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UFS trains student volunteers to fight food insecurity

09 March 2023 | Story Lunga Luthuli | Photo Lunga Luthuli

Volunteer Training 1 — Volunteer students participating in a two-day training by KovsieACT to learn fundamental principles of gardening, including soil preparation, planting, watering, fertilising, and pest management.

To ensure food security for students, KovsieACT – in collaboration with the Department of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems – held training sessions for approximately 150 student volunteers at the University of the Free State (UFS) community gardens on the Bloemfontein Campus.

The UFS project consists of two large food tunnels, which provide an educational intervention that addresses food insecurity on campus, and by extension, food insecurity challenges students experience in their hometowns, at home, and in their villages.

Karen Scheepers, Assistant Director: Student Life, said: “The purpose of this training is to equip students with the necessary skills to identify or recognise the need for and importance of planting and taking care of vegetables. Participating students also learned the fundamental principles of gardening, including soil preparation, planting, watering, fertilising, and pest management.”

During the training held on 8 and 9 March 2023, students were also trained to choose the right seeds and to start their own seed germination project. “The aim is to provide students with the knowledge and skills they need to grow and maintain a thriving vegetable garden,” added Scheepers.

The training was conducted by experienced professionals from the department, with students also getting an opportunity to ask questions and interact with fellow students who share their passion for gardening.

Scheepers said: “This training is a great opportunity for students to learn new skills, make new friends, and connect with the community. It will also help them to lead a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle.

The training is an extension of the institution’s No Student Hungry Programme (NSH), which continues to ensure that hundreds of students are supported with food parcels, including vegetables and non-perishable items. The NSH programme provides food to insecure students through modest food allowances and daily access to one balanced meal.

News Archive

UFS boasts with world class research apparatus

2005-10-20

At the launch of the diffractometer were from the left Prof Steve Basson (Chairperson: Department of Chemistry at the UFS), Prof Jannie Swarts (Unit for Physical and Macro-molecular Chemistry at the UFS Department of Chemistry), Mr Pari Antalis (from the provider of the apparatus - Bruker SA), Prof Herman van Schalkwyk (Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS), Prof André Roodt (head of the X-ray diffraction unit at the UFS Department of Chemistry) and Prof Teuns Verschoor (Vice-Rector: Academic Operations at the UFS).

UFS boasts with world class research apparatus
The most advanced single crystal X-ray diffractometer in Africa has been installed in the Department of Chemistry at the University of the Free State (UFS).

“The diffractometer provides an indispensable technique to investigate compounds for medicinal application for example in breast, prostate and related bone cancer identification and therapy, currently synthesized in the Department of Chemistry. It also includes the area of homogeneous catalysis where new compounds for industrial application are synthesised and characterised and whereby SASOL and even the international petrochemical industry could benefit, especially in the current climate of increased oil prices,” said Prof Andrè Roodt, head of the X-ray diffraction unit at the UFS Department of Chemistry.

The installation of the Bruker Kappa APEX II single crystal diffractometer is part of an innovative programme of the UFS management to continue its competitive research and extend it further internationally.

“The diffractometer is the first milestone of the research funding programme for the Department of Chemistry and we are proud to be the first university in Africa to boast with such advanced apparatus. We are not standing back for any other university in the world and have already received requests for research agreements from universities such as the University of Cape Town,” said Prof Herman van Schalkwyk, Dean: Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences at the UFS.

The diffractometer is capable of accurately analysing molecules in crystalline form within a few hours and obtain the precise geometry – that on a sample only the size of a grain of sugar. It simultaneously gives the exact distance between two atoms, accurate to less than fractions of a billionth of a millimetre.

“It allows us to investigate certain processes in Bloemfontein which has been impossible in the past. We now have a technique locally by which different steps in key chemical reactions can be evaluated much more reliable, even at temperatures as low as minus 170 degrees centigrade,” said Prof Roodt.

A few years ago these analyses would have taken days or even weeks. The Department of Chemistry now has the capability to investigate chemical compounds in Bloemfontein which previously had to be shipped to other, less sophisticate sites in the RSA or overseas (for example Sweden, Russia and Canada) at significant extra costs.

Media release
Issued by:Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
19 October 2005

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