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Fighting Food Insecurity at the University of the Free State

10 March 2022 | Story Anthony Mthembu | Photo Unsplash

Food security — 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.

News Archive

Honorary Professor delivers inaugural lecture in the Faculty of Theology

2010-10-27

Prof. Peter Lampe.

Prof. Peter Lampe recently delivered his inaugural lecture as an Honorary Professor in the Department of New Testament in the Faculty of Theology of the University of the Free State (UFS).

The title of Prof. Lampe’s inaugural lecture was Theology and rhetorics: how do "res" and "verba" relate to each other, in which he addressed the fundamental question of the role and importance of words and the issue/content in theology. Can content simply be conveyed in any manner? Also in theology, Martin Luther observed that some theologians’ works contain words (verba) and those of others the content (res). In his inaugural lecture, Prof. Lampe pointed out that our knowledge of God/reality specifically has to be construed through the use of words. Words and terminology therefore have to be selected with circumspection. Res and verba stand in close relation to each other.

Prof. Lampe declared that in the post-modern world, a “competition” exists for the best constructed worldview and theologians could make a significant contribution to the construction of a better reality through better judgement of the words they use.

Prof. Lampe, currently the Chair of New Testament Theology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, has a rich and varied history in the field of theology. Having attained degrees in theology, philosophy and archaeology in Gottingen, Rome and Berne, Prof. Lampe has enjoyed an illustrious professional career. After receiving his Ph.D. at the University of Berne and teaching New Testament Studies there, Prof. Lampe held the Chairs of New Testament Studies in Virginia (USA) and History and Archaeology of Early Christians in Kiel (Germany), before being appointed to the post he currently holds.

In 2003 he was awarded the German Ecumenical Preaching Award and in Turkey he was the leader of an expedition that discovered the long-lost Montanist headquarters of Pepouza and Tymion.

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