Durban - Her hands were not meant for washing dishes or other domestic duties; they were destined to save lives.
Pamela Mahlangu’s career as a medical doctor continues to flourish, and, at age 29, she has hopes of reaching greater heights in her “dream come true” profession.
The Johannesburg-based Dr Mahlangu, who works as a medical officer at Tembisa Hospital, completed a Diploma in HIV Medicine at the College of Medicine South Africa, earlier this year.
In spite of her successes in the field of medicine, Mahlangu, who hails from Phoenix, Durban, still looks back fondly on the 10 years she worked part-time as a domestic worker to fund her studies and supplement her family’s meagre earnings.
Her mother Thembi Sithole tried her best to love and provide for Mahlangu and her two older siblings, but being without formal employment presented some challenges for her closely-knit family.
During Mahlangu’s school days her siblings were in varsity and also worked to keep the home fires burning.
Being the type of person who prefers to get things done for herself, Mahlangu was determined to make her own income.
“There was an opportunity given to me by an older lady from my church around Christmas in 2008. She wanted someone to wash dishes during a Christmas eve dinner at her boss’ home on a Mount Edgecombe estate.”
After that experience, Mahlangu continued doing domestic duties at the estate, mainly for Val Shirley’s family, until she graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s medical school in 2017.
“I never saw it as something demeaning or lowering my dignity, I saw it as a holiday job that helped me buy uniforms, stationery for school and textbooks for varsity.
“It wasn’t earning me much, about R100 a day, which helped me with some of my basic expenses and toiletries.”
Mahlangu was satisfied with doing what was necessary to achieve her objectives.
“The way I portrayed the whole experience of doing domestic work in my storytelling, my friends at varsity found it very interesting and didn’t look down on me.
“My stories on what a Christmas dinner looked like … for those of us who didn’t grow up with carol singing, elaborate and lavish dinners and gifts under the tree, my friends were fascinated.”
Mahlangu said her peers didn’t see her as a domestic worker but as someone who had a taste of what life is like on the other side, similar to the movies.
Having completed matric at Greenbury Secondary in 2011, she had the backing of her Campbell’s Town community as she pursued her dream profession.
They knew her to be an “A” student and understood her situation at home and the part-time work she did.
Mahlangu said the violence and riots of July 2021 was “disheartening”.
“I spent my entire life in Phoenix and went to what was previously known as ‘Indian schools’ and always considered myself a part of the community… but the looting, violence and acts of racism was very disappointing.”
After completing her medical degree, Mahlangu opted to do her internship at the Helen Joseph Hospital in Johannesburg. That decision was motivated by her then boyfriend and now husband, Nqobile, being based there.
The couple have two young children aged 22 and 9 months and live in Randburg, about 45 km away from Tembisa.
She said it was very difficult getting to work this week, amid all the protest action in the area.
Mahlangu said she was naturally a calm person, and with time and experience she has learnt how to approach each patient and think on her feet.
“It also helps that I like to make decisions.”
She said her recent HIV qualification was hugely beneficial as many patients she attended to were HIV positive.
“It will help me in the future if I decide to specialise in internal medicine because infectious diseases is a big topic now and a large percentage of our population are HIV positive.”
Mahlangu was grateful for the support she received from her family which has enabled her to excel at her job.
She appreciated the influence of her mother, who she regards as being a woman of “prayer, strength and resilience”.
While Mahlangu is satisfied her children won’t lack materially, she still wants to instil in them a determination to “work for their life’s needs and to be humble and respect people from all walks of life”.
SUNDAY TRIBUNE