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06 September 2022 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied
UFS Student doctors
Some of the medical students from the University of the Free State (UFS) that impressed doctors at Pelonomi Hospital are from left; Sebastiaan Pauw, Dian Honiball, Gabriela von Eschwege and Abigail van Neel.
Third-year medical students from the University of the Free State (UFS) Faculty of Health Sciences impressed doctors with their stellar work during their three-week rotation in the Trauma Unit at the Pelonomi Hospital that they received certificates acknowledging their exceptional work ethic. 

The students started clinical training in a hospital setting and the Trauma Unit was their second block. This is the second group of third-year students at the unit following strict COVID-19 lockdown rules.

One of those impressed by the student doctors is Prof Andre Loubser, head of the Department of Trauma, and a certified trauma surgeon with years of experience and a passion for teaching. He said the type of doctors these students will become one day will be moulded through these clinical years and he wanted to encourage them to keep on building on these characteristics.

Taking matters into their hands

Dr Hennie Smit, a Medical Officer working in the Trauma Unit of Pelonomi Hospital, says during the students’ time in the unit the house doctor running the ward was on sick leave for a week. The group took matters into their hands and stood in for the house doctor. 

“They came in earlier to make sure all the results were in the file of the new admissions and they helped us with the administrative part of the ward work. Besides that they showed immense enthusiasm. You would always find them being proactive about patient management and acquiring new skills.

“It was a treat teaching them. They have all the components of one day becoming professionals and leaders in their field. There was compassion, dedication, teamwork and a positive attitude. It is contagious,” says Dr Smit.

Thankful for the acknowledgement 

The semester six group students, Abigail van Neel, Carli van Onselen, Gabriela von Eschwege, Zelmay October, Christi Snyman, Dian Honiball, Hasun Jang and Sebastiaan Pauw impressed the consultants immensely.  

Pauw, one of the students, said he is grateful that the doctors went out of their way to acknowledge them.. “It is all thanks to the group’s hard work,” said Pauw. 
“I appreciate that they are keeping an eye on us and taking the time to see how we are performing. It is a sign that proves that hard work and willingness to learn will have consequences. My father always says: ‘Wat jy met trane saai, sal jy met vreugde oes’. Hard work will eventually pay off. But it also matters how you work, and your attitude towards the work and other people.”

Pauw said the training was hard work and sacrifices had to be made in order to be where they are today. “It is not all fun and games, but if you find purpose and meaning in your work it gives you a sense of happiness and belonging because you feel you are working towards your purpose,” he said.

UFS medical students
(Hasun Jang, Carli, Carli van Onselen, Zelmay October and Christi Snyman are also part of the group that impressed the doctors
in the unit. Photo: Supplied)

Ready for the unexpected

“Motivating yourself you should have a positive and willing attitude and the person next to you will also try to do the same, and in turn affect you in the same way. There is a sense of purpose and calling that will make you feel you have to do what you have to do, because that is why you are here,” he concluded.  

Dr Smit says the pandemic has left damage and challenges that the medical fraternity needs to work through, but it has taught them to be prepared. “It’s like that in the Trauma Unit. We don’t know which patient to expect next through the ambulance doors. We see hope, especially when encountering such a special group of students. We can rest assured they will be ready for the unexpected.”

News Archive

Weideman focuses on misconceptions with regard to survival of Afrikaans
2006-05-19

From the left are Prof Magda Fourie (Vice-Rector: Academic Planning), Prof Gerhardt de Klerk (Dean: Faculty of the Humanities), George Weideman and Prof Bernard  Odendaal (acting head of the UFS  Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French). 
Photo (Stephen Collett):

Weideman focuses on misconceptions with regard to survival of Afrikaans

On the survival of a language a persistent and widespread misconception exists that a “language will survive as long as people speak the language”. This argument ignores the higher functions of a language and leaves no room for the personal and historic meaning of a language, said the writer George Weideman.

He delivered the D.F. Malherbe Memorial Lecture organised by the Department Afrikaans at the University of the Free State (UFS). Dr. Weideman is a retired lecturer and now full-time writer. In his lecture on the writer’s role and responsibility with regard to language, he also focused on the language debate at the University of Stellenbosch (US).

He said the “as-long-as-it-is spoken” misconception ignores the characteristics and growth of literature and other cultural phenomena. Constitutional protection is also not a guarantee. It will not stop a language of being reduced to a colloquial language in which the non-standard form will be elevated to the norm. A language only grows when it standard form is enriched by non-standard forms; not when its standard form withers. The growth or deterioration of a language is seen in the growth or decline in its use in higher functions. The less functions a language has, the smaller its chance to survive.

He said Afrikaans speaking people are credulous and have misplaced trust. It shows in their uncritical attitude with regard to the shifts in university policies, university management and teaching practices. Afrikaners have this credulity perhaps because they were spoilt by white supremacy, or because the political liberation process did not free them from a naïve and slavish trust in government.

If we accept that a university is a kind of barometer for the position of a language, then the institutionalised second placing of Afrikaans at most tertiary institutions is not a good sign for the language, he said.

An additional problem is the multiplying effect with, for instance, education students. If there is no need for Afrikaans in schools, there will also be no  need for Afrikaans at universities, and visa versa.

The tolerance factor of Afrikaans speaking people is for some reasons remarkably high with regard to other languages – and more specifically English. With many Afrikaans speaking people in the post-apartheid era it can be ascribed to their guilt about Afrikaans. With some coloured and mostly black Afrikaans speaking people it can be ascribed to the continued rejection of Afrikaans because of its negative connotation with apartheid – even when Afrikaans is the home language of a large segment of the previously oppressed population.

He said no one disputes the fact that universities play a changing role in a transformed society. The principle of “friendliness” towards other languages does not apply the other way round. It is general knowledge that Afrikaans is, besides isiZulu and isiXhosa, the language most spoken by South Africans.

It is typical of an imperialistic approach that the campaigners for a language will be accused of emotional involvement, of sentimentality, of longing for bygone days, of an unwillingness to focus on the future, he said.

He said whoever ignores the emotional aspect of a language, knows nothing about a language. To ignore the emotional connection with a language, leads to another misconception: That the world will be a better place without conflict if the so-called “small languages” disappear because “nationalism” and “language nationalism” often move closely together. This is one of the main reasons why Afrikaans speaking people are still very passive with regard to the Anglicising process: They are not “immune” to the broad influence that promotes English.

It is left to those who use Afrikaans to fight for the language. This must not take place in isolation. Writers and publishers must find more ways to promote Afrikaans.

Some universities took the road to Anglicision: the US and University of Pretoria need to be referred to, while there is still a future for Afrikaans at the Northwest University and the UFS with its parallel-medium policies. Continued debate is necessary.

It is unpreventable that the protest over what is happening to Afrikaans and the broad Afrikaans speaking community must take on a stronger form, he said.

 

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