranger to the podium – he has been crowned TFA SA champion three years in a row now! Congratulations!

The Toughest Firefighter Alive – South Africa has the following objectives:
* To promote a spirit of excellence in firefighters and produce firefighters who are able to compete on the international stage
* To equip firefighters with skills that enable them to perform at the peak of their abilities
* To continue to push the boundaries in delivering a better, high-quality service
* To boost firefighters’ morale whilst promote the profession through media coverage
* To promote relationship building with previously disadvantaged communities.

Firefighters are measured in terms of their fitness, endurance and skill sets and have to complete a number of challenges in full firefighting gear, including a hose drag, obstacle course, tower ascent, and an 800m  run.

“Firefighting can be a very physically demanding job and this competition asks some tough questions of the participants. It’s amazing to watch and just further cements the respect I have for those in the profession. South African firefighters are up there with the best and have proven themselves on the international stage.

Last year, a male relay team came fifth overall in the European Open in Germany and the overall female winner was a firefighter from Durban, Simangele Mbanjwa. It is anhonour to have some of these competitors showing off their skills in Cape Town this year.” – City of Cape Town’s safety and security chief, JP Smith 

Content and pics from the following sources:

IOL
Knysna Plett Herald
The Daily Voice
Cape Talk (click here to listen to the podcast)

“It was amazing. I felt like I was in control, do you understand?” she says, spinning round in excitement. Taking control of an aircraft was something the teenager from Soweto had dreamed of since she was little.

She stands on the runway at Grand Central Airport and whoops with pure joy; the words of delight streaming out of her.

“Driving Zulu Sierra Papa Whiskey Whiskey (her aircraft’s call-sign) was so amazing. It was so amazing!”

The woman behind this euphoria is Refilwe Ledwaba, South Africa’s first black woman to have flown for the South African Police Service.

Refilwe Ledwaba has set up a camp and programmes for young people interested in aviation and science as a career choice

Besides being the country’s first black female helicopter pilot, Refilwe is also the founder of the Girl Fly Programme in Africa Foundation (GFPA) a non-profit organisation empowering young women to take up science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects.

Every year she organises a flying camp for girls where they learn about robotics, coding and aviation. And then each of them gets a free flying lesson at some point during the year.

“I want the girls to be successful,” she says, dressed in her pilot’s uniform, watching the teenagers take it in turns to fly. “Not necessarily to choose to become pilots but to become confident young women who can contribute to society, our economy and give back to our communities.”

Her passion for flying is contagious, and it’s that which is driving her to work on her dream of developing South Africa’s next generation of female aviation experts and Africa’s future leaders in science.

This article was adapted from the Original BBC Innovators article written by By Dhruti Shah and Tamasin Ford, Magaliesburg, South Africa

Full story: https://bbc.in/2NrrOPj
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