CPUT staff members never shy away from doing their bit for the community.

Recently, a group of 30 Business Faculty staff members participated in a community-driven big walk, aimed at raising funds for Red Cross Children’s Hospital and a community library on the Cape Flats.

The event, sponsored by the ‘Sunshine D’ and ‘Polar Ice-cream’ brands saw participants walk 10km along the Seapoint Promenade meeting back at the urban park adjacent to the Cape Town stadium.

Well over R20 000 was raised, which is much needed by the hospital and library.

Head of the faculty’s Strategic Projects and Initiatives, Dr Reedwaan Ismail, who rallied together the staff members, says participating in the event was great fun.

“Our Dean, Prof Binza, requested that I arrange a team-building exercise for our staff and I saw this as a fitting activity that also brings in an element of community engagement,” says Dr Ismail.

Thirty staff members signed up, with the Faculty funding their entry fees.  Each participant also received a medal for their efforts and a variety of spot prizes were up for grabs. After the walk, the participating staff met up for lunch at the CPUT Hotel School to share their experiences.

“It was certainly a wonderful initiative to participate in an event like this. We will definitely be participating again next year,” says Dr Ismail.

“Next year, we hope to get more staff to sign up and will ask students to assist in manning the water points for walkers.”

He extends heartfelt thanks to the Dean for his support and the Marketing and Communication Department for branded items worn by the staff.

By: Thando J. Moiloa

Written by CPUT News
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The Department of Tourism and Events and the Service Learning Unit recently held a reflective session with the City of Cape Town to celebrate their partnership.

The collaboration saw third-year Tourism Management students evaluating the city’s engagements with communities in the Blaauberg and Cape Flats districts. Students solicited the communities’ views to influence its Tourism Development Framework.

Ntuthuko Mchunu, a Project Manager from the City of Cape Town, says in developing the framework, which will consist of Local Area Plans to be implemented throughout the city in the next five years, the city had to ask communities to identify tourism projects for their neighbourhoods.  

Addressing the event at the Cape Town Stadium, lecturer Pavla Mokoena said the day was about celebrating the collective learning and teaching project which saw students put into practice the knowledge they acquired from class.

She said service-learning was about the university forming partnerships with a range of stakeholders which in turn give students access to a broad base of resources.

Three groups of the students who took part in the research presented their findings and gave the city constructive feedback as they discussed challenges in stakeholder participation at the community meetings which they attended as well as made recommendations.

The meetings were attended by city officials, local businesses and residents.

Besides observing the meetings the students also administered questionnaires to those who attended.

The group which made the best presentation received a trophy and miniatures of Table Mountain from the city, and all the presenters were issued with certificates of recognition from the Service-Learning Unit.

Written by Kwanele Butana
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As a child, Dr Barbara Boswell dreamed of being a writer but without the influence of excellent black South African female writers the young girl expected the dream to remain just that - a dream.

Instead after matriculating she pursued the next best career option and studied journalism- eventually graduating from Peninsula Technikon on the eve of democracy in SA in 1994. Boswell returned a few years later to complete her BTech in Journalism while working as a journalist in Cape Town.

Years later it was while she completed a doctorate in Women’s Studies at the University of Maryland in the States that the idea of finally realising her childhood dream of writing a book finally crystallised.

“My PhD led me to the work of some great, but unknown Black South African women writers and discovering them made me believe I could write fiction of my own,” she says.

“I tried my hand at writing fiction while completing my dissertation, and the novel "Grace" is the result. The novel actually helped me complete the arduous project of writing a dissertation because it provided me with spaces of creativity.”

The novel follows the story of Grace, a young girl growing up on the Cape Flats in the 1980s, who’s past comes rushing back after the reappearance of a long-lost friend. As a victim of domestic abuse herself Boswell says the book explores the impact that violence, both personal and political, can have on an individual’s life.    

Boswell currently teaches English Literary Studies at Wits and says her novel is joining a local literary scene that is exploding with exciting talent.
“We are a very creative nation and our literature is flourishing!,” she says.

“When you look at the number of new books coming out, it is apparent that we have found our voice and are continuing to articulate our experiences in beautiful ways. It's an exciting time to be a writer and reader, as we are spoilt with a number of excellent books, both fiction and non-fiction, to choose from.”

Visit http://www.modjajibooks.co.za/titles/grace/ for more information about the book which retails for around R250.

Written by Lauren Kansley
Tel: +27 21 953 8646
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Liaises with the media and writes press releases about interesting developments at CPUT.