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Unapologetically brave

Michelline Nawatises

Ndatyoonawa Theodora Tshilunga was born and bred in Windhoek, Namibia. She attended Emma Hoogenhout Primary School and later moved to Deutsche Hohere Privatschule (DHPS), where she matriculated. In her early teens, she was involved with the Uitani Childline Radio, which introduced her to projects that eventually sparked her self-confidence, independence and innovation.

Tshilunga pursued a bachelor’s degree in construction economics, which is equivalent to a quantity surveying qualification. She is currently a site agent at the National Housing Enterprise (NHE). “In addition to that, I have a certificate in project management, which generally embraces my job as a site agent,” she said.

Her job entails facilitating pre-building processes, namely project cost estimating and compiling contract documentation as well as supervising the construction of affordable houses by making sure quality is maintained and contractors are paid timeously for work approved. Furthermore, she carries out budget control during all her projects. “I am the focal person for all projects in central and southern and facilitate post-building processes which include final accounts preparations, retention administering, etc,” she added.

Asked what challenges her about her career, she mentioned being in a male-dominated industry can sometimes be intimidating when working with contractors who are reluctant to take site instructions from a young woman. Her biggest accomplishment is being appointed by the minister of works and transport to serve as a board member in the Namibia Council for Architects and Quantity Surveyors.

The fierce Tshilunga’s typical day in the office consists of receiving a verbal update from her foreman on his site visit from the previous day and any other encounters that may need her attention or that may need the contract administrator’s input, as she directly reports to him. She then goes through her emails to reply to contractors or any other stakeholders within the company that may need information on a project she’s working on. “I carry out my site visits in Windhoek and return to the office to either attend to any unplanned or spontaneous problem or instruction which may arise. As construction can be really unpredictable, it requires one to be ready for anything,” she said.

The advice she would give to young people is that quantity surveying or construction management is mostly unknown to women. “I encourage more ladies to take it up and not have the wrong perception of it being a labour intensive industry which requires aggression and physical stamina, as these are just labels cultivated in our young minds by the dominating men who would like to pair it to masculinity,” she said.

Tshilunga plans to further her studies and create employment through a building consulting firm and introduce a new, affordable and durable building system. Her biggest fear is to be so accomplished that she doesn’t make any progress to develop herself further due to a false notion that she has achieved all she ever wanted.

If she had an opportunity to change something in the world, she wishes she could change the land and housing policies in Namibia, to enable new alternative technology to be normalised and accepted at local authorities and also to alter the dynamics of cheaper land servicing to ultimately make more people homeowners, she said.