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Embracing diversity, strengthening human relationships and collective responsibility

22 March 2023 | Story Mariette Joubert | Photo Unsplash

South Africa celebrated Human Rights Day and World Social Work Day on 21 March 2023. Social work is a profession that advocates for the human rights of people as well as focuses on the responsibility that comes with these rights. Just as the Bill of Rights is the cornerstone of democracy and protects our rights, the social work code of ethics is the cornerstone that ensures quality social work services.

The University of the Free State (UFS) second-year social work students took an oath on 22 March which binds them to the social work code of ethics. Social workers have the Global Agenda for Social Work and Social Development which consists of four pillars. Focus is drawn to the last pillar, Strengthening Recognition of the Importance of Human Relationships. Human relationships are the core of social work and social development. These relationships take various forms, including social, personal, interpersonal, and therapeutic relationships, among various people and in various settings. In relationships where people flourish, trust is crucial. In contrast, mistrust skews relationships in a negative way.

Respecting diversity through joint social action

The Ubuntu pan-African philosophical framework is the greatest place to understand the significance of human relationships. To promote and strive for the strengthening of relationships, this year’s theme for Social Work Day is “Respecting Diversity Through Joint Social Action”. If we can stop criticising people that do not live, believe, or think according to our constructed standards of being, we will be able to do so much more as humanity. If we start embracing peoples’ diversities and take time to start building relationships with various people and bridge any existing gaps, we will realise that diversity is an integral aspect of changing the world in a positive manner. Corresponding to human rights and the theme of World Social Work Day, is the theme “Destigmatising intellectual disability through shifting attitudes” for Intellectual Disability Awareness Month [IDAM] which also takes place later in March. Another way through which we can start building relationships and embrace diversity is by participating in this year’s South African Federation for Mental Health challenge where CEOs of different institutions are challenged to spend one day in a wheelchair as part of an awareness-raising campaign to destigmatise intellectual disabilities.

News Archive

Department of Chemistry receives accolades at international conferences

2014-11-11

From the left are: Prof Andreas Roodt, Renier Koen, Dr Marija Zbacnik and Prof Deon Visser.
Photo: Supplied

Staff members in the Department of Chemistry at the University of the Free State (UFS) excelled at recent international conferences. Prof Andreas Roodt, Head of the Department of Chemistry, was honoured at the Pan African Meeting of the International Year of Crystallography IYCr2014. This event was hosted on our Bloemfontein Campus and delegates from 22 countries delivered their papers at the congress.

Prof Roodt received a medal from the President of the Moroccan Crystallographic Association, Prof Abdelmalek Thalal, for 'Building Science in Africa through Crystallography as President of the European Crystallographic Association'. Prof Deon Visser gave a keynote lecture at this meeting, while Dr Marija Zbacnik, post-doctoral fellow in Chemistry, received a prize for the best poster presentation.

Similarly, Chemistry PhD student, Renier Koen, received the prize as best student speaker at the Light Metals AMI (Advanced Metal Initiative) conference held at Kwa Maritane in Pilanesberg. Plenary speakers included delegates from the United Kingdom, the United States, India, China and South Africa.

Profs Roodt and Visser received a special scroll for having produced the best student speakers at the AMI series of conferences for the past three years in a row. The previous best student lectures were presented by Maryke Steyn (2012) and Tinus Viljoen (2013).

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