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18 December 2018 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah
Charlotte Maxeke
Residence students preparing old tyres to use in new playing swings.

The name Charlotte Maxeke is, since time immemorial, associated with ‘hope’ for the downtrodden Black majority. And the name Fulufhelo means ‘hope’ in Tshivenda, the language spoken mainly in Limpopo, her birth province. She was the first black South African woman to earn a degree, a Bachelor of Science from the Wilberforce University in the Unites States of America in 1901.

Khayelisha and Khayelethu also project a very high expectation of ‘hope’. Considering our painful past dominated by the 1913 Land Act, the former literally means ‘our new home’, whilst the latter means ‘our home’.

Fast forward to 2018 at the University of the Free State’s Qwaqwa Campus. These are the names of student residences that brought hope to the needy when they collaborated with Community Engagement to give back to their communities.

“The need to give back was sparked by our encounter with needy students on campus. We then thought that if we could do the little for our fellow students who are part of the No Student Hungry (NSH) campaign, we could actually extend this to those who are even worse off,” said Beyoncé Matsoso, Prime of Charlotte Maxeke and Residence for first year students.

“Taking time out to give toys, play with the kids on the swings we erected for them, helping them with their laundry and giving them fruit and food bought from our own pockets gave us a lot of satisfaction,” said Beyoncé, a final year BA Psychology and Languages student.

Acknowledging the role played by Residence Head, Makeresemese Mokhatla, in the whole exercise was Sikolethu Dodo, Prime of Khayelitsha / Khayelethu Residence.

“Having had a dialogue on how we can make other people’s lives better with our Residence Head Makeresemese Mokhatla and Mme Matsoso from Community Engagement led to this initiative. Some of us will be going out to the world of work soon and this has equipped us with necessary skills like compassion,” said Sikolethu, a final year BAdmin student.

The centres visited were the Itsoseng housing disabled children as well as the Team Spirit Hospice.

News Archive

Three Kovsies receive prestigious Mandela Rhodes scholarship for 2015
2014-11-10

From the left: Lehlohonolo Mofokeng, Tumelo Morobane and Zola Valashiya
Photo: Stefan Lotter

 

The UFS continues to produce leaders and is proud to have three Mandela Rhodes scholars next year.

Lehlohonolo Mofokeng, Zola Valashiya and Tumelo Morobane all received this prestigious scholarship for 2015.

A Mandela Rhodes Scholarship provides full funding for a maximum of two years of postgraduate study. The award is open to all African citizens under the age of 30 years and recipients must study towards an honours or master’s degree at a recognised South African institution. Although there is no maximum number of awards, the scholarships are highly competitive, with fewer than 30 scholarships being awarded each year since its inception in 2005. The scholarships cover tuition, accommodation, meals, book allowance, general allowance, and travel expenses. Recipients of the Mandela Rhodes Scholarship are students with outstanding academic achievements, who also possess leadership ability, entrepreneurial skills, and a commitment to reconciliation. In addition to receiving funding for their studies, scholars also do a leadership development programme while in residence. The award is named after Nelson Mandela and Cecil Rhodes and is administered by the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, which is a partnership between the Nelson Mandela and the Rhodes Trusts.

Lehlohonolo has just finished his BEd Hons in Philosophy and Policy of Education at the UFS. He hopes to enroll for a master’s degree in Education Policy, Planning and Management at the University of Witwatersrand with his Mandela Rhodes Scholarship.

Zola is originally from Johannesburg and is completing his LLB degree at the UFS this year. He is planning to stay at the UFS in 2015 to do his LLM in Constitutional Law or International Human Rights Law.

Tumelo has a BSc Honours in Actuarial Science and will use this scholarship next year to study towards her master’s degree at the UFS.

“I chose to stay at the UFS because I am doing a great master's project with Munich Re through the UFS,” says Tumelo. 

“Furthermore, the CEO of the Mandela Foundation, Mr Sello Hatang, asked me to work with the foundation on a few projects that mostly focus on keeping the girl child in school across Africa, as well as helping with providing training and workshops on entrepreneurship to young people.

“So, I am looking forward to a very busy year ahead of me, which will be filled with so much learning, growth and making a difference,” Tumelo says.

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