In the words of Mohau Makhwiting: 'In my community there was an unspoken rule about what girls like me were meant to become'

A first-person reflection by Mohau Makhwiting, African Girls Can Code Initiative alumna, Class of 2023, South Africa

I am 21-year-old analytical chemistry student at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. I grew up in a village called Ga-Maleboho in Limpopo, with both my parents by my side - my childhood was simple, but it was a good one. My dad, especially, has always been there for me, and I would not be who I am without him. I attended high school in my village, at Maleboho High School. The teachers were patient with us and taught us so much; the challenge I faced daily was getting to school. It took an hour to walk to school, and an hour to walk back, every single day. Along the way, we had to cross a river. When the water was low, we would take off our school shoes, roll up our stockings, and wade across, and when it rained and the river rose, we had to find another route, sometimes taking a taxi instead. Come rain or shine, river or no river, we made sure we got to class, because falling behind was not an option.

Growing up in that community, there was an unspoken rule about what girls like me were meant to become: it was either nursing or teaching. That was success, and anything else felt out of reach. So I let go of the dream I secretly carried of one day being a doctor or working in technology, and I accepted that. I told myself I would study what everyone around me said I should study, because I genuinely did not know what else was possible for someone like me. Then in 2023, in Grade 12 (final high school year), my school headmistress told us about a programme called the African Girls Can Code Initiative. Honestly, I did not go in with any real expectations. I had heard we would not need to bring our schoolbooks, so I thought it would just be a fun break, a chance to relax. I was not serious about it at first.

But something shifted while I was there. For me, the turning point was something that might sound small: sitting behind a computer and learning how to switch it on, how to create an email account, and work on a laptop. I had grown up without access to a library, without ever really touching a computer before. That moment, learning something so basic to some people but so new to me, is what stayed with me the most. Alongside that, I learned something bigger: to have confidence in my own dreams, to trust my instincts, and to never give up on what I truly wanted, even when the people around me expected something else from me. By the time the programme ended, I realised I had applied to every university except one, Nelson Mandela University, the one place that actually offered something in STEM. Everywhere else, I had applied for nursing or teaching, still carrying that old mindset. But AGCCI had planted a different question in me that I couldn’t ignore. I researched options in the Faculty of Science and analytical chemistry on my own. I learned that it combined my curiosity about science with something tangible and real, and I made the decision to apply for that. AGCCI gave me the push I needed to be brave and to choose a path in STEM. That is how I became a science student instead of a nursing or teaching student, a shift nobody in my community expected, least of all me.

Today, in June 2026, I have come full circle. I returned to AGCCI, not as a learner this time, but as a training assistant. Standing in front of girls who remind me so much of myself is a feeling I cannot fully put into words. I understand exactly what they are feeling because I once sat exactly where they are sitting. If I could say one thing to them, it would be this: be intentional about everything you do, have confidence in your own path, and never give up, no matter what others expect of you. And if I could speak to my high school self, the girl who did not yet know what AGCCI would mean for her life, I would tell her to stop following other people's footsteps. Stay in your own lane. Focus on your own achievements, because you never know what someone else is truly hoping or praying for. Their path is not your path.

Looking ahead, I want to give back what I have gained. I have already built my own website, and now I want to teach other young girls how to build theirs too, whether for a business, a portfolio, or an educational project. I also want to share what I have learned about coding. In the coming years, I see myself as a certified analytical chemist, and I also see myself having built something bigger: a platform where people, especially those from communities like mine, can easily create and publish their own websites to tell their stories, share what they do, and sell what they make.

I was once a girl who thought her only options were narrow. AGCCI showed me they were never narrow at all but were waiting for me to gain the courage to find them and step into them.

The African Girls Can Code Initiative (AGCCI was commissioned by UN Women and the African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Phase II is funded by the Government of Belgium and Siemens. In South Africa, it is implemented in partnership with the National Departments of Higher Education and Training, Basic Education, and Science, Technology and Innovation.