In celebration of Mother’s day, Wits Vuvuzela spoke to Thandeka Khoza, a biochemistry PhD student and mother of two boys. Her sons, Sakhanya (6) and Lethokuhle (4) are her inspiration. She said she wanted to be a mom to her sons withough compromising her studies and although the demands of her studies took their toll when coupled with her role as a mom, she said the two roles in her life complimented one another. For instance, her studies helped her to enforce rules such as bedtime which she says is always at 19h30 because that is when she has to start studying and her boys had to comply.
“Sometimes I think about how things could have been different for them if I was working fulltime, I feel like they wouldn’t be deprived of some of life’s pleasures (financially)…but my husband is very supportive in this,” said Khoza.
Khoza also mentioned that some of the disadvantages of being a PhD student in her field and a mom included the fact that she had to make her way home at 17h30 each day which means that she sometimes has to leave the lab before she could observe certain results from her experiments, which often delayed the process.
Khoza has completed her experimental work and is working on her write-up after which she will graduate with her PhD.
PhD student mom: Thandeka Khoza, a biochemistry PhD student who is a mom of two boys, Sakhanya (6) and Lethokuhle (4).
