Features / University of Bristol
Inspirational young woman achieves PhD scholarship having grown up in the midst of civil war
At the age of 12, Bongai Munguni was forced to leave her primary school after the four-hour walk she took every morning was deemed unsafe after a local murder – in 2019, she began studying for her PhD at the University of Bristol.
One of 13 children born to subsistence maize farmers, this versatile and brave young woman was brought up in the middle of the Mozambique civil war and faced huge educational barriers, making her progression to PhD level all the more impressive.
Kindness after kindness, as well as her own continuous hard work, allowed Bongai to get to where she is today.
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From an old schoolteacher who recognised her working in a nearby field and offered to pay for her grade seven school exams, to a family in Somerset who offered to house her while she studied for her PhD rent free, Bongai went from learning from second-hand school notes by firelight to achieving high grades at the University of Zimbabwe.
Bongai Munguni with members of her family – photo: Bongai Munguni
In 2016 she was capped from further study by former president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, but after submitting a mock application to the University of Cape Town and attending for one semester, an impressed lecturer ensured she was offered an academic scholarship.
Now funded by a Cotutelle Scholarship, Bongai is working for a joint PhD in Social Policy as part of the inaugural UCT–Bristol University Researchers without Borders programme.
In 2019/20, she studied in Bristol and she will return for another year in 2022.
Speaking about Avril Chadwick, whose family took Bongai in for free during her studies in the South West, Bongai said: “It was like having another family. Their friends became my friends, their family became my family.”
She continued: “We ate together – African food three nights a week and English food the other nights.
“And we would take the car to places all over – the suspension bridge, Oxford, different churches. It was so amazing.
“I’ll always treasure my time at Bristol – I loved the lectures and the people and I can’t wait to come again.”
Bongai is studying as part of the the inaugural UCT–Bristol University Researchers without Borders programme – photo: Lerato Maduna
Along the way, she and the Chadwicks set up a crowd funding page which raised £2,600 to build new borehole infrastructure in her home village, allowing local people access to safe drinking water.
After her PhD, Bongai hopes to become a professor and social entrepreneur.
She even has her sights set on post-doctoral work at Harvard or Oxford.
Speaking about her achievements, Proffessor David Gordon, Bongai’s PhD supervisor at Bristol said: “Bongai is an inspiration to others and has overcome numerous obstacles to obtain the academic knowledge she needs to help her local community and the people of Mozambique.”
Fundraising to widen the network to whom the Mozambique borehole is available to is continuing. To donate, visit www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/community-water.
Main photo: Lerato Maduna UCT News
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