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23 August 2021 | Story Nonsindiso Qwabe | Photo Supplied
Picture: Passionate and strong- Zanele Mbhele

Zanele Mbhele is a third-year BSc student majoring in Chemistry and Botany on the Qwaqwa Campus. At age 22, this young woman from Cornelia, a small town in the Northern Free State, already wears many hats – as a residence assistant, peer mentor for first-year students, and most recently, as a youth lifestyle blogger.

Mbhele launched her website in June. There she writes on topics such as finance, relationships, mental well-being, and fashion, to mention a few. Since its inception, she has attracted traffic from around the country, as well as international parts of the world such as North and South America, China, and different parts of Europe. 

Taking part in poetry has ignited her love for writing and storytelling, and Mbhele says she wants to grow into the many hats she wears and make a name for herself in science, as well as in writing for local and international audiences.

What does being a woman mean to you?
It’s being strong. Seeing opportunities where they are scarce. Being independent. Getting out of your comfort zone.

Which woman inspires you, and why?
It has to be news anchor and TV show host, Tumelo Mothotoane. She is from Limpopo and followed her passion for media in a place where media was not popular. She is hardworking and she believes in herself. She started small and today she is an international news anchor. Another woman who inspires me, is my mother. She was unemployed but because of her love for selling clothes, she was able to provide for us. I didn’t grow up feeling like I’m fatherless, and we were able to have a childhood like other children because of her hard work.

What advice would you give to the 15-year-old you?
I would say, invite God into all your plans. Know that no dream is too big for you. Don’t be scared of failure, because through failure we find ourselves and see our capabilities. Don’t be afraid to start small.

Any advice to anyone who also wants to grow on social media?
Social media has made many things possible. If you’re good at dancing, you can create a TikTok or YouTube account. You don’t even need fancy gadgets anymore. Many places now offer free Wi-Fi, so you can go anywhere and do your thing. Most things are possible today; you don’t have to wait until you have an iPhone. Just start with what you have. I haven’t mastered social media platforms yet and I don’t have any background in website creation, but I am learning and improving. 

What makes you a woman of quality, impact, and care?
I believe I am a woman of quality because I’m goal-driven; a woman of impact because I move beyond fear, step out of my comfort zone, and embrace change; and a woman of care because I care about the well-being of a person. This is evident from my blog. The things I talk about need little to no budget at all, because I understand what it means to be less fortunate, looking for solutions to your problems. 

News Archive

UFS School of Nursing opens new frontiers at 40
2009-11-16

The opening of the virtual facility of the School of Nursing at the University of the Free State (UFS) and a gala dinner to celebrate the School’s 40th year of existence took place on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein this week. At the opening were, among others, from the left: Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS; Dr Oluseyi Oyedele and Ms Viona Munjeri, both from The Atlantic Philanthropies; and Prof. Anita van der Merwe, Head of the School of Nursing at the UFS.
Photo: Leatitia Pienaar

All eyes in the nursing profession in South Africa were turned to the University of the Free State (UFS) when the School of Nursing opened a state-of-the-art virtual health training and learning facility and celebrated its 40th year of existence with a gala dinner on the Main Campus in Bloemfontein this week.

The lustrous events were attended by dignitaries from all spheres of the health-care fraternity in South Africa.

The new virtual facility, The Space, is made possible by a grant of R16 million from The Atlantic Philanthropies and R1 million from the UFS. The Atlantic Philanthropies organisation is an international philanthropic organisation that is going to inject R70 million into nursing in South African over the next four years. The initiative will enhance nursing education and step up the quality of health-care delivery in South Africa. Four major grants were made to universities in South Africa, of which the UFS is one.

With the facility at the UFS School of Nursing, nursing education is propelled into the future. Prof. Anita van der Merwe, Head of the School of Nursing, says, “The virtual learning facility is a very new way of thinking and teaching. At the moment, theory and practice are separated, as theory is often taught in the mornings, followed by practical settings later in the day. Learner nurses then also go to clinical facilities for their practicals where the quality of care is declining and human resources are a problem.

“We believe that with new technologies such as e-learning and high-tech computer-mediated equipment we can use the ‘virtual world’ to bridge the theory-practice gap in the same location.”

Prof. Van der Merwe says the project is essentially about transformation: taking a stand against stagnation in nursing education and practice and daring to be different.

In the new virtual facility nurses will have the best of three worlds – the expertise of the facilitator/educator, simulation technology, and a vast selection of on-line and off-line software, exposing them to blogs, broadcasting and enhancing computer literacy. This will attract both the new “millennial” generation, which tends to be technologically competent, as well as the older learner because of the unthreatening learning environment.

The core space will accommodate 40 to 60 students and is designed to encourage informal, collaborative learning and practice simultaneously. It will have a demarcated area for “patients” (such as advanced adult and baby patient simulators) and a “clinic space” allowing for role play.

At the gala dinner, Prof. Jonathan Jansen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS commended nurses in South Africa for their caring role, but also expressed his concern that South African has lost its deep sense of care. South Africa is at a critical point and the country can be changed if a deep sense of care can be embedded again.

About forty nursing educators from all over South Africa attended an exploratory workshop in the facility today and the last meeting of the Forum of University Deans in South Africa (FUNDISA) also coincided with the festivities at the School of Nursing.

Media Release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@ufs.ac.za
13 November 2009
 

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