Dialogue and Disagreement

One of the hot topics at the moment in South Africa is the energy crisis we are facing. Last year, I had the opportunity to attend a conference hosted by SAWomEng and the focus was on whether we should resort to hydraulic fracturing (or ‘fracking’ as it commonly referred to) as a means to solve our energy crisis.

For those who do not know, South Africa relies mainly on coal for its energy needs. However, coal is a non-renewable resource and our reserves are depleting at an alarming rate, and so we have to explore other energy sources. In the Karoo, there is a large region with a substantial reserve of shale gas, which is a potential energy source, and this resource has to be extracted by the process of fracking.

Simply put, shafts are dug into the earth and a mixture of water, sand and chemicals are horizontally pumped at a high pressure, thereby fracturing the rocks to release the gas.

I had heard the term ‘fracking’ before, but did not know what it was, what it was used for and its consequences. As a non-science person, it was extremely educational for me to learn about it and to watch people debate about the pros and cons of us exploring this option.

I also had the privilege of meeting some really interesting people – one in particular, Johnathan Deal, an environmental crusader of sorts who heads up Treasure the Karoo Action Group. TKAG is committed to ensuring that the shale-rich area of the Karoo is protected against fracking and also for South Africa to more aggressively explore renewable energy sources.

I spent a few minutes chatting to him and discovered that he is completely off the Eskom grid, and relies entirely on solar power.

As impressive as I find that, the thing that stuck with me was his comment on how wasteful we have become with regards to energy usage. Is it necessary to switch every light on in your home? Do you have switch the kettle, stove, oven and microwave on at the same time? And I thought to myself – this man has a point. We are frantically looking for alternative sources of energy but no one has attempted to answer this question: What are we doing to become more energy efficient?

The debate between the pro and anti-fracking communities are heating up – and in some cases, people have resorted to some disgusting tactics (here I refer to mud-slinging on Twitter and slanderous blog posts) which brings me to my point:

We are all different, and have different views and opinions. We’re not going to all agree on things. And it’s okay to dialogue and to have disagreements.

It is NOT okay to degrade or personally attack people in the name of your cause. It is NOT okay to equate someone to a dictator because he/she actively promotes his/her opinion (which contradicts yours).

Bad behaviour is NEVER OKAY. 

Innovative Africa

innovation

[ in-uh-vey-shuhn]

noun

1. something new or different introduced.

2. the act of innovating – introduction of new things or methods.                                    (Dictionary.com)

The second definition is quite appropriate for engineers. It is, after all, what they do – constantly try to discover new ways to improve the world.

But does it follow that every new thing or method will work for every single person and place on our planet? History has shown that it does not.

Can every country on earth afford to implement the same kind of innovation? Once again, no, they cannot.

And does every innovation succeed in its purpose to improve on something? Not always.

On Wednesday, 3 June 2013, SAWomEng held its fourth annual @Network Cocktail Evening. Yes, one of its purposes is to be an exercise in networking – professionals from different sectors coming together.

What distinguished this event was that its theme was not intended to dictate your dress code; rather to steer your way of thinking towards a particular vision – Innovation in Africa.

On the panel for the evening: Carlos de Figueiredo, an IBM executive; Dr Elizabeth Rasekoala, chemical engineer with 20 years’ experience in the Oil and Gas industry; Rashiq Fataar, founder and managing director of Future Cape Town; and Sarah O’ Carroll, industry analyst for Frost and Sullivan. After a welcome by co-founder, Naadiya Moosajee, the floor was handed over to Mabohlale Addae, fellow co-founder of SAWomEng, to chair the panel discussion.

Each of the panelists gave valid opening remarks, however, it was the statements from the ladies on the panel that particularly resonated with me...firstly, that innovation on Africa should be contextualised for its unique people, circumstances and needs, and should not be ‘cut and paste from the Eurocentric paradigm’; and secondly, that innovation should start on a small scale, by ordinary people improving the mundane things in their lives.

To see anything fulfill its intended purpose is immensely satisfying and once the audience members joined the discussion, @Network was at work.

