Sheer grit got her to that moment of glory - and in the final stages, the help of a major Southern African corporate saved the day. If the supplier of construction-related materials, AfriSam, had not paid off her outstanding debt, it is unlikely she would have made it to graduation then. Or be enjoying the opportunity of being employed as one of AfriSam’s engineers-in-training.

“Finally, one of the things that I wrote on my bucket list came true,” says Hamese, overjoyed to have her debt settled. Now, with an 18-month contract at AfriSam, she is eventually on the road to, making a contribution to society as an engineer. 

It has been a hard slog for Hamese. 

Although she expresses slight regret about the friends who didn’t have to take the same detours, saying “Why didn't God make it happen sooner? Because my friends are far in life” – she never moans. Not even about her final year at university when she didn’t have proper accomodation, saying only “it was the most challenging for me, the most difficult”. 

It is to Hamese’s credit she never lost sight of her goal. “Settling,” as she puts it, settling for something that is not her passion, not her worth, has never been an option.  

Hamese’s success was not an obvious one. She grew up in a village about 30 minutes’ drive from Polokwane in Limpopo, where she lived with her grandparents and attended a non-fee-paying quintile 3 school, which effectively means it was poorly resourced. 

Her matric marks, almost all in the 70s, astounded even her. “I didn’t think I’d make it past Grade 12, because I started becoming serious (about my studies) very late,” she said. 

But she had dreams, so she applied for university. Although her first choice was medicine, she also applied for mechanical engineering and education. “I say that engineering chose me because I didn't actually know what mechanical engineering was. I just thought maybe, it was about cars. That's what most people think”. But when she was accepted for it at the University of the Witwatersrand, she happily went off to study it.

She hadn’t thought about funding though. Her father paid for that year but it didn’t go very well, neither academically or financially. The next year she registered at a Further Education and Training college, again paid for by her father, where she did her N2 to N6 in Motor Mechanics in two years. However, she never clinched the qualification because she didn’t follow her studies with the required practical work experience. “In college you are being taught to become an artisan,” she says. Her heart just wasn’t in it.

“I didn’t want to go to college. I didn't feel like that was my passion. I can’t have these nice results and then settle for less. So in 2020 I took a gap year. I just wanted to think, to rethink,” she says, a need amplified by the death of her grandparents the previous year. 

At a crossroads, but still holding onto her dream, she worked as a teaching assistant at a primary school in Limpopo and applied to universities to restart her engineering studies. This time she applied for funding too. 

Faced with a choice of three institutions, she chose Nelson Mandela University. “I weighed my options,” she said. Part of the appeal of Mandela University was the three-year duration of its Bachelor of Engineering Technology in Mechanical Engineering. Another part of its appeal was its location. “One of the first things that got me interested was that we were next to the beach, so it felt great,” she says.

With funding from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), she stayed in an off-campus residence for two years and then in an on-campus one, Phase 3, for a year. 

Then hardship struck. She hit a snag with one module that impacted her doing another, NSFAS withdrew its funding.She arrived to start her fourth year with only two modules needed to complete her qualification, yet without money for registration, fees or accommodation. Mandela University kindly granted her a concession and waived the registration fee. 

The accommodation was never resolved. 

At first the Student Representative Council provided a place, night by night, for those without anywhere to stay. 

“At 7am, we were expected to vacate that room, meaning you will walk around with your luggageSo it was a bit challenging.”

Hamese finally moved in with a friend, illicitly sharing her formal accommodation. Effectively, she was squatting. Hesitant to reveal the details, she won’t say how many of them were forced to do so, but it is unlikely she was the only one.

In her third year, Hamese had earned a bit from a four-month contract as a Physics Student Liaison, assisting first years. Last year she worked as a student assistant on Mandela University’s Quintile 1 to 3 Mentorship Programme, assisting those who went to schools such as hers with adapting to university life and studies. They were paid only at the end of the four-month contract, but she says it helped a lot, even though by then she had the AfriSam bursary. 

She also got a job as a cashier at a campus tuck shop and used those earnings to buy food. On occasion she was also lucky enough to receive one of the monthly food parcels handed out at the campus clinic. “Sometimes you won’t get it because you find that the queue is longer, and they only have a few parcels, about 300.” She wasn’t aware of any other campus initiatives.

“It took a toll on me, but I knew I couldn't just quit. I had to suck it up and try to make it work. I wanted to finish. The most important thing was “I only had two modules to finish ,” she said.

She appeals to companies to donate bursaries, outlining the difficulties financial hardships bring.

“We went through a lot, as a girl, not having accommodation was hectic. If I didn't have friends, I would have had to sleep at the lab or on the sofas at the school, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.You would have to ask people to allow you to bath and also go around asking people to allow you to do your laundry. Even if you handwash your clothes, where are you going to hang them? That was just one of the challenges, we had to find a way. At least at the residences, there are machines, and you can wash and rinse and dry your clothes.”

Her circumstances turned around when a friend, already working, sent her the AfriSam ad. Preference was for graduates who live in the North-West and she didn’t want to apply. “There is no way they’ll consider me,” I said. Her friend coerced her. “Then they called me when I least expected it”. Two interviews later, AfriSam accepted her, paid off her university debt and provided the internship. 

For the first month, to cover the transition, they put her up in a guest house and paid for all meals. Now she lives in an apartment, paying her own way, with her salary, and is enjoying learning about the plant, rotating from section to section before she moves to the maintenance department. 

Hamese, is not complacent, it’s all about the next step. Shesays, she won’t feel she has achieved her goals until she is registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa, a process that could take three years. She might have graduated but she says, she is not a mechanical engineer yet.  “I'm still in training until I finish my three years. Then I will get recognition as a professional,” says the woman whose resilience has proven she can achieve whatever she sets her mind to.