She comes from a family of extraordinary women, who love to learn and won’t allow anything to stand in the way of them carving out a better life through education. Mary Jiyani not only holds a Mandela Rhodes Scholarship. She is also the first female Malawian to be awarded a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.

Rhodes and Mandela Rhodes Scholar Mary Jiyani.

She approached Helen Scott from Private Law for information about the Mandela Rhodes scholarship. Scott misheard her and started talking about the Rhodes Scholarship instead. Although she had known about the Rhodes Scholarship, she hadn’t considered applying for it until this conversation. She applied for both feeling positive about her chances to get the former, since 49 scholarships are awarded, while for the latter applicants in five countries (Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Swaziland) competed for one scholarship.

In the first eight months of this year, she will be working towards completing three quarters of an LLM in Private Law and Human Rights at UCT.

In September yet another long-held dream comes true for when she starts reading for a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Law, which is a postgraduate degree at Oxford University. Mary always planned to study in England; however the journey there took an unexpected detour.

Upon completing her A-levels in Malawi, Mary was accepted to four English universities. She chose Manchester University, but her visa was declined. “I did not want to take a gap year, so I started applying at universities in South Africa,” she explains.

She submitted her application to UCT on the day applications closed, was accepted to the university and arrived in Cape Town at the beginning of 2012 with her mother.

Her mom is a secretary at a bank in the Malawian city Blantyre and the owner of a bridal boutique. Her eldest sister, Olive, lives in Kenya and recently decided to study psychology even though she already has an MBA and B.Comm-degree. Priscilla, their middle sister and a medical doctor, is also re-educating herself. Next year she starts her studies in ophthalmology at UCT.

“I don’t remember ever being told to study,” Mary recalls, adding that she and her sisters always liked school.

Life changing experience

Summer work at a government legal aid clinic in Blantyre, provided the reasons for the innate belief that one day she would study law. “I heard heart-breaking story after heart-breaking story. I’ve always believe people deserve better,” says the Law alumnus whose twin interests are advocacy and human rights.

She first volunteered at the legal aid clinic in 2010 and went back during summer holidays for three years, the last time in her first year at UCT.

Her plan is to teach and do research upon completion of her studies. In addition to studying, she also serves in the faculty as a teaching assistant covering subjects like Comparative Legal History.