It was great to see and hear from people from seemingly unrelated industries share their unique perspectives on the topic and simultaneously impart some unspoken truths – innovation is not owned by government or corporate bodies, nor does one need a diploma or degree to be innovative; we are all interdependent for the growth and advancement of our country and continent, and need to learn to share and collaborate; and as long as we remain consumers of Western innovation, we will never be able to innovate for our own country.

Our continent faces some extreme challenges. We continue to take advice from people who do not live here, nor face the same challenges we do, when we have an abundance of educated and energetic young people who are better equipped to face and overcome those challenges.

I found myself, in spite of myself, thinking about ways in which I could be innovative...things I could do in my home and in my work place. I found myself no longer content to just live in the present, to amble on in the comfortable little world that I’ve built for myself and remain blissfully oblivious to what is happening on my doorstep. I was forced to look to tomorrow...and how I could play a role in making it better than today.

The lessons I came away with that evening are encapsulated in the following:

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.” – William Pollard

“The practice of R and D involves making mistakes, realizations, corrections and more mistakes. Trial and error is a fundamental part of the process. Too many managers in corporate America learn to avoid invention and new thinking because they have been convinced that their careers depend upon not making mistakes.” – Tom Huff

In light of this particular evening and the above two quotes, I’d like to put forth my new definition for ‘innovation’: Observe. Learn. Realize. Correct...And repeat.

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PS: If you're reading this now and would like to see the amazing work this organisation does or if you'd like to get involved, pop over to www.womeng.org.za

Guys@Work

‘Girls can do it better than boys.’

Well, maybe some things, yes. However, this is not the case at SAWomEng, and it was refreshing to see some gentlemen on the team. These are the guys I had the pleasure of meeting during Conference week.

 ITAI CHUMHUNDU

The third-year Electro-Mechanical Engineering student joined SAWomEng towards the end of 2012. He had heard about the work that the organisation was doing and applied online to join. One interview later and he was officially a part of the SAWomEng family.

Itai looks after the money. His duties include bookkeeping, handling petty cash, tracking the budget and any other administration.

UMRAAN HENDRICKS

The Chemical Engineer has worked for Midas and is currently busy with his PhD. He and Traci Reddy, who sits on the National Executive Council of SAWomEng, were class mates at university and he was persuaded to apply through listening to her talk of the work they were doing.

Umraan also wears more than one hat. He is responsible for promotions and is in charge of Logistics for Conference – arranging hotels, flights, buses, etc.

AMIEN PHILLIPS

In Amien’s words, he is an ‘unofficial’ member of the SAWomEng team. His introduction to SAWomEng came in 2010 when he was working for a web design company called 9 Degrees. The company was approached to construct a website for the organisation. 9 Degrees has since closed its doors and Amien has taken over the maintenance of the SAWomEng site.

Amien is the official photographer for Conference.

Experiencing Conference with SAWomEng

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ~ Nelson Mandela

“Problems become opportunities when the right people join together.” ~ Unknown

It took me a while to get a handle on how I was going to tell this story. Then I came across the two quotes above…and an energy-saving fluorescent light switched on in my head.

August is Women’s month here in South Africa. My Women’s month started on Sunday, 30 June 2013 (the start of this year’s conference). Prior to that day all I knew about SAWomEng was that they were an NPO focused on helping women in the Engineering sector. I did not know exactly how this help was given at the time and I walked into the conference venue that Sunday afternoon unsure of what to expect. Like most people, I had a stereotypical image of female engineers and when I saw a whole lot of petite, pretty ladies (in heels) I was completely confused. I walked into the conference room and ended up in a 1920’s night club. I was convinced that I was at the wrong venue But was assured that it was all part of the introductory ‘ice-breaker’ – an opportunity for the sixty delegates (who were carefully selected from numerous applications) to get to know one another and for the conference team to acquaint the ladies with their schedules for the remainder of the week ahead.

