IT is so rare to find glittering,
precious gemstones in the townships of Gauteng, let alone in South Africa that
sparkle so glowingly as to beckon their destiny like NOMPUMELELO PRECIOUS
MOTLOUNG is doing. Nompumelelo has her sights set on being the next Steve Job,
the local Beyonce, or even fly to far-away Paris and live in the city of love.
However, at the moment she is determined to get an education, become an IT
specialist or be involved in bones and skeletons as a forensic expert. Here she
tells Thembi Masser about hacking computers, lighting electricity fuses,
singing and hockey.
Mpumi,
as she is affectionately known, was born in Secunda, Mpumalanga, but relocated
to Etwatwa in Ekurhuleni to chase her dream of becoming an IT specialist. She
is now in her second year of her diploma studies at the Springs College, where
she found solace in the fact that at least poor students are offered bursaries
to enable them to obtain a tertiary education without fuss and red tape
hampering their progress. And, most importantly, the college finds work for IT
students immediately after successful completion of their studies. Students are
placed with esteemed companies like Telkom, Transnet and Samsung. Mpumi is
eager to be employed by Telkom above all others.
She
is blessed to have an industrious father like Joseph who is indeed a jack of
all trades. Joseph is a motor mechanic, a carpenter, a plumber, electrician and
a number of many other trades. And Mpumi
has a hand in trying to do all those things while growing up, helping her
father finish tasks. But it was the sparks of electricity that caught her
attention. She developed a love for light, and life, “because electivity gives
energy. I used to help him when growing up in Secunda,” she explains. In the
beginning she fiddled with pistons and radiators but they proved be too much
for her. “There are far too many components and parts under the bonnet of a car
and, in the end, I scrammed away.” So she focused her sights on the electricity
network instead. And for a while that proved to be a cinch she was looking for.
So
when she finished her matric enrolled at the Brooklyn City College for a
diploma in electrical engineering. She dutifully did and passed N3 but suddenly
after that the lights went out and she dropped out of her course. Someone lite
a spark and advised her to try her luck in IT. “This man saw my matric results even
before I went to Brooklyn and advised me I was good for IT. At the time I did
not listen because I saw myself as an electrical engineer and nothing else.” So
she ignored him. It was only when she doing her N3 that it all became clearer
for her. “So I went back to the drawing board to consider my options.”
After
a period of much research and introspection she decided to do IT at Springs
College. “The fact they find work for you after your studies did it for me.
Apart from that IT offers so many possibilities.” And I can also own a business in the future
if I wanted to, she adds. “There is good money in the industry as not so many
people are into IT.” But even at Springs
College someone nearly derailed her desires, but her focus never lost
direction. During registration, a lecturer offered a word of advice that nearly
threw her off the track. “He advised me to stick to electrical engineering
because I did so well at Brooklyn and that I have a flair for it.” But,
politely, she refused. Instead she secured herself a bursary and successfully
registered for a three year diploma in IT.
So
far she has grown to love IT, especially as some components of electrical
engineering are infused into her present course. “This is to my advantage as I
did that before. I have also discovered that I like being behind the behind the
computer. And everything is so much fun, interesting. I am studying to work
under good conditions away from the harshness of the sun and other inclement
elements. And I hate hard labour.”
Mpumi
says IT as interesting as it is ‘naughty’. “You can hack anyone to steal money.
But look at me though. I am a sweet girl who habours no such thoughts. My ultimate thoughts are to work for Telkom
and, later, I imagine myself developing products for Apple, where there is a
lot of moolah,” she laughs.
But
far away in the beginning when she still at school she wanted to be in
forensics. That is until her school, Sandra High, took her with her school
mates to a career exhibition. She discovered that in forensics she will mess
herself with blood-and that she had to do a basic course that covered
everything forensics. So she shied away from it. “Imagine me fiddling with
human stools and besides you, see I have a fragile heart and do not want to see
people hurt.”
That
sparked her decision to play with electrical components with her father. But
long before IT, electricity and her father and forensics, she was keen to be a
singer but her mother poured cold water on her ambition. ‘She said singers die
paupers.” And that was regardless of the fact that that at school Mpumi was an
established chorister. And a sport personality.
In
the end she wants to go and live in Paris, “the city of love.”
FACT
BOX
Primary
School: Highveld Secunda
High Schjools; Highveld Park, Sandra
Subjects: Physics, maths, English,
Afrikaans, LO, tourism, LS
Favourite subjects: English
Favourite sport: Hockey
Favoutite teachers Ms De Beer, Ms Davies
and Ms Pretorious
Favoutite universities: UCT, Stellenbosch
Favourite careers/occupation: electrical
engineering, IT, forensics, singer, dj
 |
| Mpumi's college mates are as enthusiastic about life as she is |
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