March 2022.
Keishia Joseph is on track to be the first Grabouw community member, to become a Nuclear Medical Radiographer. This specialised medical field of study uses small amounts of radioactive materials, radiopharmaceuticals, to look at specific organs to see if they are functioning properly. The 22-year-old achieved her Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Medicine Technology with the financial support of a bursary from Klipheuwel Wind Farm and is currently completing her one-year community service at Red Cross Children’s Hospital, in Rondebosch, Cape Town.
“Keishia is an example of our country’s tremendous talent pool that can be harnessed if sufficient access to tertiary bursary funding and mentorship is made available,” explained Tsholofelo Moote, Economic Development Specialist for Klipheuwel Wind Farm.
Having set her sights on studying a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Medicine at Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Keishia worked extremely hard to achieve excellent school results, as the institution accepts a maximum of seven students each year, meaning that the competition is high for this specialised field. She explains that the primary difference between nuclear medicine and radiology is that nuclear medicine creates images using internal radiation waves from inside the body while radiology develops images through applying external energy waves to the body.
Keishia is one of twenty-eight students who have been funded through the Klipheuwel Wind Farm Bursary Programme since its inception in 2016. The programme, which covers tuition fees, travel and accommodation costs, book allowances and even a stipend, is open to ambitious youth in the communities of Genadendal, Caledon, Grabouw, Botriver and Hermanus.
“I was really grateful to see a bursary being offered to small communities like ours because it’s not often that schools in small communities get a chance, or are even aware of these opportunities. Without this support, my parents could not have afforded to pay for my education,” concluded Keishia Joseph.
