Eleda Dikeledi Makola
Eleda Dikeledi Makola of Attridgeville outside Pretoria was studying towards a diploma in Biotechnology at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) when NFSAS cancelled her bursary. This was after she had failed her major subject.
After dropping out of tertiary, Makola had to find employment in retail and worked as a sales assistant at a jewellery shop.
Although, she had found a job, she wanted to further her studies and create a career for herself.
As she was active on social media, she saw the advertisement about the opportunity to study medicine in Cuba on Facebook.
“The ad has stated that those interested in pursuing the opportunity should go to their nearest hospital to get more details.
“I went to Kalafong Hospital and when I got there, I was referred to Steve Biko Hospital in Pretoria. When I got there, I was given application forms and I completed them and hoped for the best.
“After a few months, I got a reply that I was successful. I was very excited about the opportunity to study medicine. We left for Cuba in November of 2012.”
For Makola, the most difficult thing that she had to adjust to in Cuba was learning the language and adjusting to the culture. It took three months to learn Spanish in class. “Cuba is a good country but I must confess that I did miss home and South Africa in general a lot. I missed my family. I missed the availability of some basic things in the shops. Sometimes, you find that there are shortages of basic things such as sanitary pads or toilet paper.
“But beyond that, Cuba is a country of people with big hearts. You know, when Cubans talk about human solidarity, they actually mean it.
“They love humanity. Unlike in our country where we experience incidents of xenophobia, Cubans are very loving. They are in love with humanity and they live to demonstrate that love. When there was an outbreak of Ebola in west Africa, guess which was among the first country to send its doctors, Cuba.
“When there was the huge disaster in Haiti, again Cuba send its people to assist.”
Talking about the Castro-Mandela programme, Makola said: “This is a great programme. Cuban medicine is more about prevention that curative. I think we should be able to serve our country better because our country is shifting towards prevention, which is better than cure.”