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18 July 2024 | Story VALENTINO NDABA | Photo SUPPLIED
Nelson Mandela Month 2024
Celebrating #UFSMandelaMonth2024: Building a brighter future through community and care.

Mandela Month at the University of the Free State (UFS) is a time to honour Nelson Mandela's legacy through reflection, action, and community engagement. Guided by Vision 130, UFS aims to make a profound societal impact by fostering sustainable relationships and supporting societal development.

Community Engagement Indaba

As South Africa celebrates Mandela Month, the Directorate of Community Engagement hosted the Community Engagement Indaba at the Bloemfontein Campus from 10-11 July 2024. This year's theme was “Building Self-reliance, Self-sufficiency, and Self-sustainable Livelihoods for Entrepreneurship”. 

The Indaba was a vibrant platform for staff, students, and community members to exchange knowledge and skills on how to implement the objectives of our Engaged Scholarship strategy and policy.

This was an opportunity to engage in education, training, and networking with experts from various disciplines. Topics of discussion included:

• Self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and self-sustainable living
• Contextualising curriculum to respond to societal impact
• Entrepreneurship
• Personal development and transformation
• Subsistence farming
• Growing and manufacturing of cannabis products
• Nutrition and health, food security

Helping future educators dress for success

Mandela said: “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” This Mandela Month, the Teaching Practice Directorate supported fourth-year and Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) students who lack professional clothes for their teaching practice, impacting their confidence and hampering their first impressions.

The Faculty of Education of the Qwaqwa Campus is conducted a donation drive for formal clothing and workwear to help our UFS-produced aspiring educators enter the world of work with enthusiasm and confidence.

Soup kitchen at HCYCC

On Mandela Day, the Faculty of Theology set up a soup kitchen at the Heidedal Children and Youth Care Centre. This event is an initiative aimed at providing nutritious meals to children and youth, fostering community engagement.

It’s in your hands: Food Environment Programme

The ongoing Food Environment Programme tackles student food insecurity, aiming to create a healthy food environment. Says Annelize Visagie from the Food Environment Office: “The Food Environment Programme is designed to address the many dimensions of the food environment; assisting students who suffer from food insecurity and hunger is part of the overall programme. The University of the Free State has previously identified student food insecurity and hunger as a significant problem, with as many as 59% of students identified as not knowing where their next meal will come from. In addition, they have recognised that food insecurity has added stress to students’ lives which has a negative impact on their studies.”

The programmme includes the following initiatives:

No Student Hungry Programme: Provides one balanced meal per day.
• Food Parcel Programme: Distributes food parcels with non-perishable items.
• Community Gardens: Enhances campus food security in collaboration with Kovsie ACT and the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture.

Eat&Succeed: Provides valuable insights, practical tips on making affordable and nutritious meals.

Click to view documentClick on the email to donate to these initiatives or call +27 51 401 3258.

Join us in making a difference and showing our commitment to care as we celebrate Mandela Month by at the UFS. Together, we can honour Nelson Mandela’s legacy of service and societal development. Every Day is Mandela Day at UFS.

News Archive

Afrikaans can be learnt online for the first time
2017-11-29

 Description: Afrikaans online Tags: Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, Prof Angelique van Niekerk, Afrikaans online, Gesellig Afrikaans, VivA 

The launch of the online course in Afrikaans at the University of the Free State
took place in the Centenary Complex at the Bloemfontein Campus on 21 November 2017.
From the left are Profs Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor; Angelique van Niekerk,
Head: Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French; and Gerhard van Huyssteen,
Executive Director: Virtual Institute for Afrikaans.
Photo: Supplied

There is a need among visiting international students and foreign visiting lecturers and researchers to be able to speak Afrikaans. According to Prof Angelique van Niekerk, this is the reason why the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French at the University of the Free State (UFS) has been offering short courses in Afrikaans on campus for more than 15 years.

As from January 2018, those people wishing to learn Afrikaans outside of the UFS campus will be able to do so fully online. This is the first time that Afrikaans can be learnt fully online. The course is part of a short learning programme, Gesellig Afrikaans 1 and 2, which has been presented at the UFS since 2007. It is presented with the support of the Virtual Institute for Afrikaans (VivA), and Afrikaans can now be learnt as foreign language globally.

Need to speak Afrikaans
 
Prof Van Niekerk, Head of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French, believes people who come in contact with the language have a need to learn to speak Afrikaans. “Afrikaans is a vernacular in the workplace, education, and social circles, especially in Bloemfontein, the Free State, and South Africa,” she says.

On average, 15 students per semester are enrolling for the existing contact-based course. Prof Van Niekerk says these students are from countries such as The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and some are from the East.

English used as teaching medium 
In 2018, the 20-week course will be taught online via the VivA website or on campus through contact sessions (within 13 weeks). “The online course for international students is currently being marketed for the first time, and in 2018 we will officially be enrolling international students for the online course from beyond UFS borders,” says Prof Van Niekerk.

The teaching medium will be English, with all the information and explanations taking place in Afrikaans and English. Supporting material such as Afrikaans films, music, pronunciation guidelines, and continuous self-assessment are part of the online course material.

Click here to see the course structure of the online programme.

Direct enquiries to Prof Van Niekerk at vnieka@ufs.ac.za, or geselligafrikaans@gmail.com or visit www.gesellig-afrikaans.org

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