‘Journey of surprising similarities’: father and daughter share a stage during graduation at Medunsa

A father and his daughter were overjoyed when they shared the stage at their graduation ceremony at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (Medunsa) last week.

Dr Oshupile Dilotsotlhe graduated with a master of medicine in orthopaedics while his daughter, Dr Didintle Dilotsotlhe, graduated with a bachelor of medicine and surgery.

According to the father and daughter, it was God's intervention that their experiences, both bad and good, led them to share their happy moment.

“Those trials and tribulations led us to share our happy moment together — to round everything off in such a wonderful way,” said Didintle.

From age five, Didintle wanted to be a doctor, but her father, who was already in the medical space, had tried to steer her towards a career in finance.

“I felt I wanted her to take the direction of finances. There wasn't enough money in medicine. I didn't make enough money myself. I felt should this poor girl go into this field that is so demanding yet not so financially rewarding? People think doctors make a lot of money. It is not entirely true,” Oshupile said.

However, Didintle persisted with her dream, and her family finally came on board to support her.

“I was consistent with this dream ... My parents then came on board to support me. Once I matriculated, I went to Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, where I started with a bachelor of life sciences degree,” she said.

I call my journey and hers a journey of surprising similarities to a common destination.

—  Dr Oshupile Dilotsotlhe

Just like her father, she did not immediately go into medical school but had to start with a bachelor of life sciences degree.

Her father had to start with a bachelor of occupational therapy in 1982 as a gateway to medicine and decided to go back to school in 2014 to specialise in orthopaedics.

“Occupational therapy was a way in. In 2014, that is when I joined the school (Medunsa) to specialise, it was not a smooth path. I [was] an old man raising children — one of them wanted to go to school. I had said to myself, I will only go and specialise when I have done my part in educating my children — only then I will go further to educate myself.”

The five-year programme took him eight years to complete because of challenges, including his mother falling ill. 

Speaking on finally graduating alongside his daughter, Oshupile said: “I call my journey and hers a journey of surprising similarities to a common destination. I am saying this because, like me, I did not get good marks to go straight into medicine, that is why I went the roundabout way. My daughter had the same thing. She didn't get very good marks in matric, and throughout her high school, she was a top student. And I was the same, but in matric we just didn't get the best marks to take us to the destination we wanted. She also went the roundabout way.”

On studying at the same institution with her father, Didintle said: “In the beginning, I found that it was a little uncomfortable in that every time one would hear my surname (they would ask if I was related to him) and I would be shy about it.”

“But along the way that is what gave me strength, because he struggled through it all and made something of himself and here I am walking on the same ground he walked on, the same residences that he stayed in. In the end, I really saw why he suggested I go there.”

According to Didintle, her journey had its share of challenges. 

“Medical school was a challenge. I said I wanted to become a doctor without knowing what it entails, but as I grew and matured, I started understanding what would be required of me and started preparing myself for that.

“It was a wild ride and it was a life lesson for me. My dad and I both did not have an easy road. There were so many ups and downs and there was no way that we could have known that we were going to graduate on the same day because there are some passes and some failures, there are some good days and bad,” she said.

“Medical school did not only teach me about academia, or the human body, it taught me about life itself and the essence of life. It taught me about suffering, endurance and building character and building me into the person I am today,” said Didintle.

Oshupile acknowledges that it was God's plan.

“God planned it in a way that our path connected to a point that we came and graduated together.”

“This graduation thing started last year when they did oath-taking, I was there with her mother and the siblings. It was a momentous thing, I was hiding my tears of joy. I felt that we were making history in our own family and institution. I felt honoured by the heavens and the ancestry. Proud is an understatement. I am super proud of her, she is such a strong girl, she is so resilient,” he said.

He acknowledges that it is tricky for him to separate his little girl from the medical professional she is now in.

“I affectionately call her Didigirl, so it's very difficult to say Dr Didigirl. She remains my Didigirl. She also calls me Daddy and has never called me doctor before, I remain Daddy to her,” he said.

Didintle said she was overwhelmed by gratitude after sharing a stage with her father.

“I feel so fulfilled, and I feel so blessed because more than anything I would see the blood and sweat that my father was putting into his work, and to see him walk onto that stage and finally achieve what he has been working hard for was heartwarming to me. To share the stage with him on top of that was monumental — I don't even have the words. I just feel so blessed, and I feel the Lord's hand over my father and over my family that he has been holding our hands through the course and led us to this final moment,” she said.