Student well-being in African universities requires a holistic approach that integrates material security, academic belonging, cultural identity, and spiritual dimensions, moving beyond traditional counseling services to address the unique challenges faced by students from diverse backgrounds, including first-generation students, rural students, and those practicing African spirituality, while recognizing that well-being is inseparable from material support, linguistic inclusion, and institutional visibility.
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In the heart of central South Africa stands a university focused on possibility, progress and purpose.
A place where knowledge evolves, ideas grow and futures take shape.
This is the University of the Free State.
For 121 years, the UFS has advanced learning across three distinctive campuses, bringing together students from diverse backgrounds to form one connected, future focused academic community.
We are an innovative, research-led, student centered and regionally engaged university guided by our vision of responsible societal futures. We use our knowledge and partnerships to support progress and impact across our region, continent, and world.
Across seven faculties, our programs are shaped by expert academics committed to real world relevance and meaningful impact. We train educators, health professionals, legal thinkers, creatives, scientists, business leaders, and theologians who drive change in their fields.
Students learn from leading researchers and emerging scholars working within networks that stretch across Africa and beyond.
They step into a university that collaborates with global partners while remaining grounded in its responsibility to society.
Our values shape how we teach, work, and engage.
Excellence, care, accountability, impact, social justice, sustainability.
These principles guide our commitment to student success, ensure a supportive and safe learning environment, and inspire a culture that embraces growth and forward-looking thinking.
From advanced research facilities to community partnerships, from blended learning innovation to campus sustainability, the UFS continually evolves to meet the needs of a changing world.
The UFS cultivates graduates and knowledge that create impact locally and globally.
We are a forward-looking institution where fresh ideas grow, where diverse perspectives spark new insight, and where tomorrow's leaders are prepared today.
Globally connected, regionally engaged, purpose-driven toward responsible societal futures.
This is the University of the Free State.
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Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, members of university leadership and everyone joining us via live stream. My name is Qui Madana and it is truly an honor to welcome you today to the Africa Day edition of the EDSA dialogue here at the University of the Free State. Today's dialogue is held under the theme expanding pathways to student well-being.
And as we commemorate Africa Day today, this gathering creates space not only for important conversations around student well-being, but also for the celebration of our African identity.
Before we begin the formal program, we'll first enjoy a cultural opening item from the Bavenda Association.
Holy Hallelujah.
Glory name. for I choose you, baby.
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Fire you higher.
my way.
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Yeah.
Hallelujah.
Nobody.
Away Everybody. America.
Mario.
God know God.
God loves me. Hallelujah.
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Now that was absolutely passionate, beautiful, energetic. We really have talent at UFS. Ladies and gentlemen, let's give them another round of applause.
It is now my honor to invite the executive director of students affairs, sports, arts and culture, Dr. Shashaw, to deliver the welcoming and opening remarks.
Please give a round of applause.
>> Good evening.
Good afternoon.
Good evening.
>> Um, let me take this opportunity to really welcome you all. But before I do that, yo, I'm so excited. That was very inspiring. Um, I'm not going to follow or introduce any other person. I'll take it. The protocol has been observed by the program director. The only person I'm going to recognize is my boss, Professor Ha Klober, who is in the audience. you guys next time. Um, colleagues, please do enjoy yourselves.
We organize this event solely for yourselves. I mean the the c the CFO of the CEO of this university is amongst yourselves to share his vision to share his strategy to tell stories that will be exciting. You are privileged to have a vice chancellor of her calip. Let's give Prof. Glober a round of applause.
You are all most welcomed and please during the sessions panel discussions please do engage with the panelist. Do take note of what the vice chancellor is going to deliver as a guest.
Please do take note.
Take your notepad, take your pen and make notes because you are not going to ask this any question.
The panelist will actually probe you to ask questions from them. Listen carefully, engage and benefit from the interaction with the panelist that are with us. We have a well-known person called Galgo Fay who's going to be actually be part of the panelist. We also have professor Deli who is also going to be part of the panelist. She's the dean at health sciences.
Colleagues, the richness is amongst yourselves.
You are in the company of richness.
Starting with the vice chancellor and the dean of health sciences and our external guest go enjoy the rest of the sessions. You are most welcome. This is your home. In my culture I would say thank you.
