Dr Ramafikeng is the current President of the Occupational Therapy in Africa Regional Group (OTARG), elected in 2019. She worked as an occupational therapist in mental health practice in Lesotho before joining the University of Cape Town. She is a Senior Lecturer and Undergraduate Programme Convenor in the Division of Occupational Therapy and serves on several committees within the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Cape Town: one of them being the Steering Committee for Global Surgery. Her areas of expertise include teaching for diversity, providing academic support in higher education, and design and delivery of occupational therapy curriculum that is contextually relevant. She is an early career researcher having obtained her Ph.D. from UCT in 2018 and she teaches and supervises research at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
In this episode, she takes us through her journey as a young girl in Lesotho with a dream of becoming a neurosurgeon to eventually studying Occupational Therapy (OT), working at UCT, and her new appointment at Essex University in London. She unpacks her passion for making OT curricular contextually relevant for black students so that they progress through their studies.
Matumo explains how self-respect, integrity, and education have shaped the woman that she is today. Finally, she speaks about her lessons about OT in Africa and the future that lies ahead of us.
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