Happiness is… a PhD at 70
Stellenbosch University awarded doctorates to more than 130 students yesterday
AS OF TODAY, 70- year- old Penny Enarson is now Dr Penny Enarson. Yesterday she joined more than 130 students from Stellenbosch University who received their doctoral degrees.
“I think when you’re older you face education a little differently,” she said on her way to the graduation ceremony, adding that “yes”, she was excited.
“You think, well I’ve done this work, I’ve achieved it, and I can now take the time to publish it and write it.
“There’s not the same pressure as when you’re younger.”
For her PhD in community health, Enarson designed and implemented a widely successful health service programme to combat childhood pneumonia in Malawi, called the Child Lung Health Project.
In 2000, she and colleagues from the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease received a grant to help the Malawi Ministry of Health develop training material, conduct courses, and create viable channels for distributing medication and equipment.
She spent the next six years overseeing the programme, which ultimately reduced childhood deaths from pneumonia in Malawi by more than 50 percent and is still actively expanding today.
“I’m proud of the people that managed (the programme) in the country. It was an amazing achievement for them.”
She said the idea of getting her PhD never crossed her mind.
She was going to write a report for the Malawi Ministry of Health on the programme, when her long-time colleague and Stellenbosch professor Rob Gie suggested she develop the paper into a thesis, and the thesis into a degree.
Originally from Canada, Enarson lives in Vancouver but travelled to Cape Town several times over the past three years to meet advisers at Stellenbosch’s Tygerberg campus and conduct her studies.
She is among the more than 2 700 Maties who will receive their degrees at seven different ceremonies this week.
She said her fellow graduates should get the same satisfaction out of the work they had achieved, no matter their age “and enjoy it”.
Meanwhile, Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela is to become a Matie today when the university confers an honorary doctorate, Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, on her.
She will receive the award for “her unwavering commitment to the constitution, her contribution to eradicate discrimination through law reform, and her role as fearless advocate for justice”.
Honorary doctorates will also be conferred on the internationally renowned physicist Professor Neil Turok, and business leader Michiel le Roux.