Thank you so much Dr. Clashaw for those reflections. It is now my great privilege to invite the vice chancellor and principal of the University of the Free State, Professor Clober to also come to the stage to deliver keynote address. Thank you.
How are you? Good, good, good.
>> Oh, good evening, >> San Bonani Da.
Wonderful to be here amongst you and program director. You look absolutely beautiful. Beautiful. Wow. What?
Absolutely.
So, it seems like there's some competition for me.
One thing in our household that we totally do not agree between husband and wife and this is I am and my husband is so this morning I woke up so I do I I do want to apologize I do want to apologize to to uh those that have been supporting.
So I it's very seldom that I get something to win my husband on and this time I feel I've got the upper hand.
But let's get to the business of the day and this is celebrating Africa Day. It is indeed a honor to welcome all of you where as we recognize this day and this has become a quite a prominent day on our calendar every year and this year in particularly the theme that speaks to this day and I want to acknowledge my colleagues who have have chosen this that's speaks of a promise but also of a challenge that lies ahead of us and that is leaving no student behind towards inclusive pathways of student well-being and I will make some comments about that but I also know our panelist will speak in particularly uh to to that theme.
So last week at uh our Quakqua campus, we had the center for gender and Africa studies that had one of our international authorities on Africa history, gender and power and memory, Professor Nanda.
I never get it right, but I'm trying.
you see as part of our celebration of the Africa day celebration and in particularly she shared insights under this theme and she spoke about gender as Africa's archives but giving recognition of the challenges that we continue to experience in gender parity towards power authority and how that plays in to our celebration of Africa today.
But before I move on, uh recognizing Africa Day and what this means for us as a as a university, I want to touch briefly on three aspects.
who we are as the University of the Free State, what we believe African universities can offer the world, and then why expanding pathways to student well-being cannot be a peripheral concern, but is the center of our purpose.
So, let me kick off with Africa Day and why we commemorate this day. And it really um marks the founding as we know the organization of Africa Unity in 1963.
And uh I don't want to give age away but there's some of the leaders that celebrates exactly the same birth year as 63.
But that's a moment when Africa leaders dared to imagine a continent. Let me repeat this. They dared to believe that there could be a continent united by shared purpose rather than divided by colonial borders.
And I need to pause for one moment and recognize the challenges that we face right here in our city in terms of still uniting ourselves behind an imagination of a continent that's united.
That specific act required of people who could think beyond the present and who could have a bold vision. And this is exactly the vision that universities continue to share. We exist not for the year and the now and today only. But it is about a long-term thinkable and cultivating minds that can carry both the weight of history but also you carry the possibility of the future.
So I want to be direct.
The future is not only reachable if the students we are entrusted with cannot get there.
I recognize that tonight for our students here that we must ask ourselves a hard question of how do we continue to remove the barriers that we stand between our students and their full potential in the life of this institution but also in the life of our continent.
So leaving no student behind is definitely not just a slogan.
It is a structural commitment that the university has made and it ask of us not only to look at those who are thriving but those who can re re uh achieve their potential.
So if I move from Africa day and move into the university of the un free the university of the free state as a proud African university at its core we are an African university and more so we sit right here in the heart of South Africa geographically.
So we draw our students and our scholars from across the continent and I hope that this university will continue to foster the diversity of our continent.
Our research, be it food security, indigenous medicine, climate resilience, cancer treatment, all of it, if you look across the work that we do, is rooted in our African realities.
And our three campuses are a living reflection of our continent's diversity.
different languages, different histories, different ways of knowing, all in conversation with one another. But it's this diversity that also brings real complexity.
The student who arrives from a rural household carrying the hope of an entire family, entire communities on their shoulders faces a very different set of challenges.
from a student who arrives here as a well-rounded or from a well-rounded urban background. Yet as a university, we realize that both are equally deserving of success. And that is the challenge of us. Different pathways, but anyone who walks onto the land of this university is deserving of success.
It reminds me of the Cameroonian philosopher Achilibe who writes that Africa should be understand as a place that has its own time rhythm and future.
He also reminds us it might well be that the future of our planet will play out in Africa. And how true has that become?
