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12 December 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Xolisa Mnukwa
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(From the left) Mia, Dahné, Chrisna, and Doré, who have been friends since Grade 8, pushed through the academic struggle and realised their dream of becoming doctors together in record time. #UFSGraduation2019
They have been friends since Grade eight, starting high school together at Hoër Meisieskool Oranje in Bloemfontein. More than a decade later, friends Dahné Beukes, Chrisna Goosen, Mia Vosloo, and Doré de Necker are still doing things together – this time adding the title of doctor to their names on the same day. The four friends graduated together at the 2019 December graduation ceremonies of the University of the Free State, obtaining their MB ChB qualifications. 

A combination of emotions ranging from stress and frustration, to ultimate excitement and gratitude, with a lot of support from her family and close friends, is how Beukes described the six years it took to complete her degree. She described her future as a pool filled with opportunities that she hopes will eventually lead her to working abroad.  
“The key to success is maintaining balance in life, and this can be achieved through your friendships,” Beukes explained the friendship she maintained with her fellow Hoër Meisieskool Oranje friends. 
 
Beukes’ sentiments are echoed by Vosloo, who says she is grateful for being able to surround herself with people who share her values and beliefs and helped build her into the version of herself that she is today.

Vosloo will complete her medical internship at the Port Elizabeth Livingstone Hospital in 2020, and says she aspires to specialise in psychiatry and ultimately settle down and start a family. 

“I believe it's good to be flexible and not have your mind set on something too specific, because things rarely go according to plan; so, I’m trying to enjoy the ride. As long as I can have a dog wherever life takes me, I'll probably be happy,” she reflected.  

Newlywed Goosen, now Chrisna Krügel, looks forward to completing her medical internship alongside her husband, Tinus Krügel, who also obtained his degree during the December graduation ceremonies.

She explained that studying medicine was challenging, and that she sometimes experienced difficulty maintaining a lot of her friendships, resulting in her keeping only her closest friends. 

Goosen implores the incoming batch of medical students to remain humble and to make full use of the opportunities the university offers them in order to make a success of their studies. 

De Necker also offers advice for incoming first-year medical students. 

“Study hard, always have the bigger picture in mind when things get rough, and make friends in your classes early on, as they will be walking the academic road with you for a couple of years.”

“It's been amazing to see my fellow high school classmates growing through these years, all three of them have shown great character,” she explained. 

News Archive

Mandela statues and the issue of public representation
2015-09-04

   

Prof Grant Parker, Associate Professor of Classics and Co-Director of the Centre for African Studies at Stanford University, USA, presented a public lecture on the Bloemfontein Campus on 27 August 2015, in which he explored the topic of ”Memorialising Mandela after Rhodes Must Fall”. What stories do the multitude of Mandela statues tell us about the man? Our society? Ourselves? These were some of the questions Prof Parker addressed during his lecture.

Paradoxes
Prof Parker discussed some of the paradoxes presented by the Mandela statues. The huge 9m high Mandela statue at the Union Buildings in Pretoria does not necessarily reflect his humility. Iconic statues strewn across the world do not reveal Madiba’s appeal. “Madiba’s charm,” Prof Parker said, “was all about his ability to relate to people of very different backgrounds. People who were his enemies would – to their surprise – find a humanity they were not expecting. It’s very hard to reconcile that with the colossal statues.”

Rhodes Must Fall
On the topic of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, Prof Parker said that “the debates around it seem to express the frustration of deepening equality in general and lack of demographic change.” He also believes that, although the campaign centres on statues, there are much deeper issues at play that need to be addressed.

Artists should be part of the conversation
Prof Parker also advocated that artists’ voices should be incorporated into the creative processes of public art. “There is a much greater need for creative artists,” he concluded, “to be part of conversations, not only about what we as South Africans want to commemorate, but how we do that. I would very strongly suggest that this be done by non-figural representations.”

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