Looking back on a purposeful life
Mona Runkel shares her memories of working in pathology, witnessing scores of injured children being treated at the hospital she worked at in 1976, and finally, how retirement is treating her.
HAENERTSBURG – Mona (67) moved to Haenertsburg nine years ago. She ran the Stanford Lake College tuck shop with her older sister. Now they live in the village Garden Cottages and are housesitters to homes in the area, preferably with pets. Mona, born in Langlaagte, Johannesburg, was involved in laboratory work and began her career at the blood transfusion division of SANBS in Johannesburg at the age of 25.
She then moved to the cytology section of the SAIMR (South African Institute for Medical Research) in Hillbrow, which involved preparing cells for analysis.
This led to a position in cytology at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, near Soweto. She recalls 16 June, 1976 started like any normal work day.
“At about 11:00, we heard a noise that sounded like waves breaking at the sea. We went to Casualty to look and they told us students were storming the hospital. Security officials told us to return to the labs. By 13:00 the noise was intolerable. I snuck back to Casualty and saw children who had been shot being wheeled in. It was very traumatic and upsetting. We were given a police escort out of the building. We drove alongside Soweto. There were thousands of students on either side of the road with pyramids of rocks, shouting and screaming. My colleagues, who had school-going siblings, were even more traumatised. If those siblings didn’t want to take part in the riots, they were forced to do so. We couldn’t return to work for three days. When we did, we had to go around the back way, which was an army camp called Diepkloof, a suburb of Soweto,” she recalls.
Twenty three people died on that first day in Soweto. It heralded major changes in the landscape of South Africa, and 16 June is now a national holiday called Youth Day. Among the dead was Hector Peterson (13), immortalised in Sam Nzima’s iconic photograph. It’s become a symbol of the Soweto uprising and stands as a memorial in the famous Vilakazi Street in Soweto.
Mona’s biggest achievement was in 1984 when a pathologist offered her a post in histopathology, the study of tissue, in Durban. With it came greater responsibility and a bigger staff complement. What began in servants’ quarters progressed to being one of the most competitive and successful laboratories in Durban. She says the most rewarding part of that job was going to theatre with the pathologists.
“The pathologist analyses the tissue immediately and it has to be done super-fast as they can’t keep the patient under anaesthetic for too long. I’d prepare the slides for a decision to be made. I’ve also been involved in brain biopsies. The most valuable learning curve for me was being taught how the body works,” Mona reminisced.
