Little girl named Charne from the Northern Cape. Image: Supplied

Dr Charne Petinger’s journey to becoming a researcher at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) is one of resilience, purpose and representation. Her message is clear: young, brown, queer girls should know they can take up space even when they cannot see themselves reflected in it.

Born in Keimoes in the Northern Cape and raised between that province and Cape Town, Dr Petinger’s childhood was marked by abuse. Her life changed the day her mother found the courage to escape an armed and violent situation, protecting her and rebuilding their lives from the ground up.

Dr Petinger completed school in Upington, near the family farm, and although her grades were average, her matric year ignited a determination to honour her mother’s sacrifices.

She focused, stopped partying, and committed to becoming a psychologist so she could help others facing hardship.

At only 17, she arrived at UWC alone, scared, and barely able to speak English. She built a supportive community of friends, and soon her mother joined her in Cape Town, even resigning from her job to access her pension to pay for her daughter’s first year of tuition. Her strong academic performance earned her a scholarship for the remainder of her studies.

Charne and her mother. Image: Supplied

Her passion for research emerged during her honours year, shifting her focus from clinical psychology to research psychology, a path shaped, she says, by her own experiences of trauma and a desire to contribute to the greater good. While completing her Master’s, she worked to cover her fees and faced growing health complications.

In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, she underwent her first abdominal surgery and was diagnosed with endometriosis. The chronic pain and exhaustion that followed made everyday life difficult, yet she continued her studies and began her internship and PhD journey.

Her PhD became the most challenging chapter of her life - mentally, physically, spiritually and intellectually. Working with adolescents living with HIV reshaped her understanding of resilience. Their stories deepened her passion for research and strengthened her commitment to support young people in reaching their potential.

Image: Supplied

Her doctoral work produced eight manuscripts, seven already published, and opened doors to present her work internationally. She travelled to two states in the USA, Rwanda, Durban, Johannesburg, and multiple local conferences in Cape Town, sharing the voices and experiences of the adolescents she worked with.

Today, Dr Petinger continues her work at UWC on an NIH-funded clinical trial, supported by mentorship from international scholars through the Prevention and Treatment of Adolescent HIV Implementation Science Network and the Adolescent HIV Implementation Science Alliance.  

Despite her achievements, she remains grounded. She is still a young woman who enjoys making TikToks, visiting her family’s farm, and navigating the uncertainties of adulthood.

What she has now, she says, is privilege, the ability to use her platform to uplift others: those living with endometriosis or HIV, girls surviving gender-based violence, or children from small Northern Cape towns who don’t yet know what they can achieve.

“I came to UWC as Charne, a scared first-generation university student,” she reflects. “Now I’m leaving as Dr Petinger. A leader, a scholar, and someone determined to stand up for every young person in South Africa.”

“Mama, I made it” - Dr Charne Petinger. Image: Supplied