My worst experience was having to literally come to blows with a deck officer who didn’t want me to touch anything on the bridge, his exact words were “you people shouldn’t even be here”. I’ve had to leave the sea because of maternity policies that made it impossible for us women to have a career at sea and not worry about an income. I thank IMO for having done something about that because I hear more and more happy stories from my former cadets at sea right now. This makes me happy.”
I’ve been at sea for 12 years, 8 of which I served as a deck officer before moving to Maritime Education, Training and Development. I’ve also just established an NPO where our focus will be career guidance, mentoring and coaching, as well as maritime awareness especially in rural South Africa”
“I’m from a rural village in the far northern province in South Africa 🇿🇦. It’s landlocked. I’m the only seafarer in my entire clan and I’m working on changing that.”
Khomosto Mphahlele – South Africa.
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