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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

Students learn how to prepare for the workplace
2013-10-18

Attending the information session were, from the left: Shelagh Foster and Phiwe Mathe, SRC president of the Bloemfontein Campus. 
18October 2013
Photo: Johan Roux

  Your First Year of Work: YouTube video

Getting a foot in the door with potential employers is a struggle for the inexperienced, more so for fresh out of school graduates who don't know how to put a CV together, can’t spell or dress properly when meeting employers. 

Launching her book Your First Year of Work: A Survival Guide, communications expert Shelagh Foster highlighted  these facts and others during an information session on the Bloemfontein Campus. Students who attended gained a wealth of information from her and Prof Jonathan Jansen, Vice-Chancellor and Rector, who shared tips on how to prepare for the workplace and be successful in their job search. 

Shelagh explained how a request from a graduate to do an internship at Media Online, where she had formerly worked as editor, made her decide to teach jobseekers the basics of verbal and written communications. She told the audience that the e-mail request from a female student, was littered with mistakes and left her with questions such as "what if she is really smart, has something to offer the company, but just don't know how to send an e-mail?" 

Practical advice she gave, include dressing properly for a job interview, knowing who you communicate with when addressing an e-mail, as well as finding out as much as possible about the company you are applying to. 

* Your First Year of Work: A Survival Guide  addresses the unwritten codes that exist in the workplace that need to be understood by interviewees and new employees battling to get ahead once they've finished with matric or university. 

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