There are some parts of the in the northern hemisphere that has not realized at as yet the future of this planet is in the hands of Africa and that potential the university of the free state is latching on. So we are definitely not trying to imitate what's happening in the northern hemisphere universities.
We are working towards becoming the best version of ourselves grounded in this place shaped by the continent but open to the world and to learn from them. And central to our vision here at the University of the Free State is that our studio student body needs to be supported to the best that we genuinely can do so that they are genuinely free to learn.
So what does it then mean if we talk about expanding pathways to student well-being?
Let me speak directly to this theme.
Student well-being is not a wellness program.
It is not a counseling hotline.
It is not a motivational poster that we would see somewhere in the corridors of our university.
Student well-being is real.
inclusive well-being and that makes learning possible.
It implies for me that is what enables our students to walk into a lecture hall and not just be physically present but mentally, emotionally being able to engage. And you can only do that if you experience wellness because that allows you to ask the questions, to engage with ideas, and to imagine a future.
I need to however share with you that since I've joined the university, I've extensively engaged with alumni both in our country, but also in other parts of the continent.
And I want to give you hope that it's absolutely unbelievable if I meet these alumni from the University of the Free State to see what they have accomplished and it's in your hands also to take that responsibility and opportunity to grasp that.
but critical where we find ourselves just given that recently Nesvas has been put under administration for the third time in 5 years.
I want to recognize tonight that I know you are carrying financial anxiety and I know that it will affect your ability to sleep, to concentrate and to remain enrolled.
I know that it will affect your mental health.
That acknowledged also given that so many of our students are first generation university students navigating a world that was never designed for for them. Yet they find here at the university ways of how to engage mentors but sometimes the challenge for us to provide enough of those resources.
So given my recognition of the challenges that you find yourselves in across the university, our our students in terms of financial debt, I want to recognize again tonight that myself and the university management has made a commitment that we will do anything possible to make sure that students who are academically deserving will remain in the system. Can I repeat that?
>> Students who are academically deserving, we will do anything possible to make it poss to make it possible for those students to remain in the system to that effect.
So we know this heavy burden that hangs over our university and it's the only university in this country who has the provisional registration.
So I want to acknowledge I want to acknowledge that that is a concern for students. But let me give you what has just happened in the last couple of weeks.
So when we've been tracking all along what is the number of those students that are within the risk area, we have been able through donations, through work, through burseries, etc. to get that number from almost 2,300 and it's down to 1,700.
We have dropped the burden from 50 million to as I speak 40,449,000.
So I hope you hear my commitment and I'm bringing the commitment of the management of this university that we are committed to work with you and the ISRC to make sure that we continue.
So let me please ask, study hard, make sure you pass, at least do your part in terms of academically deserving. And from our side, we will do what we can to remain you in the system.
So if we then talk about expanding pathways, it means building financial support systems that are accessible, dignified, and responsive.
And let me pause for one moment and acknowledge our our ISRC was just Saturday organized a fun run.
And also I know at the south campus they've had a full drive of um of uh people asking people to contribute.
I want to acknowledge the ISRC and other student leaders for the leadership role you've taken to work with us on this.
And I'm pleased to announce right from the beginning in the VC ISRC legacy fund I made the commitment if those money comes in I will match it and I can confirm every cent that the ISRC has gained through either the fund run or the money contribution at the south campus. I'm matching rant for rant.
I can also share with you that we've been successful to get an additional 20 million through one of the sittas.
There's criteria for the burseries, but we've already looked that quite a number of the provisional registered students will meet some of those criteria. The bottom line is you need to keep on passing.
You need to study and we are doing what we can to keep you in the system.
Wellness also means that we are treating the mental health infrastructure seriously and that we don't just see it as laboratory equipment and we are continuously investing in making sure that those services are available.
Equally, it means that we continue to invest in our academic support systems that are proactive and not reactive. And I want to invite you. It's as easy as ask for help. Please don't sit and worry about your academics and say where am I going to get the help. Our center for teaching and learning is waiting for you. reach out and get that support.
And then lastly, but not la the least is wellness for me also means that we are designing our curriculums and our spaces, our services, everything that we offer with our student in mind and therefore also genuinely listening to our students is critical.
We often refer to Ubuntu that binds us together that teaches us a person is a person through other people.
