As explained in an earlier post, whilst my Flying Faculty colleagues headed home to the UK via Addis Ababa, I took an Airlink flight to Johannesburg and then onwards to Cape Town, arriving at the Protea Hotel in Durbanville just before midnight on Saturday 24th February.
The main purpose of my visit was to spend some time with Cleopatra Matanhire, the Zimbabwean dentist whose subject area for the dissertation she wrote for her University of Glasgow Masters in Global Health degree was the MalDent Project work to establish a National Oral Health Policy for Malawi. Cleopatra is now registered for a PhD at the University of Western Cape Faculty of Dentistry, supervised by the Dean, Professor Veerasamy “Jeff’ Yengopal, with myself and Professor Chidzonga at the University of Zimbabwe Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences as co-supervisors. Our official meeting was scheduled for the Monday morning.
This was my first ever visit to Cape Town and Mwapatsa Mipando, my close Malawian friend and colleague, had told me that I could not just stay in my hotel, but that I had to make sure I saw some of the sights during my short stay. On the Sunday morning I was working on a lecture I had been asked to deliver on the Tuesday when my phone rang. The caller was Khabiso Ramphoma, a Specialist in Community Dentistry at UWC, who had been asked by the Dean to organise my itinerary and check that all was going well with my visit. Khabiso had been alerted by Cleopatra to the fact that this was my first visit to Cape Town and she had very kindly arranged for another colleague, Stephen Sudi, to pick me up in his car and drive me around some of the sights.
Stephen, who was originally from Tanzania, had an encyclopaedic knowledge of Cape Town – and many other subjects as I realised during the course of the day. After he had picked me up we collected Cleopatra. Strangely enough this was the first time that Cleopatra and I had actually met in person, because her year in Glasgow was spent during COVID, when we were limited to on-line meetings!
Stephen took us all over the city and showed us some wonderful views:
Every weekend, Stephen and a group of his friends walk in the mountains surrounding Cape Town and he was able to point out many of the routes that they take, which were not for the faint-hearted!
One of the things that struck me was how the imposing and famous Table Mountain kept appearing from different angles as we drove around the city.
There were so many contrasts in the cityscape. One particularly attractive area was called Bo-Kaap, which is famous for its cobblestoned streets and very brightly coloured houses.
Towards the end of our tour Stephen took us to Haut Bay, which had a beautiful beach, mountains in the background and a bustling wharf.
This is a busy, working port and there were many fishing vessels tied up around the bay.
The seals realised they were onto a good thing, with plenty of fish on hand and visitors to feed them.
It was a beautiful spot which definitely called for a group photo!
Stephen explained that fish and chips at a restaurant on the wharf is very popular with the locals and that the traditional fish to choose is ‘snoek’ (pronounced ‘snook’).
We opted to buy two portions of snoek and chips and one of hake and chips, then shared them. The snoek has a large number of bones, but the flesh is very tasty and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
Stephen had generously given up his Sunday afternoon to show us around and tell us about Cape Town with all the skill of a professional tour guide. This was a wonderful introduction for me to this new city and both Cleopatra and I were very grateful for the trip.
In the evening I continued to prepare my lecture and retired early. After breakfast on the Monday morning I made my way to the Dental School. It was a great pleasure for me to meet Professor Yengopal for the first time. Together with Cleopatra we headed to the Board Room for a discussion about Cleopatra’s PhD studies. We were joined on-line by Professor Chidzonga from Zimbabwe.
Cleopatra had previously submitted a very comprehensive outline of her PhD study plan, with a working title of ‘Situational and gap analysis of human resource need and supply for oral health in Zimbabwe’. The issue of oral healthcare workforce development is a massive challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa and I am very excited that a scholarly piece of work is underway to examine the issue in detail. We had an excellent meeting which culminated in identification of four clear workstreams for Cleopatra to develop as the substance of her thesis.
Following the discussions, we enjoyed lunch together and then Professor Yengopal gave us a tour of the building, introducing us to various members of staff as we went. He had a very warm, relaxed style and we had opportunity to share some ideas on leadership during our time together. Our personal perspectives proved very similar and I thoroughly enjoyed our discussions.
