Musawenkosi Sithole
Musa is a Speech and Language Therapist who grew up in Vlakfontein, near Lenasia. He's currently the Chief Speech Therapist at Nelson Mandela Academic Hospital and pursuing his postgraduate diploma in Public Health at the University of Pretoria.
How old were you when you decided to pursue your current career path and what inspired you?
I believe I was in my first year of university when I decided to do Speech Therapy (19year old), I was inspired by the need to help people and I heard that you don’t struggle for work in health.
Did you ever get help with career guidance? Any mentor(s) and what role did they play?
I had a lot of support structures around me at UCT and they played an important role given that I was in a new province where I did not know anybody. From the first day I got there I was welcomed by the SRC and student faculty council from the bus station who helped transport us to our respective residences. I also had a lot of support from my seniors, orientation leaders, res mentors and faculty mentors. Church was the biggest support structure for me. One person that got me through my university years was my res mentor who was also my church mentor. He connected me with various tutors and people that where very supportive of my university journey.
What challenges did you face (or are facing) / had to overcome in your journey?
Biggest challenge so far in terms of my career is the fact that it is still a young career and I still find myself telling people about what we do and re-educating other health staff on the patient they should be referring.
What has been your biggest driver/motivator?
My biggest motivation was my family and how much me succeeding in the career meant for them. I have had the honour of seeing some of the generations that came after me graduating in my family and that brings me so much joy because they are doing even bigger things when initially I was the first one to graduate.
What advice or key learning points from your journey would you like people to take onto theirs?
Delayed gratification and resilience. Firstly, university comes with a lot of highs and lows and some of the highs have to do with the fun that you get exposed to such as going out, meeting new people and so forth. Delayed gratification is essentially denying yourself a pleasant experience (e.g., games night) in order to focus on your studies which is not to say you shouldn’t have fun but to get your priorities right and know when to do what, and to not give up.
Any advice for a young person from a rural area / township who currently has no clue where to even start when choosing a career path?
My story is a little bit different in terms of how I got to my career because I did not know what to do for a long time. My advice is to do your research, job shadow people for the jobs you think you might be interested in or get into social media and look up the careers on youtube. Get career advice and decide what you want to do in conjunction with what you like and the subjects you enjoyed the most in school. If you’re not sure, do not use one tool to make your decision. If you’ve tried everything there is no harm in taking a gap year while you’re figuring out what you should do.