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27 August 2018
Photo Barend Nagel
Arina Engelbrecht’s vision is for all Kovsies to lead holistically healthy lives.
How do you start living a healthy lifestyle? Arina Engelbrecht, a wellness specialist in the Employee Wellness Division at the University of the Free State (UFS) says it only takes a few changes. Her passion is to motivate people to live a balanced life.
Being active enables a person to live life to the full. “Aim to exercise 150 minutes a week, which equates to 30 minutes five times a week in order to experience health benefits like prevention of lifestyle illnesses, better sleeping patterns, decreasing stress or anxiety and feeling more energetic,” says Engelbrecht.
Some of the initiatives Engelbrecht and her team drive are the Healthy Lifestyle Challenge, Park Runs in Bloemfontein, and the Healthy4Life Pedometer Challenge, which encourage staff members to become more physically active. “Everything we do, think or feel is influenced by what we eat! It is therefore important to eat a balanced diet. Healthy food = quality fuel = good health = sustained energy = peak performance,” she explains.
Pedometer Challenge
In the space of eight weeks 240 staff members from all campuses walked 54 000km as part of the Pedometer Challenge. Engelbrecht and her team mobilised 53 active teams from all three campuses. Three of these teams emerged as the winners as they exceeded the target of 1 300km which is the equivalent of walking to Cape Town. In September 2018 the Challenge is going national as the North-West University competes against UFS.
Celebrating women
This Women’s Month Engelbrecht’s message to women of Kovsies is: “We must start embracing who we are and start believing in ourselves, whether it is in the workplace, in business, or at home.”
Postdoctoral fellow at ISG focuses on environmental and human conflicts
2017-12-12
Dr Noel Ndumeya is a born historian who became interested in his research field through reading the works of historians while still at secondary school. Dr Ndumeya feels it is important to study the relationship between societies, institutions, and their interactions with the environment. This might help societies to understand the present clashes between humans and the environment, providing insight into future developments.
His specific research field is the environmental history of Southern Africa, with an additional interest in the land and agricultural history of the region.
Dr Ndumeya has worked as a History lecturer at Mutare Teachers’ College, the Belvedere Technical Teachers’ College in Zimbabwe, and at the University of Zimbabwe.
His present research, which is being conducted under the auspices of the International Studies Group (ISG) at the UFS, focuses on wildlife resources and people-vs-parks conflicts in Southern Africa. His future research plans include comparative histories of land, agriculture, and nature reserves in Southern Africa.