somatology

SOMATOLOGY

Somatology is the science that deals with the physiological and anatomical study of the human body. This field of career has acquired a professional recognition from the South African Association of Health and Skincare Professionals (SAAHSP). I had an interview with a 26 years old professional who is working in this field, Phumudzo Mapheba-Ramasindi.

At the moment Phumudzo holds a managerial position at Moloko Strathavon hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg. She Went to Maebani primary school and completed her matric at Kutama secondary school. She then went to study in Cape Town at Cape Technikon where she studied a 3 year National Diploma in Somatology. “In high school I was not sure what I wanted to do, but I have always being very fussy about my skin, always wanted to make sure my skin is looking good, then One day I was having a conversation with a friend of mine and that’s were I discovered there is a career like this one. This was during the time when I was still in high school. I then decided I want to do something related to skin care. I went and did more research on this field, what it’s all about, where and how long will it take me to do a qualification in that”

“When I completed my diploma I went to work at a cruise ship where I worked for Steiner (a beauty company, based in England). Steiner has a contract with a cruise line company and they recruit graduates from beauty school to go work on cruise ships. They used to do presentations at our school and that’s when I got the opportunity to apply for a training with them. When my training application was approved I had to go do the training courses in London. Immediately after my training I joined a cruise ship that was on a world cruise, I went to Europe before crossing over to America and then the Caribbean. The best experience was when I got allocated a world cruise tour in 2009, I flew to Los-Angeles and that’s when I travelled the whole world. By the time, I was doing massage, manicure and pedicure, waxing and facial therapy. I then got a special contract and was only concentrated on Facial therapy which is my specialisation and my personal favourite, as I am more of a skin treatment specialist as compared to the other fields”

Phumudzo also indicated that a career in Somatology offers multiple working opportunities, and this is evident from the path she travelled. “I have changed spectrum in my career, from a more hands-on approach to the management side of things.

“With an academic background in Somatology one can qualify and become a nail-expert, massage therapist, skin care therapist or even combine all those depending on where you are working”. For those who are business orientated you can also start your own salon or go as big as opening your own spa, gyms and health clubs. “Some also venture into working with plastic surgeons and dermatologists (at beauty clinics), and even as make-up artist (For television productions)”

A National Diploma in Somatology is also offered at other institutions such as the University of Johannesburg and the Durban University of Technology. In the 3 years of study you do subjects such as Applied Biological Sciences, Anatomy and Physiology, Aroma and body Therapy, Diathermy (Epilation), Facial Therapy, Reflecology Level, Biotics, Reflexology, Socio-Psychology, Soma-techniques etc, so this requires a love for biology amongst other subjects. The course incorporate both the theoretical and practical training before one goes to do a 1 year in service training. However an academic qualification is not only limited to a national diploma but one can go as far as acquiring a B-tech (Somatology degree) which is adding one more year to the program.

“I love working with a wide variety of people, which can be a bit challenging because people like good result, especially if they are paying a lot of money for it, but  good communication skills, empathy and tact” comes in handy with this type of a career” .

We hope this will help someone out there who is also considering a career in Somatology or other related fields and we would like to thank Phumudzo for making time to chart to us.

Bursaries related to Somatology and Institution contacts (2012)

·         John Deere Educational Trust Bursary Scheme (31 October 2011)

                Bursary enquiries: John Deere Educational, Bursary Depot, PO Box 32597, Braamfontein, 2017

·         SAWISE Hope Scholarship (30 November 2011)

                  PO Box 34085, Rhodes Gift, Cape Town, 7707, Jacquie.greenberg@uct.ac.za, www.sawise.org.za

·         Ekhuruleni Metropolitan Municipality Bursary Scheme (30 September 2011)

                 Enquiries: Tel: (011) 861-2440 / Corporate ETD, P.O. Box 4, ALBERTON, 1540. www.ekurhekeni.gov.za

·         Gauteng Department of Health Bursary Scheme (30 September 2011)

                  Development & Employee Wellness, Bursary Section, Private Bag x085, Marshalltown, 2107,www.gov.za

·         The Faculty Officer, Cape Technikon,

PO Box 652, Cape Town, 8000. Tel. (021) 460-3176

·         SA Institute of Health and Beauty Therapists and SA Association of Health and Skincare Pro0fessionals, www.saahsp.co.za PO Box 318, Pinegowrie, 2123. Tel (011) 787-8709.

