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16 August 2018 Photo Johan Roux
Teen motherhood is not childs play
Elgonda Bekker of the UFS School of Nursing is pictured with Gladys Magobe, one-day-old baby Neo, and Luvuyo Madasa, Executive Director at RelmagineSA and great-grandson of Nelson Mandela. They were recently involved in a Princess Gabo outreach programme in Thaba Nhchu.
To commemorate the Nelson Mandela Centenary, a group of delegates from the Bloemfontein community had the privilege to get a behind-the-scenes look at the Princess Project and got an idea of how teenagers are taught about planned parenthood. 

The Princess Gabo Foundation and the Responsible Reproductive Health Education Project (RRHEP) is a community service learning project at the University of the Free State (UFS) that forms part of the credit-bearing curriculum of final-year midwifery students in the Undergraduate Nursing programme and is done in cooperation with the office of Community Service Learning.

The big responsibility of having a baby

Every baby deserves a good start in life. Both Elgonda Bekker, coordinator of the UFS Midwifery Programme, and Prof André Venter, head of the UFS Paediatrics and Child Health School and founding director of MACAH (The Mother and Child Academic Hospital Foundation), emphasise the importance of the first couple of years of a baby’s life. 

Having a baby is definitely not child’s play and is a heavy burden on teenage mothers and fathers. As part of the Princess project learners are given a baby doll for one week – with the consent of their parents as the experience can be quite disruptive. UFS students then send cellphone messages to these “doll parents” from their “babies”. For example, “your baby is crying, your baby is hungry, your baby needs to go to the clinic, your baby needs a nappie change” … 24 hours a day.  

Stop teenage pregnancies

The project has been so successful that it achieved an almost zero pregnancy rate at the two schools that are part of the programme. “When we started in 2015, we would have been happy to have saved one girl from an unplanned pregnancy. The outcome astounded us.” When they are responsible for their baby dolls, learners are trained in sound parenting techniques that include breastfeeding, kangaroo care (where their dolls are tied to their chests), health, and life skills. To complement the school curriculum, scholars are required to work out a budget for the baby from a typical South Africa Social Security Agency grant. Not only does this teach them maths literacy, it also illustrates how expensive raising a baby is. 

Parenting is precious 

For Princess Gaboilelwe Moroka-Motshabi, the Princess Gabo Foundation is a calling. Prompted by her own pregnancy health issues, she was compelled to help alleviate the suffering of mothers and babies. Currently, her aim is to supply new mothers with a kangaroo care wrap that helps with infant health and improves mother and child bonding. The wrap, then, seems to not only benefit infants, but also helps empower teenagers to prevent unplanned pregnancies with the help of the foundation.

News Archive

Outstanding alumni celebrated at the Chancellor’s Distinguished Alumni Awards
2017-08-28

 Description: Outstanding alumni celebrated at the Chancellor’s Distinguished Alumni Awards Tags: Outstanding alumni celebrated at the Chancellor’s Distinguished Alumni Awards

From the left: Former Miss World and UFS Medical student, Rolene Strauss; Rector and Vice-Chancellor,
Prof Francis Petersen; The Chancellor’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year,
Vian Chinner; and Chancellor of the UFS, Dr Khotso Mokhele. Photo: Charl Devenish

 

Alumni Awards Photo Gallery 

Alumni are the heart and soul of a university, a legacy that lives on for generations, bringing pride to the alma mater. Each year, the University of the Free State (UFS) through the Chancellor’s Distinguished Alumni Awards, celebrates its outstanding alumni, who have stood out among their peers, making waves in their careers, at home and abroad. The UFS Chancellor, Dr Khotso Mokhele, said the university plays a pivotal role in ensuring that students enjoy a life-long relationship with their alma mater.  He encouraged the UFS management to create opportunities to engage students during their years of study, in order to create this mutually-beneficial relationship into the future.

The Chancellor’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Award, the highest honour accorded to an alumnus, recognises the distinguished national or international achievements of its recipient. The award was presented to Vian Chinner, chief executive officer at Xineoh, a performance marketing company he founded in 2014. The company, based in Bloemfontein, with offices in Cape Town, Oregon in the US, and Vancouver in Canada, specialises in applying mathematical modelling and machine learning to optimise conversion in industries including real estate, mortgage banking and e-commerce. It has generated more than $30 million in revenue for its clients.

The Young Alumnus of the Year Award acknowledges the achievements of alumni who graduated within the past decade and was presented to Leah Molatseli, founder and managing director of Lenoma Legal, who graduated with an LLB at UFS in 2010.

The Cum Laude Award is bestowed upon an alumnus in recognition of excellence in any field, whether vocational or voluntary. The awards in this category were presented to three alumni:

David Abbey, Acquisition and Leveraged Finance Deal Maker at Rand Merchant Bank. David graduated with a BCom Accounting (RU) 2007 and a BCom Hons Accounting (UFS) in 2008.

Johan Eksteen, Agricon Pelleting, graduated with an MSc in Sustainable Agriculture in 1998, and received an MBA in 2005, both at the UFS.

Zola Valashiya, Co-founder and director: Debate Afrika and Schools Projects and Campaigns Manager at Corruption Watch. He graduated with an LLB (UFS) in 2014, and Masters of Public Administration (Central European University, Hungary) in 2016. He is a Mandela Rhodes Scholar (2015) and a Young African Leadership Initiative Mandela Washington Fellow (2017) and is presently featured on the Mail & Guardian list of top 200 young South Africans.

The Executive Management Award: this service award is presented to an individual who has delivered exceptional service to the UFS and is not limited to alumni of the institution, current students and the community at large. The award was presented to Sarina Cronje, Head of Athletics at KovsieSport.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Science (UFS) in 1977 and a Postgraduate Diploma in Higher Education (UFS) in 1983. She is a mother and career woman, whose family carries the same passion and drive for sports that champions are made of.

The Kovsie Ambassador Award is bestowed upon a current student whose achievements have brought him/her distinction, benefited his/her community, and brought credit to the UFS.

Crystal-Donna Roberts graduated with a BA Drama and Theatre Arts (UFS) in 2005. She is an active television, theatre and film actress who has appeared in a multitude of theatre productions in addition to starring in Afrikaans soap opera “7de Laan, Getroud Met Rugby, Montana” and “Vallei van Sluiers” in which she won public favour. She is currently playing the lead role in the internationally acclaimed film, “Krotoa” which has won numerous awards including Best Film at the Harlem International Film Festival in New York. It also won the Award of Excellence at the International Film Festival for Women: Social Issues and Zero Discrimination, and many more.

Franco Smith, Director: Free State Rugby and Assistant Coach: Springboks. He graduated with a BA Human Movement Sciences (UFS) in 1996 and began his career in rugby in 1999 when he was selected for the Free State Under-18 Craven Week team. He became a regular on the Free State Under-20 and the UFS Shimlas teams prior to his Free State Cheetahs debut in 1992. Franco was reappointed backline coach of the Cheetahs and head coach of the Shimlas in 2015. With many accolades to his name an illustrious career in coaching and management over the years, the name Franco Smith should not be foreign to true rugby connoisseurs.

The Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Francis Petersen, congratulated all the award recipients: “I applaud all alumni; you have made the city of Bloemfontein and the whole province proud.” The National Executive Alumni Chairperson, Dr Pieter du Toit, congratulated the award recipients and thanked the leadership of the university as well as the event organisers. 

The awards signify the great esteem with which the UFS holds its alumni and the community that helps to drive its vision, cherish its history and pave the way for more outstanding Kovsies of the future.

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