In the afternoon, Cleopatra and I spent more time together on thesis discussions in a beautiful, newly refurbished space that has been developed for visiting faculty. It turned out that we were the first ever to use it – a real honour. During the course of the afternoon Khabiso kept in touch with us and we had the opportunity to take some photos in this fantastic new facility:
Professor Yengopal had kindly invited Cleopatra and I to dinner in the evening. It was agreed that we would eat at the Cape Town Fish Market on the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. Immediately after work, Khabiso took Cleopatra and I down to the Waterfront in her car. After parking, we had time for a stroll through the shops and around the harbour. It is a beautiful, vibrant area, with once again the famous Table Mountain in the background:
I was intrigued by a street performer and his juggling act:
This stroll in the evening sun was really enjoyable and a great way to work up an appetite for dinner.
On arrival at the restaurant we opted to eat outside as it was such a beautiful evening. Professor Yengopal, Cleopatra, Khabiso and I were joined by Stephen, our guide from Sunday, Prof Amir Afrogheh (Head of Oral / Head and Neck Pathology) and Mr Umesh Bawa, who is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at UWC but also Director of International Relations. We enjoyed a fantastic evening of great food and wide-ranging conversation. After the meal, Amir kindly gave me a lift back to my hotel and we continued our discussions in the car.
On the Tuesday morning Cleopatra and I returned to the Visiting Faculty Room to continue working. During the course of the morning I had an interesting conversation with Professor Razia Adam, who is the Deputy Dean: Research. The challenges for dental clinical academics of finding time to undertake high quality research in the face of patient and student teaching pressures are the same the world over!
At lunchtime on the Tuesday I was invited to deliver a lecture focusing on the MalDent Project.
I was very grateful for this opportunity. One of our ambitions is to develop Flying Faculty visits to the BDS course at Kamuzu University of Health Sciences by academic colleagues based in Africa. I was very heartened that a number of the UWC team have shown interest in engaging with such activities into the future.
Following my talk, all present were invited to join Professor Yengopal in the Board Room for lunch, where we continued our discussions.
Immediately after lunch, Amir kindly took Khabiso and I across to the main pathology and microbiology laboratories in Tygerberg Hospital, where he is based, for a tour. It is on the same campus as the UWC Dental Faculty and only a short walk away. It was a fascinating visit. Tygerberg Hospital is massive and when first built was the largest hospital in the Southern Hemisphere. I was particularly interested in the large biobank, which includes specimens relevant to one of Amir’s research interests: human papillomavirus (HPV)-related head and neck cancers. Professor David Conway and colleagues at Glasgow Dental School have an interest in the epidemiology of HPV-related head and neck cancers, and I have put them in touch with each another.
At the end of the day, Khabiso dropped me at my hotel. After dinner I dealt with my packing, as the Wednesday would be my last day in Cape Town and my last in Africa, before I headed back to the UK on an evening flight.
Despite the fact that the academic work was done, our thoughtful and generous hosts had set up a wonderful last day. In just the same way that Glasgow Dental School is geographically separate from the main campus at Gilmorehill, the UWC Dental Faculty is in a different location from the UWC campus, so I had not yet seen the latter. That morning, Khabiso picked me up from my hotel and we headed to the UWC campus, where we met Cleopatra. Once more it was a hot, sunny day with blue skies and the campus looked amazing.
Our first stop was at the Confucius Institute, where we enjoyed a tea tasting session with some other guests, one of whom was Dr Pedro Abrantes, a Lecturer in Medical Microbiology at UWC who delivers the microbiology teaching for the dental students. After the tea tasting we had opportunity for a discussion about Pedro’s research interests and ambitions.
From the tea tasting we moved to the UWC Robben Island Museum and the Mayibuye Archives.
We were greeted by Umesh, who had also joined us for dinner on the Monday evening in his capacity as Director of International Relations.
Despite a very busy schedule, Umesh made time to show us around the exhibition entitled ‘Apartheid and Resistance’.
The exhibition was extremely interesting but also sobering. I rapidly realised that my knowledge of apartheid in South Africa and the struggle against it was very superficial. Umesh was an incredible guide who could speak with great authority having been part of the struggle himself.
The rich mixture of artefacts told the story in a very graphic way and I left with a recognition that I needed to learn more.
By the time we had finished our tour of the exhibition it was well into the afternoon.
As we were leaving the campus we passed a sculpture which depicts a mother who is a cleaner with her son who has just graduated, celebrating the value of education. It struck a chord with me and seemed a very apt photo for the MalDent Project blog:
Khabiso drove us to the airport and the three of us shared a meal before I said my farewells and headed off to check in my baggage. I had loved every moment of my time spent in Cape Town. The beauty of the city combined with the immense warmth and friendliness of all of the colleagues I met at UWC had made for a truly memorable visit. I have absolutely no doubt that I will return and hope very much that further collaborations, in addition to our work with Cleopatra, will emerge in due course.
