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UFS lecturer topping the charts

30 April 2021 | Story Dr Cindé Greyling | Photo Supplied

Rene en Richan_web read more — René and Richann as Reën.

In the same week, a lecturer at the University of the Free State graduated with a master’s degree in Political Science and topped the charts with her first single as part of the duo, Reën. Within the first week of its release, Vrystaat Vlaktes was the number one hit on iTunes, got more than 300 000 views, and the duo’s Instagram boasts more than 10 000 followers. Not bad for the shy – as she describes herself – René de Klerk.

An interesting start

After living in Canada for about four years, René’s family moved back to Bloemfontein where she completed the last three years of high school. She decided to return to Canada after matric for a gap year, which “turned out to be nothing like that at all!” she says. Life was much harder on her own without the protection and support of her family. “Eventually I got a job, and part of my duties were to clean the restrooms – seriously. That is where I started.”

After applying for dozens of scholarships, René eventually got a bursary to study abroad. “I’ve always wanted to help people in some way – I really want everyone to be OK, to at least have their basic needs met.” She enrolled for a degree in International Studies, which she later completed at the UFS as a BA majoring in Political Science and Communication. Her academic potential did not go unnoticed, and she pursued further studies in Political Sciences while working and lecturing in the department.

A twist in the tale

René met her partner, Richann Brüssow, during the reality show, Boer Soek ‘n Vrou. “Since I am shy by nature, being so exposed was unnerving, but then again, I got so much out of it.” The two hit it off as a couple, and their shared love for music soon turned into much more than either of them foresaw. “We were honestly just having fun,” René recalls, “and then a production company contacted us!”

Initially, they thought of becoming wedding singers as a hobby, but Select Music found out about their endeavour and offered them an artist development deal. “I’m astonished,” René says, “my music background included school and university choirs. I never even considered becoming a performing artist. But then I met Richann …”

More to come

This is just the beginning of the road for René and for Reën. René will continue to leave a positive footprint wherever she goes, and Reën is soon to release their second single. “I will always be working in the field of Political Sciences and spend time in the music scene as a bonus,” she concludes.

News Archive

UFS presents unique rally

2005-06-07

On Friday 10 June 2005, the University of the Free State (UFS) will present the Kovsie version of the Amazing Race in Bloemfontein.

The Amazing Rainbow Rally will be held in aid of children and babies with serious diseases in the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

By raising the necessary funds, equipment can be acquired to meet the unique health care needs of these special patients. It will also enable the UFS to maintain the high standards of education, training and research in this field.

The Amazing Rainbow Rally will give some residents of Bloemfontein an opportunity to test their knowledge of the city, as well as their time management skills, communication skills, team work and even their relationships!

About 12 corporate teams from among others Vodacom, Eskom, Medi-Clinic, Mimosa Mall and Nedbank and four university teams must follow a specific route with various checkpoints by car. Here they will have to complete activities or solve clues before receiving their clue to the next checkpoint. Teams will be traveling with cars branded with the logo of the company they represent.

The rally will start at 09:00 at the Rooiplein of the UFS and will again end on the campus where they will complete the last task. The first team to complete this task is the winner of Bloemfontein’s first Amazing Rainbow Rally.

OFM’s breakfast team will do live crossings on the day to reveal how teams are doing.

The Department of Pediatrics and Child Health at the UFS serves children with special needs, in other words children who need intensive care, or who suffer from cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases and conditions, endocrinological diseases or gastro-enterological conditions.

The Department provides secondary health care to more than 250 000 children in the southern parts of the Free State, but is responsible for the tertiary care of about a million children in the Free State and Northern Cape, as well as some parts of the North-West province, the Eastern Cape and Lesotho. The intensive care units at Universitas and Pelonomi Hospitals serve approximately 1 300 neonatal and 350 intensive care patients annually. The pediatric cardiology unit admits almost 300 high care heart patients per year. Approximately 13 000 out-patients visit these two hospitals every year.

MEDIA RELEASE

Issued by:  Lacea Loader
   Media Representative
   Tel: (051) 401-2584
   Cell: 083 645 2454
   E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za

7 June 2005

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