Tshepiso Pheme (20)

(image) I have always wanted to study psychology. I strayed away from it for a while after high school, but during my gap-year I realised it was still what I wanted to do. One of the reasons I wanted to study this is because I have always enjoyed talking to and helping my friends, and many of them come to me if they need to talk about something. I don’t want to say that I want to make the world a better place, but I want to at least help where I can. I particularly like working with children.

I am a bit nervous about the future. I can’t imagine myself in it, and it is scary to wish for something when you don’t know what the future will be like. But I do have dreams – I want to work with clinical psychology somewhere in South Africa.

I went to the Centre for the Study of Aids training course because a friend advised me to, and initially I planned to just do the course to learn more. During the course, however, I got inspired to use this knowledge to reach out to others. I work with children in the community outreach program, and I also work with the education and awareness group which works to inform students on campus about hiv/aids. As a student of psychology it is necessary to have practical experience before completing honours, which is an extra year of specialisation after you finish the degree, something I discovered after I had already started working with the CSA.

The main challenge for South African students today is to find a job; some are overqualified, other drop out of university and can’t find jobs because of this.