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20 November 2018 Photo Varsity Sports
Sikholiwe Mdletshe rewarded with SA colours in Netball
Sikholiwe Mdletshe in action for the Kovsie netball team this year. She also represented the SA Student team and will soon play for the national U20 team.

With her expectations already exceeded for this year, Sikholiwe Mdletshe was further rewarded for a good year on the netball courts when she was selected for the South African U20 netball team.

The team will participate in the Africa Union Sport Council Region 5 Games in Botswana from 7 to 16 December 2018.

Sikholiwe is a second-year BCom Accounting student who plays wing defence or centre for the varsity netball team.

She played a big role in helping Kovsies win the Varsity Netball trophy. Sikholiwe earned two Player of the Match awards. Apart from playing for the Kovsies, she also represented the Free State and was the youngest team member in the national student team for the World University Championship in Uganda.

“It’s been a great year. I didn’t expect to make so many teams and actually play so many games; I feel so blessed that my dreams are starting to become a reality and I couldn’t be more excited for the future,” said Sikholiwe.

She attended Middelburg High School and was selected as a finalist for the Matriculant of the Year competition in 2016. “Once I saw how netball was going at Kovsies, the high calibre of players who formed part of the team, and speaking to their coach, Burta de Kock, my mind was fixed on the UFS as choice of university.”

Sikholiwe also paid tribute to her teammate, friend, and Protea netball player, Khanyisa Chawane. “KC is such a big inspiration, she inspired me from a deeper place than just netball,” explained Sikholiwe.  She further pointed out that she would like to focus on becoming a better player than she is today, and from there she wants to reach greater 

News Archive

The practice of mourning loss
2014-06-11



Prof Kenneth Gergen, Dr Jennifer Githaiga and Prof Mary Gergen
Photo: Supplied
Among international delegates from over 60 nations and more than 1 300 participants, Dr Jennifer Githaiga presented her paper on the practice of mourning – the African way.

Her paper questioned the language used in psychology to ‘pathologise’ African people’s mourning practices. Drawing from her doctoral research, she explained the role of maintaining close bonds with family members after they pass away. Rather than severing these bonds, Dr Githaiga argued that continued attachment beyond death plays a significant role in healing the trauma of loss.

Dr Githaiga’s entitled her paper ‘The “pathology” of post-bereavement bonds: cultural positioning in qualitative inquiry.’ She presented this at the Tenth International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry (ICQI). A conference that has become one of the most important events on the calendar of qualitative researchers across the globe. The event was hosted at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign from 21 - 24 May 2014. The theme of the conference this year was ‘Qualitative Inquiry and the Politics of Research’.

Dr Githaiga is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Trauma, Forgiveness and Reconciliation Studies at the UFS. During the congress, she also found herself in the role as ambassador to Kovsies. Not only did she rub shoulders with highly-regarded Profs Kenneth and Mary Gergen, but also spoke with leading scholars in the field of qualitative research interested in our university.

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