She built a door for girls who were told it was closed

Ten years ago, AfroCentric chair Prof. Dr Anna Mokgokong started a bursary for young Black women with the grades but not the money to study medicine, nursing and pharmacy. Since 2016 it has supported 23 students and produced 12 graduates — three of them cum laude — including Dr Nomgcobo Vika, now interning at Helen Joseph Hospital. This is no cold scholarship machine: when one student lost her mother, her housing was adapted; when another was diagnosed with cancer, her bursary was paused, never withdrawn. Eleven more young women are studying right now.