Pastoral Care for Law Offenders and Victims of Crime

The module is conducted by Dr Kuyler and their community service is done at Group 4 Mangaung Private Prison. Students from Master’s degree level went there more than three times to interact and learn about the circumstances of the inmates. In their response students said they were quite scary of the inmates, but after interaction with them they learned to accept them as normal human beings who can be rehabilitated.

Secondly, on 10 June 2012, Dr Kuyler presented a community service workshop at the Youth Centre building of the VGK in Heatherdale. The workshop was about Dealing with trauma as a layperson.

Mission Practice

This module is conducted by Prof. Verster at MUCPP and Towers of Hope. The students who do this module are in their third year and they visited the place about three times this year. Some of the activities they did at Towers of Hope is cleaning the CBD, evangelising the women of the night and feeding the homeless people. At MUCPP their activities were to learn about the poverty alleviation project done at that place. Lastly, Prof. Verster wrote a book on Poverty 2012 which is a result of his project on poverty and it was also launched few weeks ago.

Diaconics (Practical Theology on Society, Faith Communities and Service Ministry)

The module is conducted at Towers of Hope whereby students engage in activities of social transformation.

MoU with the Heidedal Forum

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Faculty of Theology and partners in Heidedal was approved by the executive committee of the UFS. On 26 May 2010 this memorandum was signed during a function in the Centenary Complex. The partners are: Reach, Dr. Blok High School, Heatherdale Diakonale Dienste and Kindersorg.

A questionnaire was drawn up in March 2012, which the partners then completed in order to aid in identifying the community of Heidedal’s concerns. A summary of their concerns was drawn up and the portfolio committee Community Engagement and Service Learning addressed these concerns and ways on how to assist the community of Heidedal.

Diaconics (practical theology on society, faith communities and  service ministry) (PTH314)

In this module students attended more than three sessions at Towers of Hope to learn and experience about ministry to the homeless people, ladie s of the night and to the neighbouring block of flats. The experience of the students in general was positive, eye-opening and to others it was emotional, especially when they visited the site where the street kids sleep.

 
Street children sleeping under a bridge

Theology of Mission as Holistic Encounter for Poverty Alleviation (TMI314)

This is the module about the missiological study and in this module students also visited Towers of Hope (TOH) and township churches. The purpose of visiting TOH was to help and allow students to experience how to proclaim the message of hope to the destitute and the neighbouring block of flats. The students were engaged in Bible study, singing, holy communion and evangelisation. The students' reactions were mixed as some of them really like the idea of walking in the street and proclaiming the gospel, while others felt that it is too risky as people might reject or ignore you. Concerning the visit to the township churches the purpose was to expose students to other cultures and how they do ministry and to interact.

A service at Towers of hope 

Pastoral Care for Law Offenders and Victims of Crime (PTH846 & PTH886)

 

These modules are about counselling perpetrators and victims of crime. Usually the service learning sites are the Mangaung Correctional Centre and the Bloemfontein Life Changing Centre. This year students visited the Mangaung Correctional Centre once to interact with the inmates. The experience was scary at first, but the atmosphere was eased when the students learned to relax and received cooperation from the inmates. Secondly, at the Bloemfontein Life Changing Centre the students visited the site to observe the public lessons given to the community about the evil consequences of crime and drug abuse.

Memorandum of Understanding: Towers of Hope and Faculty of Theology

On 24 May 2013 the Faculty of Theology signed a memorandum of understanding with Towers of Hope. From the Faculty side the Dean signed and from Towers of Hope it was Rev. De la Harpe le Roux and Rev. Isaac Mosala (vice-chairman of the board of trustees).

 
Rev. De la Harpe le Roux at Towers of Hope