With a PhD at 74, this veteran nurse is still leading with grace and grit
Princess Anne-Sheilah Makhado has worn many hats: that of midwife, professional nurse, motivational speaker, farmer, seamstress, mother and author. Her latest achievement was graduating last year with a PhD in advanced nursing science from the University of Venda at the age of 74.
And Makhado is still learning. She recently returned home to Louis Trichardt in Limpopo armed with fresh insight after a month in Beijing visiting her son who is teaching English in China.
'In China, I observed a lot,' she says. 'It's peaceful and very clean. I've never seen such beautiful red roses right in town, and no-one steals these roses. And the elderly there, no-one I saw was limping; people are working and they have purpose.'
Reflecting on this, she recalls telling her group of retirees in Louis Trichardt that if they want to stay healthy, they need to make an effort to exercise more and keep busy.
Keeping busy has been a hallmark of Makhado's life. Fittingly, she describes herself as 'results oriented' and 'thirsty'. She adds: 'I ask God to send me where there is a need.'
Makhado's competing priorities came to a head in 2015, when she applied for a Master of Nursing course at the University of Venda. She was 65 at the time. 'The dean said: 'I can't take you,' and I said: 'Why?' And she said: 'You got 59.8% marks for your Honours degree.'' This is just below the 60% minimum typically required to qualify for a Master's programme.
Looking back, Makhado explains that during her Honours studies, which she completed in 2010, she was also juggling a demanding role as nursing services manager at Midlands Provincial Hospital in Graaff Reinet, a position she held for six years. 'I had been running an institution where I found nursing issues not up to a good standard,' she recalls.
The rejection hit hard. 'I cried then, I cried like a baby,' she says. 'Then in 2017, I went back to the university, and I said: 'I am back to repeat my Honours now.'' She completed the degree a second time, earning her graduation in 2018. That same year, she enrolled for her Master's, which she completed in 2020.
Child-headed households
Her Master's research, which focused on the experiences of child-headed households, was inspired by her work with a nonprofit organisation she founded in 2018 called Voice of the Voiceless.
Building on this, her PhD explored strategies to improve support for these children. She interviewed 15 child heads of households, aged 14 to 19, along with 15 of their relatives, and conducted additional focus group discussions within the community.
'Many of these children, when asked about their parents, they would say: 'We heard that our mother died but we're not sure when, we don't even have a picture of our mum.' And many of them didn't know their father,' she says.
A key finding in Makhado's research was a need to educate men around family values. 'That's why, in my recommendations, I said there should be man-to-man programmes because men are [conceiving] children and leaving the children there. Men must learn to take care of their children, not just dump the mother with the baby. Then the mother has HIV and dies — and the children?'
Another key recommendation was that traditional leaders should play a greater role in caring for orphaned children.
'I went to the traditional leaders, and I said: 'You are a traditional leader. What are you doing for these children? You need to have a list of the children that are heading families in your area, and you must visit them'.'
With high crime rates, alcohol and drug use, and some child-headed homes unable to secure their doors, Makhado also questioned the role of the community policing forum. 'Are they aware that these children must be protected and kept safe? ... The drug sellers know there are no parents and know they can abuse these kids.'
Reflecting on conditions in these communities, she says: 'It is painful my darling, traumatic.'
From Sophiatown to Limpopo and Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital
Makhado grew up in a tight-knit family. The second born of seven siblings, soon after her birth in Johannesburg's Sophiatown in 1950, the family moved to Sibasa in Limpopo where her father worked for the then Native Affairs Department and her mother was a school teacher. 'My mother was so neat and clean and organised,' she says. 'My mother taught us never to take no for an answer and to never settle for less.'
After attending Shingwedzi Secondary School, she trained and worked first as a teacher, then as a typist. But one day entering a hospital, she recalls: 'I saw the crisp white uniforms, my heart bled and I knew this is what I wanted.'
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