DR MERCY SEPADI – TURNING A CHILDHOOD DREAM INTO A ROARING SUCCESS
Sepadi’s most important lessons learned • I am not an island but rather a community product.
• No one achieves greatness in isolation. • I should accept assistance from others. • Build a support network that will be your sounding board, • cheering squad, and, at times, your lifeline. • Never undermine who you are and what you came here to do.
Like many children born into rural communities, Dr Mercy Sepadi harboured a childhood dream to transform her life and conquer the hurdles in her path. Her journey is a testament to the power of resilience and determination. Sepadi, a lecturer in the Environmental Health Department at the Tshwane University of Technology, is a trailblazer who became the first to earn a PhD in Public Health at the UJ, undoubtedly turning her childhood dream into a reality. It was a pivotal moment in Sepadi’s life when she enrolled at UJ and stumbled upon
the environmental health degree, a field that resonated deeply with her. “During registration, I also discovered that environmental health practitioners inspect or audit food stores, which brought to mind the scene in Gabrielle Union’s film Deliver Us from Eva , where she examines meat in a butchery. Gabrielle’s fierce inspections fuelled my passion for the character. I remember her actions and how excited I was to watch that part of the movie. “The unfortunate aspect was that, like many other environmental health practitioners or students, most of us were unaware of the existence of this degree. The degree discovered us rather than the other way around, demonstrating how little our work is known,” says Sepadi. Sepadi, who completed her PhD at the age of 30 under the academic
supervision of Dr Vusumuzi Nkosi and the mentorship of Dr Martha Chadyiwa, focused on assessing the respiratory health risks faced by informal food street vendors to understand better the impact of their work environment on their respiratory health. Informal trading is one of the informal industries that lacks proper regulation, which is crucial to addressing health risks associated with the trade. Sepadi says the street vendors industry needs formalising, and the public health sector must be engaged to prevent ill health among informal workers. Milestone recognition Being recognised as one of the Mail & Guardian’s 200 Young South Africans in 2022 was a tremendous honour and a milestone in her career.
DR Mercy Sepadi at Graduation
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