As part of its 60th-anniversary celebrations, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences is introducing 60 future healthcare professionals who are currently in their first year. Meet Realeboga Mothupi.

Everybody dies, but not everybody lives. This is most important thing that Realeboga Mothupi would like to remember as she gets older. For her being a doctor is a vital part of the life she has planned for herself. “Life would have been pointless if I couldn’t choose this path.”

Mothupi received a recruitment bursary from Stellenbosch University and is now heading towards the end of the her first year as MB,ChB student on Tygerberg campus. “I expected main campus and the Neelsie life, but I got an island in Parow-dise instead,” she jokes.

She says her parents and teen activist Malala Yousafzai are the people responsible for putting her on this path. “Because of their teachings of how important a child with a book is, I got the drive that got me into med-school.”

Her dream job is to be a paediatric reconstructive surgeon and she sees herself working with children in the Third World once she’s qualified. Fast facts:

• YouTube or Instagram? “YouTube, because you can see entire makeup tutorials. And Khan Academy is getting me through first year better than Instagram ever could.”
• Describe your first year on campus? “Emotional turmoil. The best and worst thing is being independent. It’s great to be my own maker, but student budget and figuring out capricious intra- and interpersonal relationships is not.”
• Best tip for staying in shape? “Stay away from 2-minute noodles and mayonnaise.”
• Last book read? “Cut her dead by Iain McDowall.”