A Kuils River Master of Law student was lucky enough to return home from the Netherlands just before the Covid-19 pandemic caused restrictions to be placed on global travel.
Tarryn Abrahams, 24, a student at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), had spent five months at the University of Leiden as a Nelson Mandela Scholarship recipient where she completed three Master’s level courses.
Ms Abrahams says she saw people being scanned at the airport in the Netherlands and in Cape Town when she returned on February 5.
A month later, on March 5, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases confirmed its first positive case of Covid-19 in South Africa.
Ms Abrahams is glad she is back in the country.
She says the idea of being away from home – without knowing how long the lockdown would last – still haunts her today.
“I didn’t know that things would turn out to be like it is now, with our country in lockdown and many stranded abroad. It would’ve been a nightmare for me.”
Ms Abrahams recorded excellent results in her studies in the Netherlands.
She was commended for this by Child Rights Professor, Julia Sloth-Nielsen at the University of Leiden.
Her courses included the Global European and Labor Law and European Protection of Human Rights.
Ms Abrahams has her mind set on pursuing a career in human rights law, with the ultimate goal of opening her own firm.
She says she has endured many health challenges during her six years of being a student, but nothing held her back.
“I have endometriosis which causes immense pain and makes me skip classes, but once I get back to feeling myself again I come out stronger than before.”
The idea of becoming a lawyer was sparked when Ms Abrahams was in Grade 2 at De Kuilen Primary School and she watched the movie Legally Blonde starring Reese Witherspoon.
“The movie is about a woman who joins a law school and I wanted to be like her.”
The ambition to be a lawyer stuck with her through high school.
She was motivated to follow the field of human rights when, in her third year of studying, she became an au pair and saw how little rights these workers have.
She says this is something she would fight for.
Ms Abrahams will be working towards her doctorate and has considered lecturing once she has completed all her studies.
She says the words that keep her going are: “Push for it, go for it and don’t let anything stop you.”
She cannot wait to get back to campus and is finding the lockdown frustrating.
Ms Abrahams encourages her community to stay home and stay inside so that the virus can be defeated and things can go back to normal.