6 THRIVE Edition 2 of tourism knowledge on the continent whilst acknowledging the unique nature and characteristics of the continent. How did my My journey all began? Coming to South Africa in 1997, like many young children growing up, my dream was to become a soccer star. In fact, prior to this, I had played football up to division 2 of the National Soccer League AS A goal keeper in Cameroon. Many of my friends, classmates at school and members of my community were convinced that this dream would become a reality for me. However, when I arrived in South Africa, I very quickly realised how challenging ordinary life in the country was and soon found myself looking for other economic ways to survive. Work was not easy to come by. Joining the informal economy was the only choice I had to raise any income and that is how I became a car guard. After spending about eight months guarding cars in Cape Town, I was offered a job as a security officer at a hotel. While higher education was always on my mind, it was from here onwards that my passion to further my education was truly ignited. After working in various capacities and saving up some money, I was eventually able to enrol to further my university education in 2006. This decision was strongly rewarded when I graduated with a PhD at the UKZN in 2014. From being a car guard, it had taken me 17 years to progress to get a Doctorate qualification. Through my academic journey and in my quest to be an African scholar, I have conducted research across several African countries, including South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Gabon, Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria. To watch the full lecture, Click Here:
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