UCT’s force of nature shines in Ireland

Ms Sarina Mapharalala from Ha-Kutama Tshikwarani has always believed that she would make her mark one day.

The University of Cape Town (UCT) final-year student recently participated in the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) in Ireland, Dublin. The participation followed her victory as the winner of the 2018 Vice-Chancellor’s Award, where she was hailed as the institution’s ‘force of nature.’

She was subsequently selected as the student delegate to the WUN, representing Africa, South Africa and UCT. “This year, for the first time in the WUN’s 19-year existence, participating universities were permitted to include a student representative in their delegation, to join discussions on the student programme.”

Mapharalala said that she always wanted “to rewrite history and reshuffle statistics and I believe this was a step toward that. I have opened the door for many to enter”.

She said it was an honour to participate at the WUN and she had had an amazing experience. “I made valuable contributions to the innovative solutions of some of the world’s significant challenges and have returned with insight as to how all of that can be applied here in South Africa,” she said.

This CEO and founder of Vhafumakadzi Takuwani was made chairperson of the student mental-health panel discussion upon arrival among all the global student delegates. She recalled that she had enjoyed moderating the session and was grateful for the opportunity.

To add to her experience, she was dressed in African prints and colours throughout the week. On the last day at the gala conference, she took to the streets of Dublin in her Tshivenda nwenda. “I was bright and bold in colour. I felt so beautiful within my roots. I stood out by just being proud of who I was. Everyone was curious and wanted to know what it was I was wearing and wanted to touch it. I was being called Queen Sarina. I was proudly embracing being a young Venda woman from Ha-Kutama Tshikwarani,” she said.

She said she stood tall for all BhaVenda and reclaimed ‘our presence on global platforms.’ Besides being a student, Mapharalala is an entrepreneur, keynote speaker and global brand ambassador and poet.

Her non-profit company aims to empower young women to rise in leadership and entrepreneurship. It hosts workshops and events that equip young women with skills that assist in their elevation. It also acts as a hub that provides existing yet unknown opportunities for them.

“I started it because there was urgency for women to have a platform to be able to respect their potential and do what we have come to do: that is to shake things up and transform the world,” she said.

Mapharalala’s inspiring story came to light when she posted her photos from Ireland on Facebook while clad in Tshivenda traditional attire.

“A young woman wa muvenda loosely translated to Venda Woman all the way from Ha-Kutama Tshikwarani in the Limpopo province proudly invaded a country in Europe called Ireland. She was in the city Dublin where she unapologetically geared up into her Venda traditional attire to the Worldwide Universities Network 2019 Gala Conference Dinner,” she wrote on Facebook at the time.

News - Date: 16 June 2019

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