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05 April 2021 | Story Dr Nitha Ramnath | Photo Supplied
Jamba Isaac Ulengo.

Jamba Isaac Ulengo, our guest in the third episode of the Voices of the Free State podcast series is a South African rugby union player who proudly joined his team in bringing home a gold medal at the 2013 World Games. 

François van Schalkwyk and Keenan Carelse, UFS alumni leading the university’s United Kingdom Alumni Chapter, have put their voices together to produce and direct the podcast series.  Intended to reconnect alumni with the university and their university experience, the podcasts will be featured on the first Monday of every month, ending in November 2021.  Our featured alumni share and reflect on their experiences at the UFS, how it has shaped their lives, and relate why their ongoing association with the UFS is still relevant and important. The podcasts are authentic conversations – they provide an opportunity for the university to understand and learn about the experiences of its alumni and to celebrate the diversity and touchpoints that unite them. 

Our podcast guest

Born in the North West town of Vryburg, Ulengo first played provincial rugby at the U16 Grant Khomo Week in 2005. While attending Jim Fouché High School in Bloemfontein, Ulengo was chosen to represent the Free State at various youth levels. As an up-and-coming player, Ulengo made his break via the FNB Varsity Cup Competition where he starred for the Shimlas, scoring 11 tries in 18 appearances over the three seasons between 2010 and 2012. A short stint with the Free State Vodacom Cup side saw him make his debut for the Blitzboks (Glasgow 2012), followed by a tournament at the London Sevens in 2014. Ulengo has been a prominent member of the South African Sevens since making his debut for the team in the Scotland leg of the 2011-2012 IRB Sevens World Series. He played in the two final tournaments of that season and then signed a two-year contract with the South African Rugby Union to represent the team in the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 series. While he only competed at four events in his first full season, he was involved in seven of the tournaments in his second season. 

Ulengo made his return to the sport by signing a contract to play Currie Cup rugby for the Pretoria-based Blue Bulls in 2014 and for their Super Rugby franchise, the Bulls, from the 2015 Super Rugby season. 

News Archive

Kovsie students part of exclusive Stanford Sophomore College Programme
2012-09-14

Kovsie students Foster Lubbe (far right at the back) and Palesa Mafisa (middle front) interacting with students from Stanford University.
14 September 2012

The six students, Elri Marais, Palesa Mafisa, Goodwill Shelile, Foster Lubbe, Gabriella Schroder and Saheed Abdullah, are part of the Stanford Sophomore College Programme, a residential summer programme for second-year students. They have been at Stanford since the beginning of this month, engaging in intense academic exploration with peers and professors on a variety of innovative, multidisciplinary topics.

Writing about his experiences in San Francisco, Foster Lubbe said it has been a wonderful experience thus far. “The classes are very interactive. It is amazing to see how effectively students and lecturers make use of technological tools, especially the speedy Internet, during class,” he wrote.

Foster and Palesa have been doing a course on “Mixed Race in the New Millennium, Elri and Abdullah on, “The Meaning of Life, and Gabriella and Goodwill a course on “Ghost stories”. Highlights for the students have been a discussion with New York Times journalist, Susan Saulny, a visit to the Stanford Centre of Marine Biology and for Gabriella and Goodwill a San Francisco ghost tour.

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