·         Department of Somatology. Durban University of Technology
PO Box 1334, Durban, 4000, Tel: 031 373 2408, sharlf@dut.ac.za

·         University of Johannesburg Doornfontein Clinic, Health Training Centre 

Tel: +27 (0)11 559 6525, somaclinic@uj.ac.za, www.uj.ac.za

Lweendo: The jouney

“Lweendo” , is a book based on a  journey of my life. This book includes scenes from my childhood ranging from how I was raised, when I was growing up I used to ask myself about my father where he is what made him leave us but as I grew I decided to forget about that, so when people asked me about him I would tell them   “Dad  “what father”, but I knew  I had his genes living inside me because of this pale light skin which made other kids at school call me The “unlike us” child, with all this happening one can develop a “Disease of the mind” that can control you, one cannot even explain it coz eventhe DSMIV fails to classify it. Being born by a woman whose father is Shona and mother Sotho and a father whose mother is Venda and father Chewa and was never exposed to none of those cultures, you design your own culture and I called it “Culture of the “unknown”. After all this one has to adopt a personality and with all the hardships that life threw at me the soft heart was not an option so I adopted a “heart of a stone”  because  everyday was like a survivor series where one must adopt a “life of a hustle” AKA “superwoman”. It was through this that I came up with my own personal definition of a hustler; “a person who is able to control their “Envy” on the good things of this life and not fill their being with “immorality” just to have them”. After focusing all my childhood and teenage years on building my career, I met this young man and that is when I encountered “the love of a man”. He called our relationship. “The encounter” because “love reigned supreme”. Everything happened so fast and “the crush” did not exist and this was my first time I encountered the feeling of “mufarekano the other woman”. Along the way there were “women in my life” and “the lose I recall” on those I dearly loved, may their soul rest in peace. Even though all this may seem too much for a human being to handle “the love of God” kept me going. He sent “the assigned angels” to hold my hand and make me go through each and everyday. He gave me “chances and chances” to leave by “Conformity, principle and values” of his word. He gave me a gift of loving his “lil people” and all this was just a preparation of “life after death” the different between two worlds “like chalk and cheese”. Well this is simply “my side of the story” about “Life as it is”

The love of a man

A man can love a woman I am a proof of that. There is a fairy-tale I want to tell, about this guy I knew very well. I feel in love and even wrote about it. I feel now that after all the experience I went through in this relation I qualify to tell you about the love of a man.

Whenever he was with me I felt like heaven was a habitat designed for him and me. I felt all species of emotions I never knew existed. Some of them I don’t even know what they are called. But with the love of that man they do exist, ask me.
When his voice called my name sometimes I couldn’t even know what to respond because history hasn’t premeditated a way that matched the love that was in his voice. I remember even the way he called me “baby”; I would swear he was the pioneer of this word. There was something about the words that came out of his mouth, I can’t describe it but I am going to try. Those words could heal anything in my heart that’s why our fights never lasted long coz there is something about the love of this man that even today I can’t describe.
I am talking about the kind of love that makes you blind to all his fault, when you don’t have to convince yourself of his innocence coz the love you feel for him pleads on his behalf. Cal it toxic and poisonous but it the kind of love that finding words to describe it renders my brain anorexic.
He makes you belive you’re the center of his universe, that the world does not only revolve around you but other planets as well. I am talking about the kind of love that does not only leave you weak on your knees and  going crazy but the kind of love that leaves you mentally distorted that even the DSMiv cannot classify it.
Spending a day without him did not only make me diminutive but felt like a part of me has been riped off my body. murder he wrote

But when I woke up I realized this was just a dream and fantasies I gathered in my thought. This perfect world my mind conceived did not exist, it was my mind playing tricks on me again. reality and fiction

