Break the rules, says Dr Tracey Naledi.

A public health specialist at the Western Cape Department of Health, Naledi urged graduates from the Faculty of Applied Sciences to simply not accept all rules.

It is not easy to determine what rules to break and what not to, but the development of society is about questioning the rules, says Naledi.

Referring to the late Nelson Mandela and the thousands who participated in Sharpville, Naledi says by questioning and breaking the rules of the time, South Africans today reap the benefits of living in a democratic society.

She says around the globe there have been rules that have had to be questioned, such as denying women access to higher education.

“The point is that some rules can be a source of injustice and great pain.”

She urged the class of 2016 to think about rules, look at them from multi-angles, research them and consult others.

“Make informed and concise decisions to follow, ignore or contradict the rules,” she says.

“Realise that your decisions will cost you. There will be consequences…be sure that you are willing to live with the consequences.”

Naledi says breaking rules requires responsibility and in some cases there will be mistakes.

“Making mistakes is a good thing…Every mistake is an opportunity for growth. It’s a teachable moment…because you are asking yourself ‘what happened’…you are reflecting.”

Written by Candes Keating
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Provides coverage for the Engineering and Applied Sciences Faculties; the Bellville and Wellington Campuses, and research and innovation news.

CPUT nursing students have been participating in a mass immunisation campaign, which has helped to manage the outbreak of measles in the Cape Winelands District.

Recently the Western Cape Department of Health announced that there had been nine confirmed cases of measles, and a vaccination campaign was launched in a bid to prevent more people from contracting the illness.

Measles is a highly infectious viral illness, which can be spread when a person with measles coughs or sneezes. If not looked after properly, it can cause brain damage and blindness.

Third-year and fourth-year BTech nursing students from the CPUT/Western Cape College of Nursing Boland Campus in Worcester lent a helping hand by assisting the Cape Winelands District with the vaccination of learners and children in affected areas in Stellenbosch, Drakenstein and the Breede River.

“Very high vaccination is required to create immunity,” says Liesl Strauss, head of the CPUT/WCCN Boland Overberg Campus.

According to Strauss several objectives were met by assisting the Department of Health in their campaign.

Among other things the students gained valuable work integrated learning experience by working with the health teams in the affected areas while interprofessional collaboration was enhanced. It also enhanced the image of nursing students and the training provider.

Strauss says nursing students need to learn and understand their social responsibility towards communities.

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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A medical student who was displaced from her home country of Sudan was recently welcomed to CPUT, ahead of the Ubuntu 2024 Conference.

Sara Idrees, a fourth-year student at the University of Gezira, was on a two-week Student Network Organisation exchange and was hosted by the four local universities, CPUT, the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Stellenbosch University and the University of Cape Town.

The four institutions co-hosted the Ubuntu 2024 conference with the Western Cape Department of Health, Rural WONCA and The Network: Towards Unity for Health.

This year’s conference was hosted at UWC from 10 to 13 September and the theme was People, Place and Policy for Community Wellness.

During her stay at CPUT, Sara was hosted by the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences.

She said that after the conflict in Sudan she and her family were displaced and now live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“We are displaced in Riyadh for about seven months now. The first few months was a bit difficult and everything was new.”

Her university opened an external branch in Riyadh and other cities to facilitate the education process for students.

Sara said visiting CPUT “was a beautiful experience” in terms of education and culture.

Dr Lizel Hudson, Work-Integrated Learning and Language Coordinator in the Faculty of Health and Wellness Sciences, who hosted Sara, said they went to the small towns of Gouda, Saron and Porterville in the Boland, and the trip included visits to centres in Saron. They also went to the West Coast towns of Vredenburg, Saldanha Bay and Langebaan. Hudson said it was a “rich personal and professional experience, setting the scene for the conference with a very apt theme of People, Place, Policy and Community”.

Hudson said Sara was selected to spend time learning about rural and community health in South African communities, cultural norms and traditions, in addition to their local health systems, beliefs and habits.

She met with community members and patients from three organisations: Community home-based care and a soup kitchen facilitated by the non-profit organisation NorSA and a visit to the elderly at the Badisa, Percy Bilton Centre.

“The West Coast leg of the visit was to Siyabonga Care Village – an emotional trip where tears rolled freely from our eyes. Under the guidance and leadership of Ms Chrisna Du Plessis, this facility gives a whole new meaning to care.

“Documenting these activities in a linear manner seams easy and straightforward, yet the observations and emotions were difficult, uneasy and shook me to the core personally. The people we met, having to operate and deliver services in mostly difficult situations ‘underscored’ by often difficult to understand policies, are true angels!”

Written by Ilse Fredericks

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