Go to high school, matriculate, get into university, study medicine and become a doctor. While this may have been the dream Onazo Daniso had growing up in rural Lusikisiki, her journey was anything but straightforward. Instead, she took a detour into nursing, fought tirelessly to overcome financial hardship, and balanced work with medical studies to finally graduate with top honours and become Dr Onazo Daniso.
Durban, South Africa (19 May 2025) – It is so inspiring to see a young person relentlessly go after their dreams, no matter how consuming or challenging the road to securing them may be.
For as long as she can remember, Onazo Daniso longed for nothing but to become a doctor, and for years, she balanced life as a medical student by day and a part-time nurse by night to answer her true calling.
On Wednesday, 14 May, that determination to secure the title of ‘doctor’ and heal lives was materialised as she crossed the graduation stage at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), earning her Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degree cum laude!
According to UKZN, her impressive results of an academic average of at least 75% across all her modules, a feat worth praising, especially for someone who spent years juggling work, study, student leadership, financial hardship, and the emotional weight of front-line pandemic duty.
“I have always wanted to be a doctor. I can’t imagine doing anything else. I love my job, I think I would have been miserable doing something else,” she said shortly after her graduation.
Onazo’s love for medicine began after witnessing the healthcare struggles in Lusikisiki, the rural town where she grew up.
The journey to becoming Dr Daniso
The idea of becoming a doctor was further planted in her mind while in Grade 11 and living with her uncle in King Williams Town. In 2013, while in Matric, Onazo applied to study medicine at the University of the Free State but was only accepted to study nursing.
She pursued a nursing degree in 2014, and even though financial struggles threatened to derail her success, Onazo secured funding for her final two years.
By 2018, she had completed her nursing degree and had to serve one year of paid community service. Even though making money brought her a sense of accomplishment, Onazo couldn’t help but feel that she was not exactly where she was meant to be.
“I always told my colleagues I was going back to study medicine. I needed to understand more and to be part of the decision-making,” she told UKZN.
However, her bursary conditions required her to work for the sponsoring company for three years after her community service. This obstacle saw Onazo saving aggressively. By year-end, she had scraped together the R116,000 needed to repay the bursar and some money needed to register at UKZN.
Onazo began her medical degree at UKZN in 2019. In the first month of study, she commuted between Bloemfontein and Durban, attending classes on her off days, as she still had to fulfil her contractual obligations for community service until the end of that month.
In March, she moved to Durban and started a crowdfunding campaign, raising R11,000 while returning to part-time nursing due to uncertain funding.
During COVID-19 in 2020, she worked high-risk night shifts at a private hospital, witnessing many patient deaths, which left her feeling powerless. This trauma led her to take a break from nursing for her mental health, but it was also that very chaos of the pandemic that strengthened her resolve to pursue medicine.
“It made me more certain that I needed to become a doctor.”
Onazo returned to her studies and, in the years that followed, continued to work and study under intense pressure.
Today, a recent graduate and an intern at Prince Mshiyeni Memorial Hospital in Durban, the 29-year-old has achieved what once seemed impossible and is a doctor with a truly inspirational story behind her hard-earned medical degree.
Sources: University of KwaZulu-Natal
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