1/10/2024 0 Comments Space pioneer gold farmingThey were looking for research officers in the oncology department. Rather fortuitously, an advert on the wall of the lab caught her eye. I want to do something that means something, I want to do something that has high impact.’ ” “I came down to the lab, and it was one of those days that I had to analyse another 40 mouse livers and I thought, ‘Who the hell cares? I can’t do this any more. That’s when the boredom began to creep in. ‘Doing something that means something’įor her honours degree research project, Terblanche chose to study the chemical reactions that allowed animals to become nocturnal. She followed through but didn’t want to leave her passions behind, so she completed a degree in zoology and botany at the University of Pretoria. Her dad, however, had other plans and despite her tears over the prospect of leaving, he insisted that she go to university. When I got to matric, I told my dad that I was staying to farm with him.” “I worked the land, I drove the tractor, and I worked the soil. Her upbringing fostered a deep love of nature and animals. When they started boxing lessons, I was six years old, and I also joined in.” I rode the cattle, rode horses, and climbed trees. “I grew up roughly about six boys and I did everything they did. One pair of shoes for church and one for school was more than enough.” Professor Petro Terblanche loves horses.īetween children at the neighbouring farms and her cousins, Terblanche spent her free time hanging out with boys. “I grew up on a very basic, rural farm, but it never felt like I was not cared for or that I didn’t have enough. Terblanche grew up on her family’s farm in Brits in North West - an hour’s drive from Pretoria. But she prefers to spend her time with the real animals and on alternate weekends she makes the trip from Cape Town to Pretoria to spend time on her farm with her own herd of more than 60 horses. On a bookshelf in her office, there is a statue of four horses - each representing a different element: water, earth, fire and air. The cutting-edge work that Terblanche is now involved in is a far cry from the farm where she grew up as a child. “I knew then nothing will stop the team,” Terblanche recounts while sitting in that same office with a silver cut-out of the Afrigen logo behind her.
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