From hospital ward to Mandela Rhodes Scholar

When Lucky Buhlebodwa Geluk walked into her Mandela Rhodes Scholarship interview, she brought an unusual companion with her: a panda plushie. It was not a gimmick. On 7 September, the Johannesburg-born Lucky graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial and Organisational Psychology and Afrikaans (with distinction), and the plushie was a source of strength and comfort on her journey to success.

Lucky purchased Panda Manda (as she affectionately refers to the plushie) during her first year at the University of Cape Town (UCT), just a month before she became seriously ill and had to return home without writing her first-semester exams.

During that difficult period, Panda Manda became a source of comfort and hope. So, when the time came to face a scholarship interview that had left her feeling nervous and out of place, Lucky decided the panda belonged there too.

“I remember asking each of them, ‘Do you think it would be okay if I brought my panda?’” she recalled, referring to the Mandela Rhodes Scholars who helped her prepare for the interview.

They were surprised. “But I said, yes, my panda, my panda plushie.” She brought him and the reaction was not what she feared.

Instead, the unconventional presence helped break the ice. “Something as unconventional and soft and cute as a panda, just disrupting that train of anxious thoughts, really does something,” Lucky said.

The panda represented much more than a childhood-style comfort object. It was connected to a period of illness, recovery and uncertainty – and to the person she had become since then.

“I associate him with a lot of comfort, but also hope and really an extension of the parts of me that I feel like are still healing and can provide healing to other people,” she said.

In many ways, the panda became a symbol of the very quality Lucky believes helped her secure the scholarship: authenticity.

“I think the authenticity that I brought into the room was probably my biggest superpower.”

From a difficult first year to a scholarship

Lucky’s first year at UCT was anything but straightforward. Illness forced her to leave university temporarily, and she did not write her first-semester exams. Looking back now, the experience remains emotional.

“If you told me there, in that hospital ward, ‘Hang in there, you’ll be a Mandela Rhodes Scholar by the time you’re on your way to finishing your degree,’” she said, “I would be like, come on now.”

Yet the setback did not define the rest of her university career. After she spent three days in hospital and six months in Johannesburg for her treatment, Lucky returned determined to understand the university system, complete her degree and recover the academic ground she had lost.

“My handbook was my Bible at some point,” Lucky said, describing the determination she developed to finish her degree on time and with distinction. That determination eventually led her to the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship.

She had first discovered the scholarship through an internet search during her first year, but it became more tangible after she encountered Mandela Rhodes Scholars through her involvement in student leadership.

By her third year, she knew she wanted to apply. The process was daunting. She was often the youngest person in the room and wondered whether her credentials could compete with those of other accomplished candidates.

But instead of trying to manufacture a more polished version of herself, she chose to trust her own story. “I was very intentional about staying in where I was at the time, sort of trusting that my experience is valuable enough relative to my life stage.”

The panda was part of that decision. So was the willingness to walk into the room as herself.

A scholar who believes opportunities must be shared

For Lucky, becoming a Mandela Rhodes Scholar was not simply a personal achievement. It was a symbol that her difficult first year had not been the end of her story.

“It definitely meant that it does get better,” she said.

But the scholarship also brought a sense of responsibility. Lucky believes opportunities mean little if they are not used to open doors for others. “It’s good and well to have opportunities, but they end up meaning very little if we can’t bring other people into the room with us.”

That philosophy has shaped much of her student leadership at UCT. As a mentorship and health and safety sub-warden at Baxter Hall residence, she worked with 24 student mentors who volunteered their time to support residents.

One of the moments that stayed with her came when she deliberately stepped back and allowed the mentors to plan a residence hike on their own. Watching them build on one another’s ideas gave her a new understanding of what leadership could look like.

“It was just so beautiful,” Lucky said.

For her, leadership is not about always taking charge. It is about creating the conditions in which other people can flourish.

Giving students a platform

That same philosophy inspired another Baxter Hall initiative: a residence newsletter, The Bridge, designed to showcase the lives and achievements of ordinary students.

Lucky deliberately chose not to centre the publication on people who already held formal leadership positions.

“Baxter is what, 200-and-something people,” she said. “There are surely people doing amazing things, meaningful things, and things that they would also love to have a platform to share [on].”

The project brought together students from different academic disciplines and gave residents a platform to tell their stories in their own words.

“We made them verbatim. Your words, they carry worth as they are.”

The project eventually earned her and the team a Legacy Award at Baxter Hall – the first of its kind.

Language as another way of making people feel seen

Lucky’s interest in making people feel seen also runs through her academic journey. She graduated with majors in industrial and organisational psychology and Afrikaans and is now completing an honours degree in Afrikaans.

Afrikaans was not part of her original plan. She initially intended to study clinical psychology, but an orientation-week presentation introduced her to organisational psychology. When she discovered Afrikaans could be taken as a full major, she decided to try it.

This became the launchpad for her already existing passion for languages.

“There’s such a deep intimacy and a value in being able to speak someone’s language.”

“You can use language to build different bridges,” she said.

For Lucky, speaking to someone in their own language can create an intimacy that is often lost in formal spaces. “There’s such a deep intimacy and a value in being able to speak someone’s language.”

Her studies have also challenged narrow ideas about Afrikaans, exposing her to the language’s diverse identities and histories.

“It’s always very beautiful to see what worlds and dimensions languages open up.”

Nourishing the next generation of students

Lucky plans to continue working in spaces that directly affect students.

She believes universities need to create environments where students feel safe enough to think, engage and participate – but argues that such spaces require more than simply providing a chair and inviting people into a conversation.

“There’s self-confidence. There’s, ‘Has the person eaten today?’” she said.

This thinking has inspired the Empilweni Nourishment Project, a residence-based vegetable garden that aims to address food insecurity while encouraging students to think about nourishment as empowerment rather than charity.

The project was inspired by Lucky’s mother, a gardener who has long shared produce with people in her community.

Lucky hopes the initiative will eventually inspire similar projects in other residences and open opportunities for research, entrepreneurship and innovation.