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GROW your own vegetables

24 August 2022 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Supplied

UFS vegetable garden — A variety of vegetables, including beans, spinach, onions, and carrots, are sheltered in 40 vegetable boxes in the two 300 m² tunnels opposite the Welwitschia Residence on the Bloemfontein Campus.

At the University of the Free State (UFS), research findings have indicated that 59% of students do not know where their next meal will come from. The recent COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the unemployment rate of 34,9%, adding to the likelihood of our students being affected even more by food insecurity.

One of the initiatives the university has created to address the issue, is a vegetable production and training programme. The purpose of the programme, which was established by the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, KovsieACT, and the Food Environment Office, is to teach students how to produce vegetables.

A variety of vegetables, including beans, spinach, onions, and carrots, are sheltered in 40 vegetable boxes in the two 300 m² tunnels opposite the Welwitschia Residence on the Bloemfontein Campus. Not only is this initiative providing students with fresh produce that supplements the food parcels they receive from the Food Environment Office through the No Student Hungry Project. It also provides them with the opportunity to get involved on a voluntary basis in the food production process, including the planting and harvesting of the vegetables.

Food production is an important skill in growing one’s own food. Moreover, it is also a valuable skill for students to transfer to their communities back home.

From mid-August through to the end of October is planting season for a number of vegetables. Starting spring on a high note, the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, KovsieACT, and the Food Environment Office invited food security activist, Thabo Olivier, to address the university community and provide some valuable guidelines to grow your own food in innovative ways.

Date: Thursday 1 September 2022

Time: 13:00

Venue: Thakaneng Bridge

Invest in your future and join the event, which will include hands-on harvesting from the vegetables gardens as well as a food demonstration.

More information: Teddy Sibiya on SibiyaLT@ufs.ac.za at KovsieAct.

News Archive

‘Many people disagree with me. My life is One Long Debate.’ – Ali A. Mazrui

2014-10-31

Prof Ndlovu-Gatsheni
Photo: Stephen Collet

The Vice-Chancellor and Rector, in conjunction with the Centre for Africa Studies, recently presented a memorial lecture in honour of the work and life of an academic giant, the late Prof Ali A. Mazrui.

Ali Al'amin Mazrui (24 February 1933 – 12 October 2014), was an academic professor and political writer on African and Islamic studies. Hy was born in Mombasa, Kenya and was an Albert Schweitzer Professor in the Humanities, as well as Director of the Institute of Global Cultural Studies at Binghamton University, New York.

The lecture, held on Thursday 30 October 2014 in the Albert Wessels Auditiorium, was presented by Prof Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Head of the Archie Mafeje Research Institute (AMRI) at UNISA.

His memorial lecture was entitled ‘Ali A Mazrui on the Invention of Africa and Postcolonial Predicaments’.

Prof Ndlovu-Gatsheni has published widely, including more than 47 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 45 chapters in books and 8 books. This includes The Ndebele Nation: Reflections on Hegemony, Memory and Historiography (Amsterdam & Pretoria: Rozenberg Publishers & UNISA Press, 2009), as well as Bondage of Boundaries and Identity Politics in Postcolonial Africa: The ‘Northern Problem’ and Ethno-Futures (Pretoria: Africa Institute of South Africa, 2013).

Prof Sabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni speech: ‘Ali A Mazrui on the Invention of Africa and Postcolonial Predicaments’.

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