August 9 is South African Women's Day, and the month of August celebrates South African Women. For this month the Department speak to three of our excepting female students from each of our academic programs: Zeenat from Geography & Environmental Science, Mpho from Geoinformatics, and Bhavani from Meteorology. Here, we speak to Bhavani Brijlal, about her interest in meteorology, and what made her the exceptional woman she is today. Bhavani is currently enrolled in her BScHons Meteorology.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself and why you chose to study meteorology

A: My name is Bhavani Brijlal, from the time I was in grade 5 I’ve always been intrigued by the chaos associated with weather and the atmosphere. Choosing to do this degree has helped me understand just how complex and intricate meteorology as a science is, that it’s not just about predicting the weather or knowing the names of different clouds, it’s a beautiful puzzle built by nature and we only have a handful of pieces to work with to produce forecasts and predict weather phenomena. It’s definitely a career path I can see myself enjoying as it keeps me on my toes. 

A: Something unique about me, I guess, is that from a young age I have always been interested in archery. As I finally started going for archery lessons last year I realized that with archery the more you think about hitting the bullseye on that target, meters, and meters away from you, the more likely you are to miss the target altogether. However working on improving the consistency of things that you can control, like your aim and form, will always yield better results each time. Doing archery constantly reminds me that overthinking the small things in life can make you miss your goal completely… but staying consistent with the things I can control will ultimately make my life better each time.  

Q: What inspires you and makes you the exceptional student and woman you are today?

A: I’ve always been competitive about my academic life since high school, and I’ve worked my way through many challenges life has thrown at me in my first and second years of this degree. I know what it feels like to fail something, be it a module or a test… and because of understanding that feeling I was able to pick myself up and rebuild myself each time coming out stronger because of it. To all the new students I’d just like to say, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself… because at the end of the day if it doesn’t kill you it really will make you stronger.

For more on Bhavani, please click on the links below:

• One of the Department's execptional academic achievers of 2021