About This Attraction
Cecilia Makiwane was born in 1880 at the MacFarlane Mission in the Victoria district of Alice in the Eastern Cape. She later attended the Lovedale Girl’s School where she obtained a teacher’s certificate. In 1903, Makiwane enrolled, even though she had her teacher’s certificate. She sat for her final examination for general nurses of the Colonial Medical Council on the 19 December 1907.
On the 7 January 1908, Makiwane was registered as the first black professional nurse. She worked with the Lovedale Hospital and served the hospital for many years until she was granted long leave due to ill health. She died in 1919 at the age of 39 and a hospital in Mdantsane Township in the Eastern Cape has been named after her.