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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

Kovsie tennis team wins gold at nationals

2012-12-12

Members of Kovsies winning tennis team.
13 December 2012

For the sixth time in a row, the tennis team of the University of the Free State won gold at the tennis championships of the University Sports South Africa (USSA) tournament. The tournament was held from Monday 3 December 2012 until Friday 7 December 2012 at the University of Pretoria, where 21 teams from 20 tertiary academic institutions participated.

The team participated in a round robin during the first three days where they beat the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the University of Johannesburg, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and North-West University (Potchefstroom Campus). On Thursday, the team played in the semi-finals against the University of Pretoria and won the tiebreak 8-2. Friday’s final was against the Stellenbosch University and after eight singles matches, Kovsies was already 8-0 up. There was thus no need to play the doubles and mixed matches.

After the USSA tournament, four Kovsie players were included in a training group to take part in training camps, tournaments and trials in preparation for the World Student Games (Universiade) in Russia in 2013. These four students are Duke Munro, Christi Potgieter, Elizna Barnard and Hendri Steyn. The coach and team manager of the Kovsie team, Marnus Kleinhans and Janine de Kock, were also appointed coach and manager of the South African Student team for the World Student Games.

At the Annual General Meeting of USSA Tennis, Janine de Kock was re-elected as chairperson and Marnus Kleinhans as technical advisor. The captain of Kovsies, Christi Potgieter was also selected as vice-chairperson.

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