Mufarekano: The other woman

I WILL TALK FOR THE OTHE WOMEN,, THE ONE WHOSE NAMES I WONT MENTION DUE TO REASONs EVERYONE KNOWS AND UNDERSTAND,, it was somewhat a struggle trying to find a decent name to address her, well no one has designed it yet ,, they all deliberately forgot about giving her a name, so they resolved into calling her a slut, a whore, a bitch an so on,, so for now I will address her as the” other woman”.
In general society has set standards, principles, values and rules that not abiding in them is seen as a taboo. I am going to tell you a story of a woman I know. A woman who was very close to me, ohh well so close that I can even narrate her thoughts, feelings and desires.

Envy

This monster called Envy is sick and pathetic. Its only function is to make you not be content with what you have and always seek what others have instead. It becomes you number one priority so much that the energy involved in maintaining it is enormous. I tried to look for a proper definition and what I got was just “too polite” to define it. The brains of this world called it the “a longing to possess something awarded to or achieved by another” but I am still gonna call it “sick and pathetic.

When I was in primary school, I wished I was a bit darker in complexion, when I went to higher primary that changed to ‘I wish I was like her tall skinny and yes darker in complexion”. I thought it was just a phase that will pass with time but little did I know that this monster plans to reign till eternity. High school was different, now I was more focussed on having smaller breast and being a bit tall. All my life was filled with I wish I had that or looked like this, have those etc. Still I blamed it on puberty, adolescence and teenage-hood       ............................................................................................................................................

Medicine

Medicine

I have developed a habit of asking about things I am not well informed of, I make it my business to learn new things every day. Every time I realise I don’t know something I get those who know to explain them to me, but the trick is to ask the best, those who are experts in the different industries. To my surprise, no matter how educated, experienced and highly ranked these people are, they are always willing to help answer all the “Not-so-smart” questions I have about their jobs, that’s how passionate they are about their careers.  The other powerful tool of gaining knowledge that I discovered is to read, read and read. And it was during this process that I came across a very touchy Article written by a Paediatrician, Dr Rudzani Muloiwa. He wrote the article when he was still a medical student and it was for a clinical conference that’s looked at re-humanising medicine. The article was titled “Ubuntu”:  The concept in a multicultural medical setting. To me it publicized a sturdy belief that Dr Muloiwa has about this notion. I was also very touched by the theological angle he took when he described a career as a “calling”, “Whatever you do is a calling it doesn’t matter what it is, but why you doing it e.g. when people become church ministers you always hear them say they have a calling, whatever career you go into, irrespective of what it is, do it as a way of serving God, what you love the most may actually end up being a sacrifice to God. it is not a matter of doing something that seem useful to other people but it means that, what you do is what resonate most with what you feel your calling is. You will then realise that, the work you do will be of value to other people”. After reading that piece, I was inspired so much that I felt the need to have him chart to us about this field of Health Sciences.  

Dr Muloiwa comes from Ngovhela and he completed his grade 8 at Dimani and grades 9 and 10 at Mbilwi high school, before proceeding to a Pretoria boy’s school (St Albans College) for his grade 11 and matric. He went and completed his MB ChB (Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of surgery) degree at the University of Natal. After getting his degree, he went to do a internship and community service in Polokwane at the Polokwane-Mankweng Hospital complex in Limpopo and that’s when he realised he enjoyed working with children. “The environment and the people I worked with in Polokwane initiated my love for paediatric”.

After completing his Specialist training at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s hospital in Cape Town, he received the Nelson Mandela scholarship then went to London (in the United Kingdom) to study his MPH (Masters in Public Health) at the London school of hygiene and tropical medicine. “It was a cosmopolitan degree with people from all over the world, India, Japan, North America, china, Europe and other parts of Africa; it was a good learning experience”. The reason for studying there was influenced by a number of factors amongst which was what was said by former South African President Nelson Mandela during the time when they were awarded the scholarships, “He told us we need to find a way of broadening our view of the world by going out of the country, see what other people do, how they do things, learn from their skills and bring them back home”. “I enjoyed my stay in London, it was an amazing experience, I also needed skills to make sense of what I was doing and evaluating the impact of the things they do there. I also wanted to experience a different environment”.

