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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

UFS/PUK Intervarsity - Results
2009-08-04

 KOVSIES / PUKKE INTERVARSITY 2009: UITSLAE / RESULTS  
           
  SPORT SPANNE                                                     TEAMS   UITSLAE / RESULTS
        PUKKE KOVSIES
1 GHOLF  /  GOLF MANS / MEN   4.5 1.5
           
  KARATE MANS / MEN   * *
    DAMES / LADIES   * *
2 BASKETBAL / BASKETBALL PUK UFS 40 72
3 PLUIMBAL/ BADMINTON PUK 1 KOVSIES 1 5 0
4   PUK 2 KOVSIES 2 5 0
5 VLUGBAL / VOLLEYBALL PUK KOVSIES 1 3
6 MUURBAL / SQUASH PUK UFS 2 4
  LANDLOOP / CROSS COUNTRY UV Mans / UFS Men PUK Mans * *
    UV Vroue / UFS Women PUK Vroue * *
  BASKETBAL / BASKETBALL UV Mans / UFS Men PUK Mans * *
7 SOKKER                               FOOTBALL UFS 1 MEN ALS PUK MEN 1 1
8 SOCCER     * *
9       * *
10 TENNIS UV MANS / UFS MEN PUK MANS * *
12 HOKKIE                               HOCKEY PUK 1 (V) KOVSIES (V) 3 0
13 HOCKEY PUK 2 (V) REDS (V) 4 1
14   PUK 1 (M) KOVSIES 1 (M) 3 1
15   PUK 2 (M) REDS (M) 1 3
16   VMN SOETDORING 1 0
17   WANDA VMN * *
18   REPUBLIEK WNB * *
19   OOSTERHOF HOBHOUSE * *
20   EXCELSIOR VERITAS 0 1
21   PATRIA TKV * *
22 NETBAL                              NETBALL PUK 1 KOVSIES 1 34 43
23 NETBALL PUK O/21 KOVSIES 3 24 31
24   PUK O/19 A KOVSIES 4 39 34
    PUK 2 KOVSIES 2 33 45
    PUK O/19 B HOBHOUSE 35 12
    EIKENHOF SONNEDOU 21 18
    KASTEEL ROOSMARYN 2 20 9
    DINKI MARJOLEIN 21 11
    OOSTERHOF ROOSMARYN 1 21 8
25   WANDA SOETDORING 1 26 3
26   KARLIEN SOETDORING 2 31 7
27   KLAWERHOF VMN 17 14
28   BELLATRIX WNB 19 16
29   MINJONETTE WNB 27 6
30 RUGBY PUK 1 SHIMLAS 20 6
31   IBBIES IRAWAS 21 6
32   PUK O/21 UV O/21 20 9
33   PUK O/19 UV O/19 12 8
34   PATRIA ARMENTUM 22 12
35   VILLAGERS KAREE 9 8
36   DE WILGERS VERITAS 27 7
37   HEIMAT VISHUIS 5 17
38   OVERS JBM 18 21
39   VERITAS  HEIMAT 11 15
  INTERVARSITY OPSOMMING / SUMMARY 2009    
        PUKKE KOVSIES
  WEDSTRYDE / GAMES     37 37
  GEWEN / WON     25 11
  VERLOOR / LOST     11 25
  GELYK / DRAWN     1 1

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