Interview with Phyllis Gathoni Mathenge, first ever female geothermal drilling engineer at GDC Kenya
By Malemba Mkongo, Kenyan correspondent
Phyllis Gathoni Mathenge, you are the Kenya’s first ever female geothermal drilling engineer at Geothermal Development Company, how does it feel? Where did this amazing journey start?
It feels amazing and exciting knowing I set precedent for the upcoming generation of engineers. I am convinced that although I was the first, I will not be the last.
I’m in my early 30s. I hold a BSc in Electrical and Electronic engineering and MA in Project Planning and Management, both from the University of Nairobi.
The journey has not been easy, but it has been fulfilling and I have enjoyed every bit of it. I have not arrived, I am a work in progress. I am journeying.
Scaling through the ranks which includes drilling operations, how has it been?
I joined Geothermal Development Company (GDC) as a graduate engineer in 2013 where I learnt what the company was about, the company’s operations & structure and projects. You see, geothermal energy was a new and exciting field for me and I fell in love with it.
After one year as graduate trainee, I was deployed in the Maintenance Department as a rig maintenance engineer (Electrical). Here, my work was to ensure at least 95% availability of rig equipment for use by Drilling Operations crew. I was involved in drafting and executing assorted maintenance plans and schedules. I worked with an amazing team and to be honest, they taught me the tricks of the job.
I later moved to the more exciting Drilling Operations department to become the first female drilling engineer and supervisor in my company. I was the only female in my team and the youngest. This deployment was exciting, challenging and uncomfortable. I knew that whatever legacy I left would affect the way women are treated after me. I had a personal objective to ensure that my performance would not lock doors for other women who would come after me.
As a shift supervisor in one of the 2000 hp rigs, the drilling operations crew was my responsibility. My duties entailed crew supervision, execution of the drilling program, liaising with maintenance crew to ensure maximum availability of equipment, monitoring material movement and usage, ensuring safe operation of equipment and crew while conserving the environment. My crew had to clock 12 hours daily!
As a drilling engineer in the geothermal field, my work was to develop, plan, cost and supervise the operations necessary for drilling of geothermal wells. I was involved from the initial design of the well to testing, completion and abandonment. I worked in consultation with other professionals, such as geologists and geoscientists to monitor drilling progress, oversee safety management and ensure the protection of the environment.
On a normal day, my work was to track costs, manage material movement, prepare drilling plans to meet project objectives and monitor drilling operations against budget. Basically, I was to ensure that we drill the geothermal well to target depth, within time and cost, while adhering to statutory and legal requirements.
I worked as a drilling engineer and supervisor in Menengai Geothermal Field where I drilled several production wells and later in Baringo Silale Geothermal Project where I drilled exploration wells in the Paka Prospect area.
Mid this year, I moved to the office. Here, I am involved in a lot of planning, procurements, budgeting and supporting field operations alongside other engineers. I handle BSC and performance tracking in the department to ensure that we are meeting our targets. I am also an ISO Champion where I ensure quality in our operations is observed and that my department meets its quality objectives while analyzing gaps and areas of improvement that need to be worked on.
As a lot data is generated in our operations, I ensure that it is well backed up and accessible when needed. Once the data is analyzed, it is used to for data-driven decision making.
How was your experience with your team and peers when you became a drilling engineer and Supervisor?
My appointment was received with mixed feelings. My seniors and peers were very supportive. However, my new team was very skeptical. I was mandated with supervising an all-men team with most of them having more experience than I did; I was also the youngest in the team. I was tasked to supervise men who have been doing the job for almost 20 years (veterans) and I was the new “young turk” on the job. Most of them felt I would undermine their experience. It took a while for my team to realize that I was there to stay. I did my best and with time we jelled to become a highly dependable, effective, efficient and technically solid team. I worked with the team for over five years till mid this year when I came back to the office to take on more responsibilities. We became the best drilling shift crew in the company.
An amazing team this has been; with them we drilled several wells within Menengai project area and in mid-2018, we moved our rig 200 km north to the Baringo- Silale geothermal block to drill exploration wells in the Paka Geothermal prospect area. Thankfully we were able to meet our objectives by drilling 3 wells to confirm the existence of geothermal resource in Paka, update the conceptual model and collect samples that would assist in understanding the characteristics of the reservoir/field.
One thing I must mention is that in Africa there’s usually cultural bias towards women. I had to contend quite an amount of it, but I never dwelled on it much.
The training must have been intensive due to the job demand which requires high and demanding skills, how do you ensure you keep up with the new trends in geothermal engineering? Do you undergo frequent trainings?
With the kind of responsibility in my line of work, learning cannot stop. We have to keep reading a lot to learn what other companies/countries in the same sector are doing as well as to keep abreast of the new trends in the geothermal world. I have undergone intensive training both locally and abroad e.g. in China and Japan where I learnt about geothermal drilling engineering. GDC also conducts a lot of in-house trainings where we keep abreast with the incoming technology in the drilling engineering. Again, I’m always on the lookout for online courses, webinars, conferences, symposiums and workshops.
For my ambitions to climb the ranks, I had to go back to school where I recently attained my Master’s degree in Project Planning and Management. A PhD soon? Maybe.
What was the societal attitude when you began the journey? Is there an improvement between when you started and how it is now?
In the African culture, women were and still are judged harshly by the society. They are judged with higher standards compared to men. I have obviously seen so much improvement in attitude towards women in the course of my career but we have not arrived yet. More needs be done.
The numbers of women in STEM has really grown because of the deliberate and calculated efforts taken by many men and women. There is continuous improvement compared to how it was 10 years ago. Even though we are still far from where we want, we have made huge strides. We also have men who are cheering us on.