He then moved to Cape Town where he is currently working as a specialist consultant in emergency and ambulatory paediatric at the Red Cross children hospital. This is an academic hospital so he is a joint staff member lecturing at the University Of Cape Town (UCT) as well.

“Careers differ, and people venture into different ones depending on so many factors but the idea is to excel and love what one does. When one goes into health sciences because this field deals with people‘s lives you need to love and be passionate about people first, before even trying to diagnose them of anything you read about during your years of study at an academic institution”

MB ChB was previously offered as a 6 year degree but now there are also 5 year programs, depending on which medical school one goes to, after obtaining the degree you are expected to go do a 2 year internship, but working as an intern doctor then a further 1 year of community service before you can go work independently. So all in all it takes a good 8-9 years to become an independent medical doctor, however after leaving medical school you are getting paid already even though you are not yet registered as an independent practitioner. Medicine is not only limited to clinical work so those who are not good with people can divert to other fields such as medical physics, others also ventures into fields such as pathologies, micro biology, manufacturing of drugs, research and even academia, where they work in laboratories and Universities and not in a clinical setting.

Dr Muloiwa is also a mentor for the Christian medical fellowship South Africa. This is an organisation that supports doctors and junior doctors that are based in rural areas, to support them in serving people, he used to be the student travelling secretary who looks after student in campuses around Southern Africa and travelled to countries such as Zimbabwe Malawi and Zambia.

During one of his interviews on the Award winning SABC3 show Special Assignment, Dr Muloiwa indicated that there is a shortage of doctors in the country especially in none-Affluent provinces like Limpopo, and this is also the case when comparing the public and private sector so to those who are interested in becoming medical doctors, I feel the edge to publicly enunciate that “THE MEDICINE INDUSTRY AWAITS THEE”.

Dr, Thank you for this vast knowledge you shared with us and I believe this will be of help to someone who wants to follow this route.

Health sciences Bursaries 2012

BHSc (Health sciences), BDS (Dental science), MB BCh (Medicine and surgery), BNurs (Nursing), BSC (Occupational therapy, Physiotherapy) and BPharm (Pharmacy)

·         Alec Brook Bursary Scheme (30 September 2011)

F.shortland, Syfrets Ltd. PO Box 466, Port Elizabeth, 6000

·         Professional Provident Society (PPS) scholarship & Bursary fund (30 November 2011)

http://www.pps.co.za or info@pps.co.za Tel: 0861777146

·         The SA Medical Association (SAMA) Bursary Scheme (15 September 2011)

Bursary officer, SAMA, PO Box 74789, Lynwood Ridge, 0040, or www.samedical.org

·         Dr TE Donges Study fund (15 October 2011)

Contact University of Johannesburg Bursary offices

·         Kagiso Trust Bursary scheme

http://www.kagiso.co.za Tel: 0115661900

·         Gauteng Department of Health Bursary scheme (30 September 2011)

Chief directorate: Human resource development, Bursary section, private bag x085, Marshalltown, 2107, www.gov.za

·         Medical Education for SA Blacks (MESAB) Bursary scheme

Apply to registrar of the University where registered

·         Anglo American PLC Open scholarship (30 September 2011)

www.angloamerican.co.uk.  P.O. Box 30632 2017, fax 0114845951, Tel: 0114847505,

·         National Treasury Bursary scheme (30 September 2011)

www.treasury.gov.za. gdp@treasury.gov.za, talent management specialist, private bag x115, Pretoria, 0001

·         Provincial Administration Kwazulu–Natal Bursary Scheme (31 December 2011)

The director, Human resources, development, department of health, private bag x9051, Pietermaritzburg, 3200, www.gov.za

MUSIC

“Without music life would be a blunder”, John A Logan once said that music is the medicine of the mind. But I, without a great deal of effort, figured that, this “medicine” called music does not manufacture itself. Music takes hard work, extensive hours, talent, commitment and tons of training to perfect. This is what I learnt from a conversation I had with Edith Mudau, a professional singer/performer who is currently based in Hong-Kong. Edith formerly works for Disney in a production called “The festival of the lion king”. She started her professional music career in 2002 when she qualified for the Pop-stars top 23 after which, she went to attend Siya-Phezulu workshops. It was during this time that she had exposure of working with music experts, such as Yvonne Chaka-Chaka and Selaelo Selota. 

