How and why did you get involved with MSF?
I was working for the head office of Pep Stores in Cape Town when I stumbled across a two-week-old copy of The Star newspaper’s Workplace edition, a job searching section. I saw the advert for a six-month contract for a logistician in the Khayelitsha MSF project. I had recently lost my brother to Aids-related illnesses and was still grappling with the grief of losing him at such a young age. After seeing the job advert, I read up on MSF and what they were all about and my interest peaked. Seeing the difference they were making in Khayelitsha by showing that it was possible to have people living with HIV thrive and have normal lives made me think of how different things could have been for my brother, if he had the same treatment. In those years HIV was tearing through families and communities. I applied for the position, went through the interviews, and was the chosen candidate. I accepted the job offer without telling my family and started working in Khayelitsha in March 2006. This year I celebrated my 17th year at MSF.
You helped establish the first MSF office in South Africa; tell us more about this initiative and why it was important to set up the office here.
The office was set up in 2007, the first-ever official entity to be set up outside of Europe. Until then, our head office in Brussels led the communications and fund-raising for projects in Southern Africa. For the first time, the MSF Southern Africa office made it possible for an African entity to design communications and fundraising strategies tailored for the continent.
It opened up possibilities for communities that had been beneficiaries of MSF’s work to actively participate in those projects, whether as donors, partners to MSF or representatives of MSF in Southern Africa.
Many other African entities have opened up since then, but the Southern Africa office showed that it could be done.
What are some of the challenges you’ve faced in becoming the first black female finance director in this international humanitarian organisation, and balancing work and home life?
Being an African female leader can be isolating – managing stereotypes that women do not possess the skills or character to be leaders can make one feel disrespected and isolated.
Compared to our male colleagues, we are constantly expected to prove our worth, fight for recognition in our workspaces and make our presence felt.
I have been fortunate to have worked with white male counterparts willing to change the status quo and ready to build a space that allows for empowerment and growth. MSF Southern Africa, especially, has made great efforts in addressing equal pay for equal work, learning and development opportunities are available for everyone.
The more difficult barriers have been the psychological and internalised struggles. I question myself more, worry about saying the right or the big thing, and feel more pressured to produce mind-blowing ideas and articulate them properly. I strongly believe in what black women have to offer and how we can use those things about us that have been considered weak to build strong, productive teams that can transform workspaces and communities.
I can never emphasise enough the importance of building relationships inside and outside of the work environment, with other black women inside and outside the work environment. My mother and my husband have been a great source of support.
I have been able to continue with my studies and travel for work; there are days when I leave the office late –knowing that my mother and husband will hold the fort.
What more can be done to empower women in the workplace?
Developing policies and laws that give black woman access to leadership spaces is not enough – women have to be given the spaces in the workplace to use leadership styles that could be seen as unorthodox. Offer mentorships, peer learning and L&D opportunities to women that go beyond the technical management skills and create cultures within the workplaces that respect and recognise offerings that black women have for the success of organisations.
That women are naturally nurturing should not be a deterrent to having women in leadership, but organisations can tap into those characteristics to create better and safer work environments.
The fear of tokenism, one of the historic challenges that black women face when entering management positions, is a real challenge.
The idea that women are not meant to occupy management jobs and the belief that men prefer the high stakes environment management while women prefer positions that have greater job security and fewer challenges needs to be challenged by women themselves.
How do you continue to challenge misconceptions and prejudices about what being African means while working in the international humanitarian aid sector?
Many people perceive that humanitarian relief is carried out almost entirely by international relief workers who, most times, are white and from countries outside of the continent.
Africans have long carried the ideal of ubuntu, and for me, it is the essence of humanitarianism.
Whether it’s assisting your neighbour with sugar for a day, donating R50 to a local organisation or using your skills in medicine or finance – Africans have a big role to play in the sector and a more significant role to play in dealing with the different issues plaguing the continent. Sixty per cent of MSF staff in projects are locally hired staff – skilled, educated people who love their countries and have chosen to stay in the continent for the betterment of our continent.
Get involved – it does not have to be on a large scale, and you do not have to have millions of rands to do.
Get involved in your street committees, at your schools in your churches ... get involved and make a difference.
Cape Times