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Faculty of Health Sciences Mental Health Awareness Initiative

10 September 2021 | Story Reuben Maeko | Photo Supplied

Sheriel — Shezree Tiel winner of the student category.

As part of the Faculty of Health Sciences’ Awareness Initiative for Mental Health (FoHS AIM High) to raise awareness regarding mental health and well-being among students and staff, the faculty held a photo competition for its students and staff members.

The competition with the theme, Things my Gogo taught me, received 70 entries and according to the Programme Director in the School of Clinical medicine, Dr Lynette Van der Merwe, the project was aimed at encouraging students and staff members to show creativity and passion by sharing photos with a reflection on the theme.

For the year 2021, the mental health awareness competition had six (6) winners for both student and staff. The photo competition was judged by Prof Willem Kruger, head of the Department of Community Health and an award-winning photographer.

An opportunity to celebrate grandmothers

Mrs Mary-Ann Naudé, author, and Mrs Madeleen Eygelaar, photographer, were the joint winners of the first prize in the staff category. The competition gave Naude, an Assistant Officer at the Clinical Skills Unit for the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, an opportunity to celebrate the life of her grandmother Mary, whose value, despite her generous soul, was unfortunately not always valued while she was alive.

“The competition made me think of the influences on my life of strong women like my two oumas and my mother. I realised that I am who I am today because of their hard work and their examples. I am overwhelmed with gratitude. I feel honoured that our entry was chosen above the many, many excellent other entries,” says Naudé.

The joint winner of the staff category, Eygelaar, a physiotherapy junior lecturer at the Department of Physiotherapy, says she grew up without a mother, losing hers at a young age, and learnt about life, nature, love and art from her grandmother.

“I wished to celebrate her, capturing the influence she had over my life. She is still the light in my life and the warmth in my soul, as I am fortunate that she is still alive. However, she lives far away. I was happy to join with Mary-Ann in sharing our love of our grandmothers in order to symbolically capture those expressions of love.

Mary-Ann Naudé, author, and Madeleen Eygelaar, photographer, were the
joint winners of the first prize in the staff category of the Faculty of Health Sciences’
photo competition with the theme, Things my Gogo taught me.

“The photo competition made me realise what a privilege it is to have a grandmother in your life, who share love and wisdom with you in a gentle and kind manner. Winning the competition, I was surprised, as I did not expect others to feel the same emotions I felt when taking the photos. It is a blessing to touch others with a picture that means so much to me personally. In that regard, I am very thankful. I was impressed with so many other beautiful photos that told the story of the love of their grandmothers, so I was humbled to receive acknowledgement for mine.”

Competition was a way of expressing her journey

The student category winner, Shezree Tiel, who is a third-year medical student, said the competition was a way of expressing her journey in the medical field. She saw an opportunity to tell her story on how she dealt with mental health problems during her studies through a photo.

Shezree had lost hope in her studies and her mental health was a serious challenge. She wanted to share her story by encouraging other students not to lose hope and the competition gave her motivation to speak out about how she feels and deals with mental-health related issues.

Given the hardships during COVID-19, Shezree felt happy and courageous to win the prize. “It will help me to encourage others to share how they feel about mental health and well-being,” she said.

News Archive

UFS council elects Nwaila and Hancke

2005-03-15

Dr Charles Nwaila, Superintendent-General of Education in the Free State, was elected Vice-chairperson of the UFS Council and Judge Faan Hancke was re-elected as Chairperson today.

According to the Rector and Vice-Chancellor, Prof Frederick Fourie, the election of Dr Nwaila is an important achievement for the UFS as Dr Nwaila is a well known leader in education in the Free State.

Dr Nwaila pledged to work constructively with the UFS council and management to ensure that the UFS benefits all people of the province and the country.

The appointments are valid for a term of three years from 1 June 2005 to 31 May 2008.

The elections took place at the quarterly meeting of the UFS Council where a number of other key transformation steps were approved.

The Council approved a Strategic Plan for the UFS which reflects a renewed focus on transformation of the institution, calling it an important roadmap for the future of the UFS.

According to Prof Fourie, the Strategic Plan tried strike a balance between continuity and change, addressing the need to remain an excellent university in an ever-changing context and environment.

Prof Fourie said transformation had many aspects and dimensions and could not be reduced to an issue of numbers.

The Strategic Plan identifies five strategic priorities and corresponding challenges in the next phase of transformation.

The priorities are:

quality and excellence
equity, diversity and redress
financial sustainability
regional co-operation and engagement.
outward thrust

Prof Fourie said that besides the five strategic priorities the plan also reflected concrete actions and interventions to address them.

He said the renewed focus on transformation is embedded in the priorities and specific actions that are identified.

The Council congratulated the management for the roadmap and for the achievements that have already been achieved in terms of transformation.

In order to draft a comprehensive Transformation Plan that will give substance to certain aspects of the UFS Strategic plan – or roadmap – the Council approved the establishment of a Transformation Plan Team.

The team will consist of about 16 people, which includes the two coordinators, Prof Teuns Verschoor, Vice-Rector: Academic Operations, and Dr Ezekiel Moraka, Vice-Rector: Student Affairs.

According to Prof Verschoor, the team was chosen and approved by the Executive Management earlier for the individual contributions that they could make.

While the individuals do not represent particular constituencies on campus they are a very diverse group of persons in terms of race, gender and various sections of the campus and the satellite campuses.

Prof Fourie, said there was an urgency and importance attached to the work of the Transformation Plan Team.

He said that while the team must produce a plan within a tight deadline, the task must be carried out very well, which could mean different stages in the work of the team.

According to the Rector, the UFS must take the lead in best practice transformation, while not underestimating the complexity of the issues facing the UFS.

The full list of names will be finalized soon.

MEDIA RELEASE
Issued by: Mnr Anton Fisher
Director: Strategic Communication
Cel: 072 207 8334
Tel: (051) 401-2749
11 Maart 2005

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