From ‘girlie girl’ to engineering doctorate

As a little girl growing up in the North, Petrina Tutumina Johannes, 31, never dreamed of one day shaping her country’s road network. But today she has a doctorate in pavement engineering, which focuses on designing roads, and lectures at the University of Namibia’s (Unam’s) Ongwediva campus. It is easy to be inspired when listening to Petrina. She oozes confidence and articulates beautifully. She has points to make about society and how it is often unfortunate that people focus on superficial and material things, without probing deeper into life and what they want to achieve. This young woman has an immense future ahead of her, and one can sense it. “I had a normal upbringing. I grew up in Ondangwa and was mainly raised by mother, with eight other siblings,” she said when asked about her background. She attended Oluno Primary School and then the African Methodist Episcopal Private School in Gibeon from Grade 7 in 1997. She matriculated in 2001. “Growing up I liked girlie things. I liked sport and soccer. I was into cultural activities.” She said she had never considered engineering as a career before filling in her Unam application form, which required her to mention a second study option. Her first option had always been nursing. “I wanted to become a nurse, as I had interacted with nurses when I was young. They inspired me.” She said her mom had endorsed her nursing studies. While filling in her Unam application form she spoke to one of her teachers who told her: “Petrina you are really good at science. Why don’t you try engineering?” She filled in engineering as a second option on the form, but in her heart she was still adamant that she would study nursing. In December 2001 she received her response from Unam, which indicated she had been accepted for engineering and not nursing. She said was lucky to receive a Petrofund bursary and in January the next year, she had to make a decision. “I read up a bit and did research. I was touched by the field itself and the role it plays in society. I wanted to do nursing to help people. When I read about civil engineering and what it is responsible for I knew I could help people if I follow this career.” Healthy society She said civil engineers are responsible for developing, constructing and maintaining infrastructure that makes sure society is healthy and functioning. She said her first year was very challenging and that she received some strange looks when she said she was studying engineering. “I struggled with self-confidence. As time went by, my confidence grew.” She spent two years at Unam and was then transferred to the University of Cape Town (UCT). It was her first time out of the country. She was exposed to people from different cultures and backgrounds. “I had a lot of friends. I had the best time in Cape Town.” He UCT degree was a general one and she was not asked to specialise. UCT She finished at UCT in 2006 and came back to Namibia. She took up a job with Lithon Project Consultants and worked for them for a year. She said she was involved in all sorts of projects, but soon realised she had a particular love for roads. She decided to apply for a job at the Roads Authority (RA). While working at the RA, the idea of furthering her education came up. She believed that studying further would be useful to the country. In 2008 she started looking for possible ways to further her education and looked for scholarships. She said she was very lucky to come across the Fulbright Science and Technology Scholarship on a United States website. She applied in April 2008 and became the very first Namibian to be accepted for this particular scholarship. “They told me I needed to start in September 2008. I dreaded to go. At the time I was the breadwinner of the family and I had to give up my job to become a student again. I thank God for my mother, who supported me said I should do what makes me happy.” Petrina packed her bags and left for the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She started studying her master’s degree in pavement engineering, which focuses on the design of roads. Her master’s took two and a half years to complete. In the end, she had to make a decision whether to continue with a PhD or come back to Namibia. She initially reasoned that she did not need a doctorate to get a good job in Namibia. She also said her master’s degree had not been easy. She had been away from home, with not a single Namibian around. There were also cultural issues and the fact that her family was not around her. Her scholarship was also for three years, and she would therefore need to raise funding if she wanted to complete a doctorate. Professor Hussain Bahia, under whose supervision Petrina completed her master’s, then indicated he would fund her doctoral studies. Returning to Namibia She went on to complete a PhD in pavement engineering under his supervision in three and half years. She finalised her doctorate in June this year, handing in her dissertation documentation on a Friday and returning to Namibia on the Sunday. She has since taken up a job as a lecturer in Unam’s Engineering Department in Ongwediva. She is currently the only Namibian in the entire faculty with a PhD and the only female lecturer at the Ongwediva campus. She said teaching is her passion at this stage, as the country is facing a very real challenge of having local engineers who can educate young Namibians in the field. She believes life is not only about creating opportunities for herself, but about creating opportunities to give back to her country. Petrina added that Vision 2030, which includes the objective of training 5 000 engineers by that year, will not be realised if “we don’t have people to train engineers”. Petrina said she wanted to thank Petrofina and the US State Department for their generous support during her studies. She also wished to thank her family. “My mother is my rock in everything I do. Mother worked hard to put me and all my siblings through school. She still works tirelessly selling meat at the open market to feed her family.” Petrina said she wants to encourage young people to never give up on their dreams. “Anything can be achieved through hard work.” WINDHOEK ASHLEY SMITH