Meet first African grad of Biomed Engineering at Cyprus University

Tell us briefly about yourself:My name is Morenike Iheme. Since my daddy is Igbo and my mummy Yoruba, they gave me all the names from the three major tribes of Nigeria, so I am Morenike Chizomam Jennifer Jumai Iheme. I am from Owerri in Imo State. I am 24 years old and I just graduated […]

Tell us briefly about yourself:
My name is Morenike Iheme. Since my daddy is Igbo and my mummy Yoruba, they gave me all the names from the three major tribes of Nigeria, so I am Morenike Chizomam Jennifer Jumai Iheme. I am from Owerri in Imo State. I am 24 years old and I just graduated from Cyprus University. I grew up in Bauchi State, where I went to Salama Nursery School, proceeded to Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ABTU) Staff School for primary education and then to Junior Secondary School at ATBU International School. From there I moved to Jos for Senior Secondary School at Kenan High School. But after I finished my secondary school  my UTME result was lost; they said it was missing and they could not find it so I went to do pre-degree in Medicine in Madonna University.
I spent about a year in Madonna before I re-wrote my UTME and then moved to Bingham University, Abuja to read Medicine but due to accreditation issue I left, and that was when my parents decided to send me abroad. This is where I heard about the course, Biomedical Engineering and I was very interested in it because it has the mixture of everything I like, computer, biology, science, medicine, engineering, so it was like expanding my horizon.

Tell us about your journey to this particular university?
I went to Near East University in Cyprus. My elder brother was already in Cyprus doing his masters degree in a different school, so I was supposed to go to the school he was attending but there was no Biomedical Engineering in that school. So instead he got me admission to Near East University, my parents paid my fees and I resumed in February 2010. It wasn’t very easy but I started with a lot of Africans, with some Nigerians in my class but I am the only one that graduated this year. I am the first to graduate from my department as an African.

Can you briefly tell us what the course is all about?
The course is a mixture, like I said earlier. A mixture of everything I like – it is engineering, science, medicine and computer – which means we did a bit of anatomy, physiology; we did some programming courses; we did some general courses like mathematics and I did most of the courses medical doctors are supposed to do.
Generally, a biomedical engineer makes the life of a doctor easier. When you talk about equipment like M.R.I’s, C.T scans, biomedical engineers make them. We also make things like pacemakers for the heart and for those who are missing maybe an eyeball. We can make a synthetic eye ball, synthetic arms, legs, you know we make life easier for human beings generally. But we can also be related to crops because “bio” means life so I can decide to concentrate on crops, which means I can make crops do better. I can do research to improve crop production. There are some crops that are only seasonal and I can do some research to try and make them grow in all seasons. So a biomedical engineer can decide to work in a hospital maintaining their equipment or he can be a researcher or he or she can work as a manufacturer producing these things that the researchers have already sent over to you.

Now that you have graduated, what do intend to do?
First of all I would like to further my education, I would like to concentrate on biotechnology to be precise. I would like to continue with my masters. I have already gotten admission in the UK and I am looking for scholarship right now. My parents who are civil servants as you know are ready to still pay for me even though it is not easy for them. They paid for my undergraduate, they paid for my education all my life. So, am looking for a scholarship to just try to make things easier on them but they have already said even if I don’t get the scholarship they are ready to sponsor me through my masters. So first of all I would like to do my masters and then get a job with may be an NGO. Recently I heard about the Bill and Melinda Gates coming to Nigeria, they want to build a biotechnology lab, there is none in the whole of Nigeria, so they want to build one in Abuja and my masters is going to take a year and they are trying to open it in a year’s time, so it’s like a perfect job for me. So I will go and study and then come back in time to get a job with Bill and Melinda Gates.

Your head of department of the university wrote a letter congratulating you for being the first African to graduate in Biomedical Engineering Department. How do you feel about it?
 I am very proud of it because she called and she told me she is proud of me. You know I am the first black person, not just to start but to even complete the  programme which is a feat and which means I have gone down in the history of my school in Cyprus. So I am very proud.

What will you attribute your success to?
God and my parents. Because when I think of all the time I wasted in Nigeria reading medicine, I think God was just preparing me for this course because when I got there and started reading anatomy, physiology I had no problem at all and my parents paid for my education. When I think of that I want to make them proud and I want to make myself proud too so I just put my head down and studied.

What was your experience of their culture?
Cyprus is  Turkish. At least to be able to survive, you must know the road to the market to buy some things and as for the food, you find things you are used to, buy and cook yourself. But if you want to buy the already made food you can go for the usual chips and chicken which everybody knows. But the Turkish people, when I got there the first meal they gave to me was rice and yoghurt and I was very confused, you know. But I got used to it. I cook by myself and I eat their food, so in the end I just merged the two cultures together you know, so now I can eat  Turkish food and then of course eat the Nigerian food.

 As a Nigerian and African how did they relate with you?
Well, most of them are nice people, they welcome you, they are very interested to know about your culture and everything but like in every international setting there is always a little bit of discrimination going on and Cyprus is not an exception. They are accepting, they are nice people, they want to talk to you, they want to show you or teach you their language and learn yours, but there is always that percentage that is not accepting, so most of the time we just try to avoid those  people and go on with our lives.