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SASL Star: Peet Jacobs

22 September 2021 | Story Michelle Nöthling | Photo Supplied

Peet Jacobs is no stranger to the Deaf community in and around the UFS and Bloemfontein. He has been working at the University of the Free State (UFS) for the past six years, and he is still amazed at the amount of support our institution provides to Deaf students in particular, and to South African Sign Language (SASL) in general. “They provide excellent interpreting services,” Peet says, “not only in face-to-face classes, but also on different online platforms, as well as interpreting pre-recorded lectures and videos.” And as a SASL interpreter, Peet is an integral part of this service.

But signing is not merely a day job for Peet. He carries his skill into the community in his spare time, where he assists as an interpreter at hospitals, doctors’ rooms, and psychiatrists’ offices – to name but a few. What gives Peet the deepest satisfaction, however, is when he can combine his love of Sign Language with his love of the Bible and his God. It was actually Peet’s devotion to his religion that inspired him to learn Sign Language in order to enable him to carry the Word of God into the Deaf community. Peet now also presents Bible courses in SASL and assists a non-profit organisation to produce SASL Bible-based publications, which are translated and recorded in video format.

Peet aspires to become an authority on SASL subject-specific vocabulary related to subject in higher education. “Sign Language is a language in its own right,” Peet points out. “The uniqueness of Deaf culture and the variety of dialects within SASL give the language diversity and colour.” Peet goes on to emphasise how important it is that SASL is recognised as an official language in our country. “This recognition will give dignity to a group of people who have been marginalised in South Africa. This will also pave the way to providing more inclusivity and service to the Deaf community.”

Until then, Peet will continue to serve the best way he knows how: through signing.

News Archive

UFS hosts the first Southern African Young Scientists Summer Programme

2012-11-26

The University of the Free State is to host the first Southern African Young Scientists Summer Programme (SA-YSSP) from 1 December 2012 to 28 February 2013.

This will form part of an annual three-month education, academic training and research capacity-building programme jointly organised by the National Research Foundation (NRF), the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), based in Austria.

The NRF, as the National Member Organisation (NMO), in collaboration with DST, has developed a novel and innovative initiative with IIASA to establish the SA-YSSP. This programme was officially launched by the Minister of Science and Technology during November 2011.

IIASA is an international research organisation that conducts policy-oriented scientific research in the three global problem areas of energy and climate change, food and water and poverty and equity (www.iiasa.ac.at). South Africa’s engagements with IIASA, and specifically with regard to the SA-YSSP, relate primarily to the DST’s Ten-Year Innovation Plan.

Aligned with the YSSP model that is presented by IIASA in Austria annually, the SA-YSSP offers scientific seminars covering themes in both the social and natural sciences. These seminars often have policy dimensions and aim to broaden the participants’ perspectives and strengthen their analytical and modelling skills, further enriching a demanding academic and research programme (www.ufs.ac.za/sa-yssp).

Keynote lectures are to be delivered by national and international leaders in their respective research fields, partly drawn from IIASA’s widespread network of alumni and collaborators, as well as from the NRF’s extensive international networks of excellence.

The programme is to be enhanced with specific field trips and cultural and heritage excursions that will involve networking with locally based research programmes. Supervisory teams of both IIASA and South African experts will guide a cohort of competitively selected South African and international advanced Ph.D candidates.

The programme will be opened on 2 December 2012 at the Centenary Complex by the Minister of Science and Technology, Mr Derek Hanekom, the Director/CEO of IIASA, Prof Pavel Kabat and the Vice-Chancellor and Rector of the UFS, Prof Jonathan Jansen. They will be joined by a number of Nobel Prize Laureates and luminaries representing the government, the diplomatic sector and Higher Education.

The programme is directed by a multidisciplinary team at the UFS that includes:

Prof Aldo Stroebel and Prof Neil Roos (Co-Directors)

Prof André Roodt (Dean of SA-YSSP)

Prof Martin Ntwaeaborwa and Dr Henriëtte van den Berg (Deputy-Deans of SA-YSSP)

Dr Priscilla Mensah and Dr Sonja Loots (Strategic Managers)

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