A University of Johannesburg professor lends her expertise to the television programme, Made In SA challenge on SABC 3.
Professor Lesley Lokko is the head of the Graduate School of Architecture (GSA) in the Faculty of Art Design and Architecture. Originally from Ghana, she said her friend made her aware that the producer of a show was looking for a person to mentor a young person in architecture.
“Made in SA is a TV show which takes young people who have a dream to become something, whether it be an architect, filmmaker or a journalist, and mentors them.
They look for someone who specialises in that particular field and then mentors that particular person. You have a conversation with them and basically explain to them how it will be in a particular industry,” said Lokko.
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She added the particular student she’s mentoring is an undergraduate student, Ngonidzashe Tawuyanago, by helping him find his inner Leonardo da Vinci through a series of short challenges that he completes daily.
As a mentor, she also helps young people to believe in themselves, find their inner voice and have a different view of the world around them.
“For this challenge, I compiled a brief for him and we met at Maboneng to go into the city.
I asked him to go into the city and identify objects which look out of place by taking pictures of them.
He came up with such interesting things. I found him to be a curious student, which I believe is a more important aspect than having talent. He did great on the show and I discovered he’s quite a storyteller based on the types of photographs he was taking,” explained Lokko.
Through this programme, Lokko is glad the misconceptions about architecture were explained, such as a person being required to be good at mathematics.
She describes her experience on the show as illuminating and commends the show for giving young people the opportunity to pursue their dreams.