I honestly believe a student is a student through how the institution in supports them in the totality of wellness.
But you've also heard the flip coin of what I'm trying to say to tonight and that is please take the responsibility also for your wellness in terms of your academic progress in terms of looking at your mental health in terms of seeking the support for your academics if needed. But I want to press a bit on what might be a sore point and that is just recently we've seen a report a national report on the gambling behavior of students.
It's a huge concern.
Dear students, gambling, drinking, it's the same. It is the same p I'm talking I'm talking of alcoholism. I'm not talking amongst you. I'm talking of the pattern once it gets hold of you very hard to then escape. So what I'm saying is please take responsibility and steer away from behaviors of drinking too much. I've seen the results of that and I'm asking you please don't fall into the habit of gambling.
Let me move on. Almost done.
So what does the potential of African higher education institutions offer and where is our position in the global higher education space?
I want to say something about the role of our African universities because I honestly believe that we are underestimated in this conversation globally.
There's a longstanding uh assumption of global academia that knowledge flows one direction and I've always seen that it it's almost anticipated that it comes from the north to the south and that the so-called center is to the periphery.
But let me assure you that assumption is totally wrong. And more so if we look at our African university and what they are producing, we see the urgency, we see the original scholarship and we see research and teaching and learning that speaks exactly to the challenges we see on our continent. Therefore, the impact of climate change, biodiversity loss, food systems, pandemic preparedness, the urban informality and our demographic and our democratic governance remains under pressure, but it's in our hands as universities here on the continent of Africa to address them.
The Kenyan scholar professor Ali Mazoui wrote he says Africa is the most central of all continents geographically evolutionary and in terms of the challenges that define the human future and I believe that centrality extends to the universities of this continent and we will continue to see how universities of this continent will shape the future.
So let me move to conclusion.
If we think of the Africa Union agenda of 2063, it envisage a continent that is prosperous, peaceful and integrated. one that harness the talent and the energy of its young people to be a full participant in the global knowledge ecosystem and our university and universities across the continent is central to that core.
The skills that Africa need, the skills that our country need is critical thinking, innovation, ethical leadership, gender equity, scientific capacity, democratic citizenships.
And I want to pause and ask let's take hands everyone at this university to exactly make sure that that's the students we will produce.
We must be honest precious pressures are a lot. Not ignoring that but none of those challenges are insurmountable.
They require us of to think resourcefully and with a deep commitment.
In closing, Africa Day is an act of remembering, but more than that, it's an act of recommmitment.
So once again I want to reiterate my recommmitment and that of the executive management to make sure that no deserving student will be left behind.
It ask of us to tell the story of our continent and to know that this continent story is far from over.
The best chapters lies ahead and it's in your hands to help us write those chapters. Long after we are gone, you will have the opportunity to continue to write those stories.
And I also invite you as you think of your future careers also think of the academ as a as a career as a place where you can contribute knowledge inquiry courageous thinking.
I want to leave with the words of the great seneagaliz scholar and statement our statesman Dr. Shink Antio who dedicated his life to restoring Africa's intellectual heritage and confidence and let me quote the most crucial thing is the renaissance of the African world. The Africa of today must create in all domains not only in art but in philosophy, science and technology.
My call to each and everyone here tonight is a call. Let's go create.
Let's take intellectual courage, confident scholarship, and let's make this call a reality for all of us because we are all Africans. Thank you.
Thank you so much, Prof, for those encouraging words. Truly, truly touching. And at this time, I'd like to call upon the Koser Student Association to perform for us.
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That is the way might be.
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Oh, we are glor to the KOA students association sule and that was absolutely amazing.
Thank you so much. At this time I'd like to call upon Mr. Paul Balani as we facilitate the rest of the session together. Mr. Paula, please give him a round of applause.
Yes. Yes.
Let me invite Dr. Christie and Prof to join us on stage for this segment of the session for the other side. Dr. Chris, I need you. Yes.
Yes. Okay.
You know, as Prof was complimenting um Quzy as you were starting the show and I thought of your name whether we actually do know what your name what your name actually means because the name Quzy means a morning star. So, Prof had no other choice but to compliment the Morning Star. Thank you for such a fantastic job that you did.
