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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

Knific Duo from US lecture and perform at OSM
2017-05-12

Description: ' 000 Knific Duo Tags: Knific Duo

Profs Tom Knific and Renata Artman Knific from the Western
Michigan University School of Music are visiting the Odeion
School of Music at the University of the Free State.
Photo: Supplied

The renowned Knific Duo will not only perform at the University of the Free State (UFS) soon, but will also share their expertise at the Odeion School of Music (OSM). The duo, consisting of Profs Tom Knific and Renata Artman Knific, from the prestigious Western Michigan University School of Music, are presenting a masterclass series hosted by the OSM Concert Agency. The series takes place from 10-14 May 2017 and the concert on 16 May 2017.

Concert features local pianists

The first half of the concert on 16 May 2017 will present a programme leaning towards the classical genre. Apart from three works composed by Prof Knific, it will also include two movements from the Violin Sonata by the Hungarian composer Miklós Rózsa. 
In the second half Prof Knific will collaborate with two local pianists, the legendary jazz pianist, composer and music educator, Noel Stockton, and the talented Andile Qongqo, and for a carefully curated jazz programme mainly from the oeuvre of Prof Knific. Random Dreams, a work composed by Stockton will also be included.

Well-known around the world

Prof Knific (double bass) is a Professor at the Department of Jazz at the Western Michigan University School of Music. He has been principal bassist of orchestras from the US to Europe and performed as a soloist and in chamber music festivals around the world. He also is a former president of the International Society of Bassists.

Prof Artman Knific (violin) is a professor of violin at the same institution. Her international career began in London at 21 when she joined the English Chamber Orchestra. Tours of Europe, North and South America and Asia followed where she collaborated with artists such as Herman Bauman and Isaac Stern. She has worked with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim and Christoph Eschenbach, and recorded records for EMI, Decca, and CBS labels.
 
Date: 16 May 2017
Time: 19:30
Place: Odeion (Bloemfontein Campus)

Musicians interested in masterclasses can contact Ninette Pretorius at  pretoriusn@ufs.ac.za

 

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