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18 July 2019 | Story Valentino Ndaba | Photo Evert Kleynhans
Heidedal Drug Awareness Campaign
Pastor shares with Heidedal learners how drugs landed him in prison.
His father died when he was just three years old. A mourning single mother had to raise three boys. As the middle child, feeling abandoned and unloved, he joined a gang. Home was a cold and empty place and so were the streets of Grabouw, a small town in the Western Cape where he grew up. This is how Ivor Swartz’s story began.

A 15-year-old Swartz told himself: “Because I am not loved at home, maybe I will feel loved on the streets.” It did not take long for the ugly truth to emerge. When it did, he turned to drugs for comfort.

Behind bars

One evening when Swartz and a friend were at a local tavern, they were involved in an altercation. They pulled out guns and fired shots at two males. “My judgement was clouded by the drugs so my friend and I shot my blood brother,” he remorsefully reminisces. 

From prisoner to pastor

Swartz was imprisoned for six-and-a-half years, during which time he matriculated. He has been a free man for 14 years. For the past five years Swartz has been a youth pastor at St. Paul’s United Church in Johannesburg. He has also trained as a life coach and holds an Honours degree in Theology from the University of Pretoria.

Swartz shared the story of how drugs almost ruined his future with 1100 Olympia Primary School learners in Heidedal recently. He was the guest speaker at a two-day Community Outreach Drug Awareness campaign led by the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Division for Organisational Development and Employee Wellness.

Compassionate beyond campus

Burneline Kaars, Head of the Division, said the campaign is one of the ways in which the university shows that it cares for the community. “We strive to improve the wellbeing of staff and the community at large.”

Swartz and the UFS team visited seven schools in Heidedal from 10-11 July 2019. where they cautioned future leaders and parents against how drugs shape the choices that individuals make. 

Pursuing a better story

Swartz was sitting in solitary confinement when he heard a song by UK singer Robbie Williams. The lyrics were: “Cause I got too much life running through my veins going to waste.” These words changed his life.

“I decided I wanted a better life,” said Swartz. He now lives to make a positive contribution to society and has written a new conclusion to his life’s story.

News Archive

Messages and mail – what people say about Kovsies
2014-10-02

 
Letters from Kovsie students, parents, the community and even visitors to our university from across the globe regularly pour into our mailboxes and onto our social media pages.

To give you a glimpse of what they say about our institution, here are a few examples:

•    If you continue with this innovative thinking then the UFS will soon become the Ivy League institution of South Africa. – Chris Abels, United Kingdom

•    My daughter loves Kovsies. She has really come out of her shell as a result of the wonderful environment created by Kovsie leaders. She is flourishing and has for the second year in a row achieved the distinction of being a top academic student. Once again, thank you for your kind assistance which clearly indicates to me that Kovsies treat their students like family and not merely a number. – Grant Combrink, Port Elizabeth

•    The state of the University of Free State inspired me to go back to school and do my law degree. The cleanliness and the mood of the institution was inspirational and not only to me but also to a few of my colleagues. – Joseph Peter Kgomo, a journalist with the public broadcaster

•    I arrived in Bloemfontein to begin a one year appointment as a Fulbright Scholar. I have remarked to friends and colleagues in America that we can learn a great deal about hospitality towards our foreign visitors by embodying the altruism demonstrated throughout your campus. Thank you for the opportunity to become a Kovsie. – Professor Brenda C Eppley, Professor at Area Community College in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA

•    I would like to congratulate you on the job well done regarding transformation and integration thereof. Indeed, the UFS that I am in is not the UOVS that I was in. – Tefo Masoetsa

•    I attended the Oprah Winfrey graduation ceremony in 2009 and when Dr Desmond Tutu received his honorary Doctorate. On both occasions one felt something big and miraculous was happening and many in the audience were moved. You are doing something down there in the Free State that really deserves attention! – Joy Summers, Producer: Carte Blanche

•    There will be much more hurt before our country is healed, but it will be the Kovsie doctors, psychiatrists and teachers applying the plasters and it will be the Kovsie architects, quantity surveyors, jurists and farmers building and regulating a new country. – Marzanne Lombard, proud former member of Soetdoring and Welwitschia Residences

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