>> Ah, thank you so much. You're most welcome.
>> And as we move to this segment of the session, it's a very interesting segment of of the conversation because we are linking well-being but in such a way that speaks to Africa Day and we have a few panelists just two panelists with us. Um, go you are welcome. Prof, you are welcome. But I'm going to ask you Quiz to introduce who we have on your side.
>> Yes. At this time, I'd like to introduce Prof. Pet Pu.
Professor Petu. Professor Dele Renee Pu is a distinguished leader in nursing scholarship and research capacity development with over two decades of experience in higher education and public health. Currently the dean of the faculty of health sciences at the University of the Free State. She has driven significant research growth while mentoring emerging scholars having supervised post-graduate students to completion including 17 PhD graduates.
Her expertise in grant acquisition is evidenced by securing major funding from prestigious institutions such as the National Institutes of Health, National Research Foundation, Bartner Training.
As principal and co-investigator on numerous projects, she has sourced millions in research funding while fostering the next generation of researchers.
A visionary strategist, Professor Pitlu has built sustainable research partnerships across Africa and globally with institutions including John's Hopkins University, Tanzania's Institute of Medical Research and the University of Health and Allied Sciences in Ghana.
Her leadership extends to ministerial appointments as vice chairperson of the South African Nursing Council, NRF reviewer, president of Sigma's Africa chapter, journal co-editor, and plenary speaker worldwide. Professor Petru brings unparalleled insights into building research cultures and navigating the competitive grants landscape. Professor Pio, >> thank you crazy. Um, and on my side, Dr. Christy Felgo Bazam. She is a licensed traditional health practitioner, scholar of African medicine, and social innovation consultant. She has been piloting the University of Cape Town's indigenous healthcare advisory service, spearheading the development of an indigenous wellness offering within the transformation portfolio of UCT. Ukobam offers psychospiritual counseling and guidance for students with ancestral callings, spiritual gifts, and personal cultural challenges. She's also a current founding interim national executive committee member of the traditional health practice association of southern Africa tamago and maybe just maybe out of curiosity let's start there what does and why is it so important Vietnam.
Um, that was me greeting everybody in the languages of the ancestors that are present present in this room. Um, as well and good evening. Um um I must mix my languages.
>> Please mix. Let's mix.
>> I must mix my languages. Right.
>> You know you know the trick You know the trick that people use? They say which means you do not translate. You do not translate. But in this case, I'm going to use that trick against you and test your ability to translate.
>> I'm going to interpret it.
>> Yes.
>> Not translate it.
>> Okay.
>> Um, it's the same when you say makos or toa.
It is an acknowledgement of you and the spiritual entourage that you walk with because all of us as African descendants as descendants of the globe walk with ancestors. So I am honoring you. I am greeting you as well as the historical lineage that you come from.
>> Thank you.
As you've heard, it's very lovely to have you here.
As someone who is in the health sciences and you have extensive experience in clinical practice, private healthcare and academia. What are some of the emerging pathways in the field towards ex expanding well-being, particularly student well-being and higher education?
Thank you.
Um when when when you started this conversation during some times back when we start to think about how we going to address this um one of the things that I first asked what does well-being mean and how do we define well-being within the diameters and parameters of an African person. Um and and for for one to start thinking of the pathways, one needs to start thinking of what do we mean, who we are. I'm making this example in particular to say wellbeing is not a misnomer where you have disease but wellbeing is where there is the ability to have meaning meaning in your life >> which could be from physical to spiritual and that encompass what makes well within an African concept. I always say when we think well we not only thinking about individuals we think about you as a person within a community >> and therefore once you start thinking of what the pathways could be in a higher education which is mainly engaged in western transitions in those cases one is to start to stop take a pause and say what does that mean how would it look like what is the shape of pathways So one of the things that one think of when you think about pathways in how we we talk about well-being is we're talking about identity and within higher education this is something that we need to recognize that we are looking into diversity see the densers different ways of think doing things. So when you build in your pathways or you know we we always talk about counseling but is is counseling enough or are we thinking of looking into the totality of a student and say what makes this person well?
is the identity well is the comfort in terms of where they want to reach their career well so there's kind of like levels in terms of how one would look into these pathways and I I I think I had looked at a couple but I think as we continue the conversations I I will touch on it but I think it was important to set the tone to say well-being is to a person what a person is it is about you being emotionally okay. It is about being able to identify yourself with who you are, not how you are defined by others. And it is about the linguistics that makes you and strengthen your mental health. So one looks into those things and as higher education we start to unpack them to say how do we ensure that we include them for all the students that we deal with.
