From A Car Guard To A PhD Candidate In Engineering, Meet -Fabrice Kapya

HE FINALLY MADE IT!!!

From a car guard to a PhD candidate in Engineering.

Meet – Fabrice Kapya, inspirational Asylum seeker from the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2018 he arrived in South Africa with a goal to further his studies. So he began his journey from car guard to PhD candidate and Assistant Lecturer at the University of Pretoria’s Department of Industrial & Systems Engineering.

Kapya obtained his first degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Likasi in the DRC, but when his father died, he struggled to pay for his studies.

“After my father’s death, we lost practically everything,” he says. “His family took everything from us, but through the generosity of friends who volunteered to finance my studies, I obtained this degree.”

Kapya arrived in South Africa with no resources and no job – but with a determination to further his studies. He began working as a car guard at Wonderpark mall, where he made about R2 000 a month.

“For that, I had to stand in the parking lot every day from 7am to 8pm,” he recalls. “I had about R900 to R1 000 left a month after covering all expenses such as rent and groceries.”

In August 2018, a friend applied on his behalf at the University of Pretoria. In November 2018, Kapya was admitted to Industrial and Systems Engineering. When he started his course in March 2019, he was still working as a car guard; he also had the added difficulties of navigating the language barrier and no background in Industrial Engineering. Thankfully, his classmates came to his aid.

“While I was doing my honours modules, my classmates gave me food, paid for my transport or paid my rent and assisted me with their notes,” Fabrice Kapya.

However, just over a year into his university course, something verging on the unthinkable happened: A frequent visitor to the Wonderpark Mall was so moved by Kapya’s situation, she agreed to pay his education fees – to the tune of R18 000!

He was able to settle many of his debts, and the funding helped the engineering student undertake his Masters Degree in 2021.

In February 2021, University of Pretoria offered him a position as an Assistant Lecturer in Industrial and Systems Engineering. This allowed him to work and complete his Masters degree by January 2022, and the DR Congo refugee is now a PhD candidate at the prestigious institution.

“My father always wanted us to have a good education. What he left in us is far greater than what he left to us: to have the determination to do what is right no matter how tough a situation is.”

“Pursuing my studies was a way to carry on the mission he started and I’m grateful for being the first in his family to obtain an honours and a master’s degree. Every day that I stood in the parking lot, I thought about my Dad – that motivated me,” said Fabrice Kapya.

Source:Valentine Zoza|LinkedIn

Email: elora.akpotosevbe@yahoo.com