 “I always had a passion for singing since from an early age” she said. I knew I wanted to sing ever since I can remember, even though my job entail all genre of music, am particularly very fond of gospel music, and this is because I grew up in church so my first singing moments were in church. In 2003 after completing her matric at Kutama secondary school in Limpopo, Edith moved to Johannesburg where she worked with Duma Ndlovu, the executive producer of Muvhango in one of his musical shows called “The journey”. “It was a musical that included singing, acting and dancing, and this was my first time travelling overseas, I went to Switzerland”. “In 2005 I then auditioned for “The African Mamas”, and this was also an overseas based project where I travelled the whole of Europe, I went to Denmark, Amsterdam, Paris and Belgium and in the same year I worked with Chico Twala in his project “Maria Le Maria”. Locally Edith also had appearances on TV programs such as at a popular SABC 2 contemporary African music show AFRO CAFE where she performed with Selaelo Selota on his new album

“Talent cannot flourish in isolation and that is why during the initial stages of my career I had to attend a lot of intensive courses, training programs and inductions in order to be where I am today. During my period in this industry, I learnt that without formal training it can be a bit difficult to have a sustainable long term career. My advice to those who would like to be professional musicians is that even though taking shortcuts may work for you, it is always advisable to take a rather longer but sustainable route, and if you go to a tertiary institution or music schools to study, that’s a bonus, it’s important to acquire as much knowledge as one can in this field. “My career in Music is not an isolated entity and involves a lot of performances, acting and dancing, because Music is not just about going to a stage and intoning a song, there is a lot of things  involved in putting a show together, such as management and a lot of organization that goes on behind the scenes” Uttered Edith.

 “I feel there is not enough awareness on music as a career especially for youth from Limpopo. The only break that one can get is to come to Johannesburg, and sometimes due to constraints of poverty it is not always possible to do so. Those that have a passion for music end up with dreams shuttered. If we can have more education on music by people who knows and understand the art of music that will be gratuity. While she said this, I thought to myself, “Why do we only have sciences and commences in our schools and not have music offered as one of the subjects, because not everyone find the idea of sitting in the lab or looking at numbers all day, fun and fascinating. “Music must come from within, it must be your passion and most of the time, the mistake that  people make is resorting to music after their “other plans” has failed, but it shouldn’t be like that,  like any other careers it must be treated with respect” She said.

I was inspired by the conversation I had with Edith, but when she started asking me which year was last year, I realised this whole “6 hour” time-difference between South Africa, (where I am) and Hong Kong, (where she is) has taken its toll. I knew it was my queue to leave, coz under normal circumstances, no one wants to be interviewed at 10pm after a long day at work. I was however, tempted to sing her a lullaby with my altorized soprano- tone-of-voice but then I thought “Maybe not”, (Just to avoid traumatizing her and causing her any psychological disturbances).

Edith, Let us offer our gratitude to you, for your time, irrespective of the time-difference issues, we feel highly honoured and we wish you all the best with your career and enjoy your stay in Hong Kong.

Music Bursaries for 2012

·        Ellie Marx Memorial scholarship (15 October 2011),

 Executive officer, SA society of music teachers, PO.Box 20573, Noordburg, 2522, www.sasmt-savmo.org

·        Gladwell Music scholarship (30 September 2011)

Executive officer, SA society of music teachers, PO.Box 20573, Noordburg, 2522, www.sasmt-savmo.org

·        Premedia foundation bursary scheme

www.premedia.co.za/ info@premedia.co.za/ 0115063000

·        The law student scholarship trust fund (30 September 2011)

Po.Box 604, Windhoek, Namibia

·        Legalwise bursary scheme (29 October 2011)

www.legalwise.co.za, legal wise bursary committee, PO.Box 1524, Florida 1709/0116704500