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Engaged scholarship goes to the movie screens

17 August 2021 | Story Dikgapane Makhetha | Photo Supplied

Engaged scholarship_movies copy — Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele (Director: Community Engagement), Napo Masheane (lead actress), and Troy Myeni (Director)

A short fiction film that was shot in Botshabelo and on the Bloemfontein Campus of the UFS, has once again shown the endless possibilities of engaged scholarship in the creative arts.

For this film project, engaged scholarship meant working with graduates / current students from the UFS on projects with a relevant and impactful theme for the broader community. The project was aimed at giving current or past students the opportunity to gain experience or share experience and to transfer skills in the area of filmmaking.

The short fiction film, Leshano (The Lie), was directed by Mpendulo ‘Troy’ Myeni, a graduate of the UFS Film Programme, who also won an award at the Pan African Film Festival in the US for another of his short films. Troy was also one of the three co-producers, along with Anton Fisher (a former employee of the UFS), who wrote the script, and Moeketsi Mphunye, a young filmmaker from Botshabelo.

Another notable UFS graduate who was central to the production, is Mbuyiselo Nqodi. He graduated with a BA in Drama and Theatre Arts and has since gone on to make a huge contribution to the performing arts in the Free State and South Africa. Mbuyiselo was the first assistant director of Leshano (The Lie) and had the unenviable job of keeping everything moving on set. Other members of the production registered at the UFS, but never completed their studies.

Bishop Billyboy Ramahlele, Director of Community Engagement at the UFS, said he was proud that the UFS could be part of this filmmaking project by making offices available as locations for the film and through the participation of distinguished graduates in key positions of the production.

“The UFS has much to offer young people as students, but also as graduates who seek to advance in their chosen careers. Through community engagement, these young people, whether students or graduates, can be inspired by working with professionals in various fields and gaining hands-on experience. They can then plough back into the community and the UFS.”

“This is the virtuous cycle of community engagement at a university. Students gain knowledge, then they gain inspiration and experience, and plough back into the UFS and broader community, instilling hope for future generations,” Bishop Ramahlele said.

He added that the UFS would be mentioned in the credits of the film and in publicity and marketing of the film, profiling its reputation as a centre of creative excellence.

Leshano (The Lie) was filmed in Sesotho, with English subtitles, and deals with the important issue of corruption. The lead role is played by the acclaimed Napo Masheane who grew up in Qwaqwa, supported by well-known Free State actors Maria de Koker, Seipati Mpotoane, Ntsiki Ndzume, Vincent Tsoametsi, Pesa Pheko, and Shayne Nketsi.

Several young, aspiring filmmakers from across the Free State were recruited for the project. It was their first time on the set of a film production, whether as make-up artists, behind the scenes photographers, unit production managers, wardrobe assistants, or location scouts.

With a strong line-up of women in the lead roles, the film will be released later in August during Women’s Month.

News Archive

Fight against Ebola virus requires more research

2014-10-22

Dr Abdon Atangana
Photo: Ifa Tshishonge

Dr Abdon Atangana, a postdoctoral researcher in the Institute for Groundwater Studies at the University of the Free State (UFS), wrote an article related to the Ebola virus: Modelling the Ebola haemorrhagic fever with the beta-derivative: Deathly infection disease in West African countries.

“The filoviruses belong to a virus family named filoviridae. This virus can cause unembellished haemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman monkeys. In literature, only two members of this virus family have been mentioned, namely the Marburg virus and the Ebola virus. However, so far only five species of the Ebola virus have been identified, including: Ivory Coast, Sudan, Zaire, Reston and Bundibugyo.

“Among these families, the Ebola virus is the only member of the Zaire Ebola virus species and also the most dangerous, being responsible for the largest number of outbreaks.

“Ebola is an unusual, but fatal virus that causes bleeding inside and outside the body. As the virus spreads through the body, it damages the immune system and organs. Ultimately, it causes the blood-clotting levels in cells to drop. This leads to severe, uncontrollable bleeding.

Since all physical problems can be modelled via mathematical equation, Dr Atangana aimed in his research (the paper was published in BioMed Research International with impact factor 2.701) to analyse the spread of this deadly disease using mathematical equations. We shall propose a model underpinning the spread of this disease in a given Sub-Saharan African country,” he said.

The mathematical equations are used to predict the future behaviour of the disease, especially the spread of the disease among the targeted population. These mathematical equations are called differential equation and are only using the concept of rate of change over time.

However, there is several definitions for derivative, and the choice of the derivative used for such a model is very important, because the more accurate the model, the better results will be obtained. The classical derivative describes the change of rate, but it is an approximation of the real velocity of the object under study. The beta derivative is the modification of the classical derivative that takes into account the time scale and also has a new parameter that can be considered as the fractional order.

“I have used the beta derivative to model the spread of the fatal disease called Ebola, which has killed many people in the West African countries, including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, since December 2013,” he said.

The constructed mathematical equations were called Atangana’s Beta Ebola System of Equations (ABESE). “We did the investigation of the stable endemic points and presented the Eigen-Values using the Jacobian method. The homotopy decomposition method was used to solve the resulted system of equations. The convergence of the method was presented and some numerical simulations were done for different values of beta.

“The simulations showed that our model is more realistic for all betas less than 0.5. The model revealed that, if there were no recovery precaution for a given population in a West African country, the entire population of that country would all die in a very short period of time, even if the total number of the infected population is very small. In simple terms, the prediction revealed a fast spread of the virus among the targeted population. These results can be used to educate and inform people about the rapid spread of the deadly disease,” he said.

The spread of Ebola among people only occurs through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a person after symptoms have developed. Body fluid that may contain the Ebola virus includes saliva, mucus, vomit, faeces, sweat, tears, breast milk, urine and semen. Entry points include the nose, mouth, eyes, open wounds, cuts and abrasions. Note should be taken that contact with objects contaminated by the virus, particularly needles and syringes, may also transmit the infection.

“Based on the predictions in this paper, we are calling on more research regarding this disease; in particular, we are calling on researchers to pay attention to finding an efficient cure or more effective prevention, to reduce the risk of contamination,” Dr Atangana said.

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