The Origins of Pharmeses

Where does the School’s beaded ram mascot come from?

Story by Ryan McDaniel | Photo by Danny Alexander | Published November 5, 2024

Pharmeses. You’ve seen him at Alumni Weekend, at football game tailgates, at conferences, and all over social media. He’s been the Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s mascot for over two years now, working to entertain, inform, and put smiles on the faces of all pharmily members. But where does our mischievous, fun-loving friend come from?

Let’s trace Pharmeses’ roots back from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA all the way to Tengenenge Village, Zimbabwe.

In the fall of 2022, just as the School was preparing to celebrate its 125th anniversary, Class of 1968 alumna, Linda Butler, delivered our beloved Pharmeses to his forever home at the Pharmacy Foundation Office. He was immediately met with adoration and soon had a custom saddle to wear – with the School’s logo on one side and the Carolina Pharmacy seal on the other.

However, Pharmeses’ story starts long before this momentous occasion, and thousands of miles away. In 2009 another UNC alum, Terrence Brayboy, MD, was traveling in Zimbabwe when he noticed a lot of the kids in the village were not in school. “I asked one of the people in the village why so many kids were not attending school, and they told me that parents could not afford the $20 per term to send the kids to school,” he recalls. “So I realized that was something we could help with, and decided to start paying school fees.”

Terrence began his nonprofit, Amina’s Gift, in 2012 with an interesting funding model to help not just the children of rural Zimbabwe, but the community as well. Amina’s Gift purchases artwork from local artists, supporting the work they do. Then the organization re-sells the artwork and the profits from the sale are used to sponsor school tuition and related costs such as school uniforms, lunches, and transportation.

Amina’s Gift works with sculptors, weavers, and bead-and-wire artists in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Ghana to fill its pipeline of artwork in support of the mission. It was one of the Zimbabwean bead-and-wire artists, David Chirisa, who created Pharmeses. “We had a beaded lion that one of the artists had made,” Terrence explains. “One of the alums from Carolina saw it and said, ‘You think you could do a ram with blue horns like Rameses?’ So, I asked David if he could do it and it took about three different trials to get it exactly right and that was the first one that we did.”

It was one of the later iterations that caught Linda Butler’s eye. She and Terrence had met each other through a mutual friend, Brian Kileff, who lives in Chapel Hill but was born in Zimbabwe. Linda knew immediately the School needed a beaded ram to call our own and, through Terrence, commissioned David to create Pharmeses. A few months later, our little mascot arrived in Chapel Hill.

Since its founding, Amina’s Gift has expanded its reach and impact. As well as selling artwork, the organization also accepts donations and direct-sponsorship of students. Terrence’s latest project with Amina’s Gift is Penumbra Farms, a 73-acre sculpture park and working farm in Gibsonville, NC. Penumbra Farms will feature pieces from the artists Amina’s Gift works with, as well as host events. Terrence’s hope is that Penumbra Farms will become a sustainable engine for the work Amina’s Gift does to support African artists and school children.

Terrence, a physician by training, did not foresee his path in life taking him to leading a nonprofit for African school kids, but he seems to have found his calling. “I thought I would be involved in the arts,” Terrence reflects. “Twenty years ago, though, I never imagined I’d be doing this – I thought I’d be practicing medicine. But I love it. It’s absolutely fulfilling, and I think it’s where I should be.”