Third term began with RUCE’s Trading Lives for Mandela Week, where the SRC prepared to give Ntsika High School learners a tour of the campus as well as plan a way forward with a legacy project of the high school’s RCL’s choosing in which the SRC would help. On the day when this was supposed to take place, the RCL had been overbooked and had to attend to prior matters concerning the affairs of the school, the event did still take place during the last week of term and the RCL was truly grateful and excited for the experience. The event ended with the RCL deciding to start a garden for its community and school and also as a way of generating income for school- related affairs, and with the help of the SRC this has taken place over the fourth term.
As part of my ongoing matric dance collection, I have received donations of 50 dresses and 5 lent ones so far. 35 of these came from the head offices of Assupol Life Insurance all the way from Johannesburg, thanks to the power of social media as well as links our SRC president has that side. We also received around 10 dresses from Rhodes University Alum in Gauteng who saw a post I made about my project, also via social media. I would like to thank everyone who has generously helped with this project as well as plead for more donations, especially for the male pupils as too are in need. This project will go on until mid- October when the Ntsika and Nombulelo matric dances would have passed as these are the schools we will be handing donations over to, this has already been done at Ntsika in conjunction with Assupol when they brought done their donation. We have adopted a project run by Atherstone House, where they have been working with Nombulelo pupils mentoring them and also collecting towards their matric dance but have been struggling with receiving donations. This matric dance collection is a project I started in 2014 while in matric, and I truly hope it is continued by my successor as I feel this one night in the lives of matrics is very important as such I believe financial constraints should not hold them back from enjoying their special night.
Last semester, the SBS councilor and I collected clothing in residences and allowed those in need to come to our offices to take what they needed from the clothing, and we also had a Kaif Day where we displayed the clothing we had received for students to come and take as well as donate towards Ubuntu Fund which is aimed at assisting students with an array of needs such as toiletries and travel tickets. Last term, we continued collecting clothing in residences through my House Comm. CE Reps but were unable to find transport to take these from the residences as we intended on distributing these in the broader community of Grahamstown this time around, but since clothes have already been collected this is something we will definitely complete during the fourth term. With the help of our local staff, community partners as well as RUCE, we seek to assist those really in need with the clothing in our community extending outside the walls of Rhodes University and reaching those who may feel as though at times the Rhodes University community is separate to the rest to of the town.
Apart from the actual projects I completed or initiated, I have actively been involved with dealings at RUCE, visiting and consulting with them weekly as well as helping at their events as the MC or SRC representative in attendance. I have also been engaging with my CE Reps regularly and keeping them in the loop in terms of what I plan on doing and how they can help me and the SRC. I have also attended events and meetings involving the community partners RUCE has special relationships with as well as continuing my mentoring as a student leader in the 9/10ths Mentoring Programme.
Currently (fourth term) I have been very busy after having been elected into the SRC executive helping councilors with their various programmes, carrying out my handover duties with the 2019 CE councilor in order to equip him with skills for coping next year, knowledge of the SRC institution’s operations as well as where to go when he is in need of specific help, and I have also been trying to plan and execute my last projects for the year including my Matric Dance Collection which ends on the 12th of October when the Ntsika matric dance will be and on top of that we have also promised to help Atherstone res collect dresses for Nombulelo girls as well who also have their dance on the same day and so I have been hecticly looking for dresses, sending out emails to schools and organizations around town and in other provinces for contributions and have even secured a second donation from Assupol Life as well as two hair and makeup vouchers from one of the salons in town. My other project is in conjunction with RUCE offices and will be a final visit from our community partner organizations where their children from the creches will be coming to campus for a fun-filled day of games with my CE Reps and the SRC as a way of closing our ECD programme on the 10th of October.
To close off my year in office, I will be collecting more clothes, and as promised last term, and will be distributing them to the broader Grahamstown community through soup kitchens which operate around different areas in town, that I have been in contact with, and help those who are most in need.
Outside of my portfolio I have done my weekly office hours for the whole semester as well as attended all my committee meetings, met regularly with RUCE, volunteered on a personal basis, attended sports matches to support our varsity teams, helped our councilors with their projects and was involved in planning council- related presentations such as the multi-lingual presentation for CHERTL’s conversation event. This semester I have also been involved in campus- wide happenings such as the academic shutdown, the memorial services held for fellow students who passed on unexpectedly, as well as student parliament, student services council, and student body meetings for the review of the constitution. I have also sat in the Old Rhodian Union panel for the selection of candidates for the Distinguished Alumni Awards, attended the CE awards and the environmental ones as well due to sitting on those committees and being recognized for my involvement as well, I have also been a part of the various Purple Thursdays and projects such as the International Day for University Sports, Student Leader refelctions and the Hygiene Week Campaign put together by fellow councilors and RUCE offices.