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03 April 2019 | Story Xolisa Mnukwa | Photo Vhugala Nthakheni
Uhuru Qwaqwa Arrival
The #UFSWalkToUhuru team arrives at the UFS Qwaqwa Campus on Friday 22 March.

The University of the Free State (UFS) Division of Student Affairs, in collaboration with the UFS Office for International Affairs, have joined hands to drive a fundraising and student-accessibility initiative dubbed, ‘The Walk to Uhuru’ (#UFSWalktoUhuru), which is aimed at raising funds and advocating for the educational rights of the less privileged. 

The project aims to raise funds in excess of R2 million from the public and stakeholders affiliated with the UFS (Kovsie staff and students). The project derives from the 2018/2019 UFS Institutional Student Representative Council (ISRC) mandate ‘Students Must Graduate’. The ISRC mandate aims to source funding opportunities for UFS students to register, and to complete their studies across all three campuses in 2020 and beyond.

The first leg of the project, a 350 km walk from the Bloemfontein to the Qwaqwa Campus, has already taken place and concluded on Friday, 22 March 2019 as planned. The #UFSWalkToUhuru team successfully completed the first leg of their journey to academic freedom for financially disadvantaged students at the UFS. The Uhuru team is now focusing its attention on the second leg and is determined to take on Mount Kilimanjaro (Uhuru) from 20 June to 20 July 2019.

The team sat down for a debriefing session to unpack the overall experience and result of the first half of the initiative, and they all agreed that the walk to Qwaqwa was an enlightening experience. It was a walk that comprised learning opportunities, team building, and goal crushing.

According to Rethabile Motseki, member of the #UFSWalkToUhuru team, the walk to Qwaqwa made a significant impact on the project, as the university community is now aware of the significant goals that the team is trying to accomplish. The team has also resumed their fitness-training programme to ensure that they are ready to take on the Uhuru climb in June.

A media briefing will take place shortly (date to be confirmed) to detail the ongoing fundraising initiatives rolled out by the #UFSWalkToUhuru team.  We implore you, and the nation as a whole, to help establish a better future for disadvantaged UFS students by donating to the initiative.

Students, staff, and the public can support the cause and make contributions/donations to the initiative by visiting the UFS Walk to Uhuru #givengain account page.

For more information, contact UFS SRC President, Sonwabile Dwaba, on DwabaSJ@ufs.ac.za  or Rethabile Motseki on MotsekiR@ufs.ac.za  

News Archive

UFS Faculty of Law helps to establish a FS Forum on Human Trafficking
2009-10-12

The Unit for Children’s Rights in the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) is a member of the Trafficking Action Group that recently hosted an Indaba on Human Trafficking in Bloemfontein.

Adv. Beatri Kruger from the Department of Criminal and Medical Law and the Unit for Children’s Rights at the UFS gave a presentation at the Indaba on the South African legal response to combating human trafficking. Prof. Susan Kreston, Research Fellow at the Centre for Psychology and the Law at the UFS, was also a speaker at this event. She spoke, amongst others, about trafficking between South Africa and neighbouring countries and also gave some practical guidelines on how to prevent human trafficking.

Apart from creating awareness, various role players identified cases of human trafficking, which led the Indaba to realise that this crime is prevalent in the Free State, especially in Bloemfontein. Many problems that need to be addressed were identified at the Indaba. Consequently, a forum consisting of the most relevant role players was mobilised to proceed with the work to realise the goal of handling complicated human trafficking cases effectively.

The three-day Indaba was attended by more than 120 delegates from various key governmental departments such as the SAPS, Social Development, Health, Immigration and several civil societies, including Child Welfare Bloemfontein/Childline, Famsa, the Thuthuzela Centre, the Free State Network on Violence against Women, the Aurora Clinic, academia from the UFS, various churches and private-sector businesses.

At the event were, from the left: Ms Matshidiso Ntsiuoa from Childline Free State and Child Welfare Bloemfontein; Adv. Beatri Kruger from the Department of Criminal and Medical Law at the UFS; Ms Zine Mogorosi, Absa Regional Manager: Marketing, Communications and Corporate Affairs; Ms Motsedisi Shale from Lesotho Save the Children/Childline Lesotho; and Pastor Busi Khumalo from the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs

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