Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Categories
UFS News Media Release Research
Years
2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Months
January February March April May June July August September October November December
Previous Archive
01 January 2018

After South Africa’s battle with the record-breaking drought of 2015, Prof Andries Jordaan from our Disaster Management Training and Education Centre for Africa(DiMTEC) saw room for improvement in dealing with this kind of disaster. 

Drought impact

Commercial farmers   who are usually net exporters of food crops   and communal farmers who own the bulk of the country’s livestock, were all hit hard in 2015. Most of the latter had no resources to spare as the drought progressed. The concern about the drought’s impact on the country’s food production and availability resulted in a joint goal of preventing food scarcity during future droughts.

Prof Jordaan’s visit to the National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the US, several years ago prepared him to better equip communities in South Africa to deal with drought situations. “I recognised that in spite of the impact DiMTEC has been able to make on disaster preparedness, a gap remained in disaster response in South Africa.”

Sharing knowledge

In August this year Prof Jordaan again visited the NDMC. This time he requested a few key players in South Africa’s agriculture and disaster response communities to join him. With him were Janse Rabie, head of Natural Resources at AgriSA, a nonprofit organisation that functions as an interface between the government and about 28 000 South Africa farmers, and Moses Musiwale Khangale, director of Fire Services for the South African Ministry of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

The South African delegation met with and learnt from climatologists, geospatial technologists, and outreach and planning analysts. 

News Archive

UFS hosts the biggest HIV/AIDS event in its history
2007-10-05

The Chief Directorate: Community Service at the University of the Free State (UFS), in partnership with the Free State Department of Education, will host the biggest HIV/AIDS focus event in the history of the university.

The event will take place on Wednesday, 10 October 2007 on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein and the theme will be: Management of HIV/AIDS in the Workplace.

According to the Chief Director of Community Service at the UFS, the Rev Kiepie Jaftha, this event forms part of a wider role of his directorate to raise the level of awareness about the impact of HIV/AIDS within the university and the higher education sector in South Africa. It will also enhance the executive management’s buy-in and ownership of this role and incorporate the flow of HIV/AIDS information and activities into the core business of the UFS.

The focus will be on getting the executive management, middle management, aspiring managers and those who are affected by the decisions of the management, on board in the university’s endeavour to manage and create HIV/AIDS awareness in the workplace.

Most importantly, community members will also form an essential part of this event as the UFS strives to get them also involved in HIV/AIDS education and awareness.

“We hope to release the valve of denialism and stir the excitement amongst people, to encourage them to get involved in creating awareness within their workplaces, institutions and society,” said the Rev Jaftha.


To that effect, the Director of the Africa Centre for HIV/AIDS Management at the University of Stellenbosch, Prof. Jan du Toit, will deliver a keynote address. There will also be a mini-musical production called Lucky, the Hero, directed by the well-known stage performer and director of Educational Theatre and creative arts for the Africa Centre for HIV/AIDS Management, Prof. Jimmie Earl Perry.

The 25 tables for the event have been sold at a cost of R1 500 each and the beneficiaries thereof will be a local non-governmental organization (NGO), namely the Lebone Land Care Centre. The UFS has a long-standing relationship with the Lebone Land Care Centre, where students are sent as part of the implementation of their community service learning modules to enhance their practical skills. Now the university intends to formalise this partnership.

“I admire the holistic manner of approach the Lebone Land Care Centre uses towards caring for people who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS and the way they make people realise that they can still live a meaningful life and add dignity and value to society,” enthused Rev Jaftha.

The NGO will also receive an award from Spar, one of the biggest supermarket groups in South Africa.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@mail.ufs.ac.za
04 October 2007
 

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept