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31 May 2022 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Supplied
Melissa De Aveiro

Singer, writer, and motivational speaker, Melissa de Aveiro, says: “One can only rise from the ashes when the fire starts again, and the beauty of it all is that the ashes is stuck to your clothes. As you move on, you build off it as it falls from your clothes.”

She said: “When the fire starts in you, nothing is going to stop it.”

This she said at the Division of Organisational Development and Employee Well-being’s Rising from the Ashes event held at the Centenary Complex on the Bloemfontein Campus. Melissa’s story is about never giving up and “never backing down – even when people throw you with rocks, use the rocks to build a new road”.

Melissa said: “Many people unfortunately do not rise from the ashes because there is no support from friends, people. You can never do it alone as the journey through the ashes is lonely.”

Melissa believes to get through the ashes, one has to go back and “remind yourself of when it was good in your life, remind yourself about the positive things – even though things might not be great now”.

Known as the 'Weskus Dutchess', and growing up in Vredendal, Western Cape, Melissa’s tough life, sexual abuse, drug abuse, homelessness, and the death of her son never stopped her from dreaming. All the setbacks planted in her a “passion for a guitar and people, a birth of a new season, a desire to change the world”.

To rise from the ashes, Melissa said, “You need to go back to the place where you were hurting, confront the demons, the people that abused you, maybe forgive them and remove the chains you are tied with.”

Susan van Jaarsveld, Senior Director: Human Resources at the University of the Free State, believes that hosting wellness events is a way for the UFS to show that “employees are the most valuable asset of the university and need to be looked after”.

Susan said: “Staff need to know that it is okay not to be okay. However, the UFS has systems to look after your well-being. People need to know that they are not alone, they can make use of the Department of Human Resources’ Careways Employee Wellness Programme.”

Susan believes it was important to host the event, as “staff need face-to-face interaction for their well-being, it helps people to know they are not alone”.

Melissa, the author of the book Weskus Wonderwerk, believes in being unstoppable. She said: “To rise from the trenches, always think positive about yourself, you must exist. You cannot give up; your worth cannot be determined by an individual.” 

News Archive

Elinor Sisulu to present lecture at the UFS
2008-07-30

Human rights activist, Ms Elinor Sisulu, will deliver a Women’s Day lecture, titled: “Voiceless and voteless, fleeing zanuphobia into xenophobia: A Zimbabwean woman’s perspective of National Women’s Day” at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein on Wednesday next week.
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She was invited by the Faculty of the Humanities at the UFS to deliver the lecture on Wednesday 6 August because of her stature as an activist and writer and her views on the topical issue of Zimbabwe.

The Vice-Dean of the Faculty of the Humanities, Prof Engela Pretorius, said the UFS was keen to engage the larger community on these kinds of issues and invites all interested people to attend.

Ms Sisulu is a writer, human rights activist and political analyst. Born in Zimbabwe, she was educated in Zimbabwe, Senegal and the Netherlands.

She combines training in history, English literature, development studies and feminist theory. In 1994 she published an award-winning children's book, “The Day Gogo Went to Vote”.

Her biography about her mother-in-law and father-in-law, titled “Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime”, was published to critical acclaim in December 2002. The book was runner-up in the 2003 Alan Paton Non-fiction Award and won the 2003 Noma Award for publishing in Africa.

Ms Sisulu works in the South African office for the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, the major umbrella body of Zimbabwean non-governmental organisations.

The lecture will start at 19:00 in the CR Swart Auditorium on the main campus in Bloemfontein.

Light refreshments will be served.

Those wishing to attend must please make a booking with Hettie Beukes at 051 401 2240 or beukeshs.hum@ufs.ac.za.

Media Release
Issued by: Mangaliso Radebe
Assistant Director: Media Liaison
Tel: 051 401 2828
Cell: 078 460 3320
E-mail: radebemt.stg@ufs.ac.za  
30 July 2008
 

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