>> Thank you so much. very insightful. So it's how we selfactualize >> in essence.
>> Yes. I don't want to use the word selfactualization because it can be interpreted the way >> you know it is the mus theory of needs and we're not going to go to the mus theory of needs on Africa day.
>> Yes.
>> We're going to be thinking more of >> what is our identity?
>> Yeah.
>> Who are you? And as higher education a as senior people in higher education and lecturers in high education that orientation of understanding that when one is well it's not how I assume it's quite a subjective thing is when we say a student is well what does that really mean did we really capture their cultures their traditions >> do we uh want to play it as in the normal way of doing things an example you know in in the western culture When respect is defined by looking to somebody you talk to in the eye. But in my African culture, you bow.
>> Right? You don't look and altered in the eye. Now, if in education, we don't recognize those differences. What happens is that when a lecturer speak with a student and the student looks down, >> Yeah.
>> it becomes misinterpreted.
So those pathways of inclusivity whereas within the higher education space we need to think of those to say for this person if I start shouting at this child I'm confusing this person and confusion comes with anxiety >> anxiety comes with fear fear comes with the inability to express themsel within a classroom and therefore we are leaving them behind. Then we say this student is not very clever or he's not attentive.
It is because we never understood the nuances of who the student is and what is represented within her learning or way of looking at education.
>> So we're looking at the intersectionality and all the social identity markers that make this person.
>> Definitely.
>> Thank you so much. Very insightful.
>> So the conversation is moving. Go you are saying when I greet you I also recognize the lineage not only just you prophesies coming in you are speaking about the holistic well-being and one would have expected that maybe you would describe wellbeing in clinical terms only and this is what triggers my question what conversations have we not been having about well-being in the African continent especially when you look at the clinical versus the African spirituality, what conversations are missing as you navigate higher education? Maybe I'll start with you, go because of the work that you've done in other institutions as well.
Um, it's such an interesting question because one of the most fundamental things I used to say when I was doing talks was if you are leaving an aspect of a student at the door, you might as well leave the entire student at the door.
And there are histories and there are spiritual implications on our lives as African descendants that we don't speak about. We speak about them in decolonial spaces or in academic spaces. We'll speak about the trauma of the witchcraft act of 1957.
We'll speak about a land disposition and we would never speak about what does that connection to the land mean for me?
And what has the witchcraft act of 1957 done to the nervous system of a black African descendant?
Um, our parents, our grandparents, our great-grandparents faced that injustice with whippings, fines, and death. Which means fundamentally our nervous systems as African descendants and especially people of color are continuously responding to the fear of our own identity.
And in the struggle of realizing that we are in the fear of our own identity, it literally means that the first person that is going to like uh Prof was saying earlier to me, the first person that's going to judge me about needing to burn in Beo is my person of color. and not because they do not um understand the prevalence of inapp but there is a predisposition towards classification and status that removes us from our Africanness that needs us to act in certain ways because for us to be able to enter certain institutions we need to present and mask right we've been masking since the days of slavery um we still live with that reality within our nervous systems when we step into certain spaces of higher education that history that colonial oppressive history sits in our spiritual memory. So we are spiritually activated by the colonial histories that are part and parcel of the institutions that we are in.
So when when we look at the clinical aspect and the African spiritual aspect is African spirituality has um legacies of cleansing um cleansing death violence cleansing very painful and traumatic incidences right um and in the clinical setting it's a difficult thing to introduce because I'm trying to say to you that the reason why there are certain ailments that are happening in our society at the moment is because there are spiritual things that have not been resolved in the ways of our people. In the ways that those things have not been resolved means that we are continuously spiritually ailing. Spiritual ailment doesn't end in the spirit. It manifests into the physical. It manifests into your energy. It manifests into your aura. it manifests into your physical wellness. Um when there is spiritual imbalance, we pick it up. That is a difficult thing for uh the clinical setting to take into account or understand because the clinical setting primarily looks at the biomedical representation and aspect of the body.
