“When had I learnt of my achievements I felt a great amount of joy, probably stemming from all the stress I had felt during my studies. I realised that the sleepless nights were all worth it. Now I’m more certain that if I give my best effort, I can reap the rewards as I go through my career,” said an elated Zine Gwanya .

The 24-year-old graduated in BTech in Horticulture, obtaining Cum Laude for her academic results. Her love for nature was the driving force behind her following such a career path. “I was fascinated with plants and what plants can do for peoples’ minds and health. This is why I had decided to enroll in horticulture, as I had felt working with plants is my ideal career, since plants makes any environment peaceful as well as are also are useful in terms of agriculture,” she said.

Family also played a significant role in her choices in life, they had encouraged her to do better and also believe in herself. Her mother and older sister were there for her when
she made those late night phones calls in despair. She believes the best choice one can make at a tertiary institution is to choose the right friends to spend one’s time with.

“From my first year I had brilliant friends and we had healthy competitions, helped each other, and avoided bad things together. We actually traded the time that we would have spent on partying, on our books. So yes, I owe my success to the right company that I had kept. The Department of Horticulture as a whole, the lecturers were also concerned and showed great care towards us, encouraging us to do our best,” she said.

Also, believing in herself made her do the unthinkable. She enrolled for her BTech studies even though she only finished work at 6pm. She always left with an hour to take the

public transport from work and was in class on the last quarter of the lecture. “In order to do my studies I had to work four times harder than the average student. With the aid of my classmates, I would get all my notes and they were always happy to assist me,” she said.
She is humbled that she can inspire other students now to do better and aim higher. At first she just wanted to prove to her Primary School teacher wrong for calling her

stupid. “I worked hard as it wasn’t just about me but for everyone who was belittled by people who were supposed to encourage us. It’s up to you to decide what to build with them,” she stressed.

Going forward in her career, Gwanya would love to become a farmer and a prominent business woman who and uplift her community. “I believe the youth need to look at farming as the future of the country and it plays an important role in building the economy and job creation. Money is not the greatest reward from a career, happiness is.

We already know that happiness stems from love, so whatever career you choose, make sure you love it. You must love what you’ll do for the rest of your life, don’t sell your soul by allowing the chase for money lead you into misery,” she stressed.

Pictured:  Zine Gwanya

Waheeda Peters