SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS GROW ORGANIC GARDEN FOR NEEDY STUDENTS

South African university students grow organic garden for needy students

Port Elizabeth, South Africa: Five years ago, Agricultural students from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) established a vegetable garden to provide nutrition for needy students at its campus clinic.

Dr Tim Pittaway, a lecturer in the Agriculture and Game Management Department, teaches the plant production module to students. He said that the organic garden is an important vehicle to help students gain practical experience. It is used as a simulator to teach them the agricultural process of crop production, from nursery, to soil preparation, to planting, to harvest, and then finally packing.

Apart from it contributing to the agricultural students’ plant production practical marks, it builds student confidence, provides an environment for them to experiment, and encourages appreciation of nature and a sense of environmental stewardship. Dr Pittaway added that nutrition is key to good health, and the garden supports the university’s green initiative. No chemicals were used and it is the only source of fresh, nutritious vegetables for the programme.

Sandisiwe Mkhize, an agriculture student, could not contain her excitement at the sight of vegetables being harvested and donated to the campus clinic for its student feeding programme. Lwando Vava, a student, said he used to collect food parcels from the clinic, and praised the students for their hard and selfless work to bless the needy.

The project is managed by the students and provides nutritional support to 1200 students. Dr Pittaway said that the garden was financed by the university’s Agriculture Department. The programme exposes students to learning beyond the classroom, and it is expected that it will be key to shaping rural communities where household incomes are low.

DESSA SPEAKS TO STUDENTS AT NELSON MANDELA METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

I had the honour of meeting Dessa, a rapper, hip hop artist, singer, spoken word artist, and writer from Minneapolis, Minnesota in the USA. She was in South Africa to deliver a Critical Theory Seminar at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University on Wednesday, May 13, 2015.

The audience attending the seminar were diverse and interactive during discussions on feminism, race relations and the creative process of writing and performing rap music. Dessa is a member of the indie hip hop collective Doomtree. She spoke on the ethnic and cultural differences between the members of the group, and thought those differences to be part of their strength.

Dessa doesn’t write or sing as a form of therapy because she thinks that’s what friends and therapists are there for. She prefers to only share personal information when doing so seems to be in the service of a promising song or essay.

She knows what it feels like to be exposed to sexual and racial discrimination, but doesn’t consider herself to be a "feminist" because it is a term that has been evolving with each wave of feminism.

Dessa attended the University of Minnesota, where she earned a B.A. in philosophy, before becoming a full-time artist. Since 2005, Dessa has appeared on numerous Doomtree albums, as well as on the other members' solo albums. Dessa's debut solo EP, False Hopes, was released in 2005.

She completed and released a book of creative non-fiction titled Spiral Bound. Dessa's first solo album, A Badly Broken Code, was released in 2010. In 2011, she released Castor, the Twin, and in 2013, released Parts of Speech.

Hip hop as music and culture formed during the 1970s, and performed particularly among African American youth residing in the Bronx. It is a populous form of art and expression whether by the people of for the people. More than any genre of music the crowd plays a role in performance and movement. Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music, or hip-hop music, consists of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted.

POEM FOR ELISABETH EYBERS

Poem for Elisabeth Eybers

as daughter and poet
it was easier to avoid the spotlight

yet your son's passing becomes
a serious setback -
oh yes, life has already
hung its frames around you

and the only thing you could rely on -
a walking frame
cut like a diamond
to fit into your hand
and life and death
in the other hand

©2015 Selwyn Milborrow

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS AT SOUTH AFRICAN UNIVERSITY MAKE HEADLINE NEWS

Port Elizabeth, South Africa: South Africans have seen a resurgence of random acts of kindness more than thirty years after Anne Herbert wrote “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty” on a place mat at a Sausalito restaurant in the United States of America.

Prof Jean Greyling, Computing Science Department Head at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), shared a video made by students from his department of their NMMU-Random Acts of Kindness Campaign. The students took up the challenge to “work on their soft skills” and set about spreading a little happiness on the university’s campus and in the community without asking for anything in return.

The first-year Computing Science students, Lutho Msutu, Bongo Mgubo, Michael Selby, Ruan Oliver, Christopher Marinus, and Cruden Daniels, started a Random Acts of Kindness page on Facebook as a platform for everyone to post and share their random acts of kindness. In the heart-warming and uplifting video, they can be seen dishing out cupcakes, leaving inspirational notes for unsuspecting students and handing out lunches to homeless people. Since then their video has been trending on social media and led to interviews on radio and national television.

South Africa has been experiencing a lot of turmoil with what’s happening around the issues of Xenophobia and the defacement of statues. According to the students the aim was to inspire others to practice kindness and pass it on. They have contacted other universities and schools challenging them to spread the joy by posting videos of themselves performing random acts of kindness.

The late Princess Diana knew how to change the world with one hug, one touch, and one smile at a time. She was quoted as saying, “carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.” Professor Greyling said that since the release of the video, many people came back and said ‘but this is the real South Africa’. “We want the world to see this is how we really are,” he said.

One can only hope that many more will take time out of their normal routine and attempt a new random act of kindness to make this world a better place.

– Selwyn Milborrow, CNN iReporter

Click here to watch the video clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruDlOPx9OzY&feature=youtu.be