When I come in with now a psychosspiritual understanding of these are the realities that sit with our young people. Now, not only are we lost in our identity within our nervous systems, but we're also lost in our identity because our elders are afraid to pass down this information to us because of the spiritual trauma that has been incurred. In that spiritual trauma being incurred, the only time that the information gets passed down to us gets passed down to us is when it's a life and death situation because You know what I mean? Because m there's a certain spiritual ceremony that's supposed to be done at home to be able to keep the peace, the good fortune, the spiritual fortitude of the family, but that's no longer being practiced because it's been lost to colonial oppression. M >> so we sit in our lineages with a lot more ailments in our spiritual legacies that then come up for us when we are trying to make something of ourselves in the world.
>> Sure.
That's what a critical conversation on Africa day speaking about who we are.
And when the vice chancellor and principal started this conversation during a keynote address said we need to become the best versions of ourselves and discussions and conversations of this nature become very critical go you are touching on very important components but I'm picking up healing in the components that you're talking about and the importance thereof. off.
Is it really possible to gravitate towards healing and experience the totality of well-being?
Look, it's possible. I'm not going to say that it's not impossible, but it's an egregious task.
Um, on the basis of the fact that a de decolonial framework is a master's tool. Okay.
uh a decolonial framework says the master gets to control the manner in which the decolonization happens.
What we are needing to do as Africans is reindigenize ourselves.
Then we can begin to look at healing within our own social constructs. We have different social constructs regarding wellness.
And when we think about those social contracts constructs per clan, per tribe, per culture, per province, etc. There are fundamentally important things that are supposed to come out of bodies of information that should be passed down. Right?
But now we are sitting in a place where I'm young, but I'm considered an elder.
Traditional e healers have become the elders of our now nation because the elders have struggled with metabolizing that trauma right now. So healing looks like what does it look like as black nations to go back to how we used to resolve through trauma and begin to have those conversations again? What does Ambizo look like amongst the Zulu people? the Sutu people, the Kosa people, the Bi people.
What does Ambizo look like to say we are having an intergenerational gap in knowledge? And the one of the ways in which we can begin to address that intergenerational gap in knowledge is how do we heal our nervous systems? We have our ways of healing our nervous systems. Because once your nervous system is stuck in a stress response, you are consistently responding to things from that stress response. Now you are either in fight, flight, freeze or fawn mode, right? And once your nervous system has adapted to a certain to either one of these stress responses, what your body does is it shuts down and it protects you to the extent that you can have limited cognitive abilities. So at that point sometimes when our elders for instance are needing to engage these identities they can have a cognitive shutdown when it comes to need to passing down this knowledge because their nervous system just goes complete freeze complete paralysis. So what does it look like to be able to go back in history and think about how do we heal those elders so that we are then healed or we heal backwards back to them from the young people back to them. But in the manners in which we knew are the ways to heal because our healing doesn't only affect our body. It affects your your mind, your heart, your body, your spirit, your soul. These are five components of human existence, right?
And these things are connected to so many things. This connected to family, it's connected to belief systems, connected to personality models. It's connected to for us in African spirituality. connected to healing the earth, for instance, because not only do I walk with my ancestral spirits and the gifts that I walk with, but I also walk with the power to be able to connect to nature >> and use the strength in the spirits of nature to be able to to to effect and influence healing. Now because we are sitting at a disconnect with land dispossession, we are unable to connect into the strength and the power that that land would give us unless it is cordoned off as a heritage site or reserved. But even if it is reserved, it's also reserved in ways that don't allow us access as healers, for instance, doesn't allow us access. And some of those spaces are sacred lands for us. What does it look like to go and cleanse those sacred lands? Because what happens is those sacred lands are not uh uh uh cleansed. For instance, everybody that steps on that land is going to be affected by the the residual energy of whatever violence or or trauma took place on that land.
>> Sure. Um Quzi, you might want to bring Bro in, but I just want to to our audience here, if as we move with the conversation, something comes to mind and you have a question, just raise your hand. Um there are roaming mics on the floor about four mics. Um the team will identify you and then you will be given an opportunity to speak. Quy back to you.