Then you joined GDC, what are some of the success and challenges that you have endured to get to where you are today?
There are many things that I celebrate in my journey. My most recent is our ability to move a rig into a new field in the Baringo Silale geothermal block where we were successfully drilled 3 exploration wells. Confirming the existence of the geothermal resource in Paka was such a win! I cannot describe the elation you get to see steam gush out of a well. This time, it was 3 wells and they all turned out productive.
This is a male dominated field, how do you maneuver around and how have you been able to keep off the negative energy channeled towards you as a person or a career woman in geothermal engineering?
My work has literally involved getting my hands dirty – sometimes having to scale heights and climbing ladders. This has not always gone down well with some people who think this is “unwomanly” and such kind of jobs should be left to men. Often, I have been questioned on how I would care for my family and children with the “dirty job”. At first, it would really get on my nerves, but not anymore.
I was born and raised in Africa. In my opinion, culture and the social norms arising from it play a significant role in how people perceive women’s role in society and can affect the pace at which societies achieve gender equality and empowerment goals.
In my experience, women are subjected to higher moral standards and criticism and are therefore judged more harshly on literally anything that comes up. As a woman, I understand that I am in Africa and cultural bias is more than in other continents; and this does not bother me. Gender equality is a fight that started many decades ago and will take many decades to attain. This does not mean that it does not affect me, it does especially if you factor in that I work in a male dominated field.
Over time, I have learnt some strategies that work for me: and every day, I allow myself to learn new things and to unlearn old habits that are no longer tenable.
You need to know your values. These should act as your irreducible minimums. This will help you stay grounded in the decisions that you choose to make.
You always need to ensure you are technically competent and focus on being a GOAT (Acronym for “greatest of all time“) at whatever you set to do.
Focus on improving yourself. Remember, nothing has meaning unless for the meaning you give to it. It is therefore necessary for you to concentrate on things that help you. Declare and give life to positive things that you want in your life. You are your number one fan and it is your responsibility to stay positive, stay sane, and smile.
Be clever and practical in your decision making. Choose your fights wisely, with time, you realize that some issues are indeed non-issues in your journey.
Know your enemies and know yourself. This helps you to choose your battles wisely as you understand your potential and know your strengths, while not underestimating your opponent.
Never take a meeting, however small you think it is, when you are unprepared. You cannot afford to hang yourself.
Seek help. You owe your sanity to yourself.
What are some of the opportunities in geothermal engineering that women especially girls need to explore?
Engineering is quite wide and it has many opportunities for our women and girls to explore. There are many career paths in engineering and women have a choice to pick what suits them.
Did you have mentors and how did they inspire the choices you made?
I have specific mentors for specific things because I believe one person cannot have everything. They inspire, influence and shape my life differently.
However, I have two that stand out. They have walked the journey with me, encouraged me, criticized me but most of all, they have cheered me on and prayed with me.
My mother! She has supported all my dreams even when I thought they were too huge for me. She is my best friend, my mentor and prayer partner.
My grandmother, Cucu Isabel has been my career checker. She pushes me towards my goals as she is always keeping me up to speed on what next I should do. She has a beautiful story. She started her undergraduate when she was already married with children and has gone ahead to attain a PhD. She is now a doctor in clinical Psychology! She is my super role model and the perfect example of focus and possibility.
As a country, are we making strides in encouraging girls to join geothermal industry? If yes, is there an increase of women joining STEM or they are still shying away from this path?
Yes. There has been a steady growth in the number of girls joining STEM. This could be attributed to the deliberate efforts and outreach programs of many men and women to encourage girls to choose the STEM path. During my time at university, my engineering class had 15 girls which was an improvement compared to when engineering classes did not have girls or had few. At the moment, most STEM classes have a 40-60 percent women-men occupancy. That is a huge stride
There are obviously challenges which are still hindering the growth of numbers of women in STEM, but for today, I choose to celebrate the strides we have made.
We seem to be training girls in STEM but not retaining them. We need to do something about that!
As women in engineering, what are you doing to ensure more girls are joining the sector?
We are doing a lot of mentorship for young girls especially those who are still in school. We have been conducting programs in various schools across the country while inspiring and encouraging our girls that engineering is doable.
We are also mentoring women who studied engineering but are not practicing maybe due to personal reasons or circumstances. This is because a lot of efforts is channeled towards girls who have not joined, but how about those who have joined but fell by the wayside or faced challenges and gave up? There are also those who dropped out because they felt their careers have been stagnant. As women who are already practicing, we make sure to show them the right channels to land more engineering opportunities. My mantra on this is “leave no woman behind”. We encourage, motivate, inspire, influence and network with each other.
What legacy do you want to leave in this industry when you retire and what are you doing to achieve it?
I want to achieve my maximum potential as an engineer and a human being. This way, I can influence more girls into STEM.
I want to equip women with knowledge and skills necessary for them to blossom, shine, achieve their maximum potential and thrive. I need women to know that technical competence is not the only competence that you need. Who equips engineers with communication skills? Presentation skills? Power dressing? Etiquette? Who?
I want to inspire women to challenge themselves and be better.
That is why I love mentoring girls especially those in areas where everything seems impossible.
What will you tell a young girl or woman who wants to join this sector or those who are already in?
You will never be ready. Start now. Take a leap of faith and shove the shy away.
Show up, and if there is no seat at the table, please bring in your folding chair.
You will often be talked about, so what? Don’t sweat little stuff.
Believe in yourself. Cheer yourself. because no one can cheer yourself better than you.
Dream big dreams and then wake up and achieve them.
