Science loses yet another promising young talent

Had I known when we met in the year 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, that I would, today, be sitting here writing this sort of article about her at this time, I probably would have asked the Heavens to keep her around in the land of the living a little longer.

Nobody wants to see their friend leave them forever, in such a way that she left, especially when we had big plans to carry out in the world of Science.

The late Lucricia Lebo Ntsuke did and elegantly finished her BSc ( Hons) in Food Science and Nutrition course at UCSI University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then came back home to pursue her dreams in the Bioscience world.

In August 2019 she reached out to me after reading one of my articles which I had titled “We want more youth and women in Science” and said, “Ken, I just read your article and I got really stimulated to play my role in encouraging more women to join us in Science because I’m really concerned with how scarce they are in the STEM field”.

I said to her, “I’m here my friend, spill it”. She laid down her entire plan to me, how she wished to engage young women, come up with enticing programmes that would encourage more young girls to take STEM courses for their career paths.

Her plan was to kickstart the whole thing in 2020, and to “… grab the monster by the ears…” as she would usually say. She basically meant she would do whatever it took to see her plan come to life.

COVID- 19 then happened, everything came to a stand- still, she said to me, “COVID ke ye e batla go nkitsa go diragatsa plan yame kana Ken mme ya yaka”, loosely translated to mean, “COVID is trying to derail my plan Ken, but I won’t give up”. That’s just the mentality I knew her to have.

I guess the Heavens had a different intention about her; she got taken while waiting for the pandemic to be over so she could get her plan rolling. As the pastors always say, God always has His plans and His plans only.

He has His own way of doing things which is why we always have to trust in Him, accept, pray for comfort and continue to ask Him to bless us going forward. I am definitely sure paradise has gained an angel in this one; such a humble, kind, loving and sweet soul.

It’s now up to us remaining behind ( her friends, former colleagues, former school mates) to make sure that her idea lives to see the light of day. That way she will know she left an interminable mark behind.

My time working at the Botswana Bureau of Standards ( BOBS) strengthened our friendship even further, the funny moments we would usually have during lunch hours, during leisure times at work, during sports days, the Wellness weeks and the MITI competitions at the Bank of Botswana grounds in Block 5. Memorable!

I wish the Ntsuke family and relatives, the BOBS organisation and her friends know that we have all lost an incredible human being who would never be rude to anyone, never rub anyone the wrong way, always chose a peaceful atmosphere over anything.

Her smile would greet you from a mile away, radiating all the positive energy you would need your whole day, and you would instantly know the kind of person she was.