So, what exactly is Conference? It is one of three strategies that SAWomEng employs to assist females in Engineering. Conference specifically targets female students who are either in their penultimate or final year of study at university and its purpose is twofold: firstly, to impart soft skills that will assist the students when it is time for them to seek employment; secondly, it gives them an opportunity to flex their cerebral muscles and apply their theoretical knowledge to a technical challenge. Conference is a five-day marathon, jam-packed with workshops and lab time, with a few networking opportunities thrown in.

SAWomEng has been in existence for eight years and there have been eight Conferences. What makes an SAWomEng conference unique is the technical challenge. Every year, the technical project is centred on an engineering and environmental problem that we face in South Africa and this year the big issue is that of hydraulic fracturing or fracking. The delegates were split into six teams of ten, each cheekily named after a gas associated with fracking: Methane, Ethane, Hexane, Propane, Butane and Pentane. The technical project had two deliverables: a two-page written report and a debate on the final day.

When I walked into the conference venue on the first day, I felt completely out of place. I am not an engineer. While I loved Mathematics at school, Science and I were not friends and to say that I was happy to leave it after I’d finished high school would be the understatement of the century. Things of a scientific nature have never interested me, so my scientific knowledge is minimal to non-existent. The strongest emotion I felt when I was invited to tell the story of Conference 2013 was fear – I didn’t know whether I would be able to understand the technical side of things and do justice to their story.

However, I was warmly welcomed by the SAWomEng Conference team and as the week progressed, I found myself learning more than I’d thought I would. What was supposed to be a ‘job’ turned out to be an incredibly enriching experience for me. It would take me forever to go into all that happened during Conference week but there were three aspects that were particularly inspiring to me…

1.      Delegates were selected from all over the country and flown to Cape Town for the week. Sixty young ladies, away from their homes and families, with a monumental amount of work to do with group members they have never met. I was impressed by the maturity they displayed but what impressed me even more was how they tackled the work part of conference – they showed us that they were confident in their knowledge but also hungry and eager to add to it. They had the privilege of meeting some illustrious personalities from industry, and I’m pleased to say that the delegates made the most of those meetings by asking lots of pertinent questions and engaging with the various workshop speakers and industry engineers.

2.      On the third evening of the conference, the delegates were treated to a dinner by Unilever, a multi-national consumer goods company which manufacturers over 400 household brands (when I use my Vaseline now, the U symbol pops into my head immediately). The purpose of the evening was to enlighten the delegates on how engineers fit into their organisation and how they are attempting to address some pressing global environmental and social issues. The delegates got firsthand experience as to what it is like to work in the supply chain at Unilever by playing the ‘Supply Chain Game’. For all the fun they had, the best part of the evening was meeting the Unilever team. Most of the ladies in the team were ex-delegates from previous conferences, SAWomEng success stories – a validation of the work that the organisation does, an embodiment of how education can change the world and hereby exemplifying that when the right people join together, opportunity will present itself.

3.      Being an educator myself, it was very gratifying to see the delegates put their new skills to use. Some of them even came to practice their networking skills on me during the evening of the @Network Cocktail (which I found rather amusing, as the one delegate said to me, “We saw you every day and wondered who you were because you never spoke”). Even I found myself completely engaged in and able to follow the arguments of the technical debates.

      

Mark Twain said, “Write what you know”. Though I may be able to venture a guess as to how the sixty delegates felt when they left Cape Town after Conference, I will never know exactly how it has affected their lives.

I do know that it has affected mine in the best way.

To the entire conference team I would like to extend heartfelt THANKS for making me feel welcome. This experience has been both eye-opening and educational. But there are a few in particular I would like to thank…co-founder, Naadiya Moosajee, for extending the invitation to attend Conference 2013, and Bhavani Morarjee and drill sergeant, Sameeha Osman Latib, for accommodating me in all the activity on the last minute.

To the delegates of Conference 2013: you ladies have inspired me to be more than I am. The corporate and working world is indeed a ‘zoo with wild animals’ – but I have full faith that armed with your new weapons, you will traverse the jungle and change the world.