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10 March 2022
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Story Anthony Mthembu
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Photo Unsplash
The No Student Hungry team gearing up to start distributing food parcels to the selected students.
The UFS is one of the many institutions of higher learning where food insecurity is an active issue. However, the
No Student Hungry Programme is one of the initiatives launched at the university to assist in fighting food insecurity at the institution.
The purpose of the programme
Since its inception in 2011, the initiative has assisted many students in acquiring a healthy meal. Additionally, the Food Environment Office also hands out food packages, so that students can continue to achieve academically. “We are trying to develop a healthy environment for students and make it easier for them to have a nice and healthy meal,” stated Annelize Visagie, who heads the Food Environment Office at the UFS. The Food Environment programme is spread out on all three campuses, each with its own facilitators. Furthermore, the programme mainly caters for students who are not funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) but who are excelling academically. The abovementioned students apply for assistance online, and a list is then drawn up of students who receive assistance for the year.
Alternative solutions to keep the initiative running
On the Bloemfontein Campus, the No Student Hungry Programme will be catering for 200 students in the 2022 academic year, assisting them with a daily nutritious meal. Additional food parcels are also handed out to provide further assistance. “We give food parcels to the students on the list every Tuesday and Thursday at the Thakaneng Bridge,” Visagie highlighted. However, she argues that catering for the student population through this programme can be a challenge, as the demand for assistance is growing rapidly and the ability to assist is limited. The programme relies on partnerships and sponsors to assist the student body. In fact, the coordinators of the programme currently have a memorandum of understanding with Tiger Brands according to which they deliver around 100 food parcels for distribution.
In addition, the coordinators have put in place alternative measures to ensure that they can provide more food to students. “The
Kovsie Act Office, in partnership with the
Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, has started a food garden where healthy and nutritious produce are grown, in order to add value to the distribution,” she indicated. Although the programme can only assist to a point, students who are in desperate need of assistance are never turned away. In fact, the
Social Support Unit at Thakaneng Bridge usually assists students with food vouchers for a maximum of four days.
A commitment to teaching healthy eating habits
The programme is not only committed to curbing food insecurity, but also to ensuring that students have a healthy and balanced diet. As such, a booklet is being issued by the
Department of Nutrition and Dietetics in collaboration with the Department of Sustainable Food Systems and Development, which contains ways in which students can make a healthy meal using some of the ingredients offered in the food parcels.
“We want to teach students how to eat healthy in the cheapest way, because they don’t have a lot of money to buy expensive food products,” Visagie argued.
UFS Faculty of Law helps to establish a FS Forum on Human Trafficking
2009-10-12
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The Unit for Children’s Rights in the Faculty of Law at the University of the Free State (UFS) is a member of the Trafficking Action Group that recently hosted an Indaba on Human Trafficking in Bloemfontein.
Adv. Beatri Kruger from the Department of Criminal and Medical Law and the Unit for Children’s Rights at the UFS gave a presentation at the Indaba on the South African legal response to combating human trafficking. Prof. Susan Kreston, Research Fellow at the Centre for Psychology and the Law at the UFS, was also a speaker at this event. She spoke, amongst others, about trafficking between South Africa and neighbouring countries and also gave some practical guidelines on how to prevent human trafficking.
Apart from creating awareness, various role players identified cases of human trafficking, which led the Indaba to realise that this crime is prevalent in the Free State, especially in Bloemfontein. Many problems that need to be addressed were identified at the Indaba. Consequently, a forum consisting of the most relevant role players was mobilised to proceed with the work to realise the goal of handling complicated human trafficking cases effectively.
The three-day Indaba was attended by more than 120 delegates from various key governmental departments such as the SAPS, Social Development, Health, Immigration and several civil societies, including Child Welfare Bloemfontein/Childline, Famsa, the Thuthuzela Centre, the Free State Network on Violence against Women, the Aurora Clinic, academia from the UFS, various churches and private-sector businesses.
At the event were, from the left: Ms Matshidiso Ntsiuoa from Childline Free State and Child Welfare Bloemfontein; Adv. Beatri Kruger from the Department of Criminal and Medical Law at the UFS; Ms Zine Mogorosi, Absa Regional Manager: Marketing, Communications and Corporate Affairs; Ms Motsedisi Shale from Lesotho Save the Children/Childline Lesotho; and Pastor Busi Khumalo from the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Photo: Leonie Bolleurs |