>> Thank you so much for that. Um Prof. Let's talk about the emotional side of things. You know many students are navigating the realities um such as financial pressures, loneliness, academic anxiety and all of that. In your view, what are the most overlooked dimensions of student well-being?
>> I think there there's a couple of things that that are overlooked. Um, >> you know, just just duct tailing on what go said to say >> what happens if you know I'm coming from the health sciences now. What happens to a medical student or any nursing student or whatever who goes into a clinical facility and experience death >> cuz that's what they would do. They would experience it in some part of their training.
What what what we really never talk about is how do we train them to see those and handle them in a way that they will understand best. We kind of like go into the pathway that we all know to say, you know, in a hospital the person die, we close the eyes, we clean them up, we have them, you know, what and yeah, we pass. But then this this this trend is at some point going to be confronted with what the family might want and we we not ready. We we don't prepare them for that. We don't prepare our students to be emotionally um capable of handling things that are out of their own normality, >> right? Um so so I think once you start thinking about what are the issues >> that we need to be thinking about in higher education space beyond the anxiety we need to ask the question what causes those anxiety what are the things that we need to be thinking about we need to be thinking of do we include are we inclusive in our way of thinking relationship of well-being and one's culture and tradition and and and um I think one of the things that we we we talk about we teach we teach theories a lot in one of the theories that we talk about Vigoski's theory which talks about learning taking place within the environment within the being as part of that but what we don't do and we don't discuss enough is what is the environment is it the environment ments because it is the uh university environment or is the environment within which the student find themselves.
>> One challenging secondly um something new to them particularly if they are one come from rural areas two first generation graduate with expectations.
So we in in my view when we talk about inclusiveness in terms of the pathways that we need to think of and how we would support students towards a well-being yes it's not only about sending student to counseling they can go to counseling in fact I've got a view that counseling shouldn't be talk spoken about counseling it's it's a mental health term that it makes people feel as if it stigmatizes people as if you are sick.
Yeah, >> it makes you feel like you are mentally not well. But it's not necessarily the only issue around mental health. Mental health is a core which is actually the response to what the person has been experiencing.
Therefore, we only we should in addition of looking into the anxieties and the stress and everything that we can say it impact or imposes unwell.
or negativity on the wellbeing of a person. We need to be starting to think on what does a person what is this student really look like and can we include their their well-being from a cultural aspect. We don't talk about those things in our books. We we don't even prepare them that they should handle them when they meet them. And that creates stress to the student. That is where the mental health issues come in. That is where when the the finances, we talk about the finance, we talk about all those type of things. But do we ever stop and think when we talk about a a a finances for example, we have students a lot of our students are on on NSF and we hear tales of student not buying books, student always struggling not buying food. But have we considered that this student because NSF first student most of them they come from family where they were SASA first then from SASA they get captured within the NSF first system.
Now one student once said to me with my NSF first money because I was the one who was kind of like my SAS money was the bread winner money at home right and now I come to university it means my mother or my parents no longer get that 500 because now I'm older therefore I'm going to take part of my NSF >> and use it in that space >> that is a contributo factor to not hoping well.
>> Yeah.
>> Right. It is no longer about just the finance of paying the fees is about the finance of survival because NSF first become my shared community space of or with my family. So those are type of things when within the higher education we we we focus on well-being as the one entertainingly the mental health that is due to all these barriers. But we miss that part in terms of the socialness of how as African people we share even the least of what we have.
>> Sure.
>> Yeah. We we may give them a round of applause collectively because when you look at it in the African context and when we talk about the issue of individualism is really doesn't exist much. It's about the collective, the community, and and it is those principles and and ethics and morals that we grow up with that follow us into university that if I do have this, I've got to share with my family.
But there are realities in higher education. There are needs that I need to take care of in higher education. And one would wonder why do I have funding NSF but I still you know am not living up to I'm experiencing the shortfall and maybe there are questions that um our panelists have because they are just here to trigger some questions inputs from the floor. If there are any uh please do feel free to raise your hand because we don't want to leave you behind in this conversation. We want to take this conversation forward, but we want to make sure that we take this conversation forward with you. We are talking about student well-being in higher education in an African university and there are lived realities that our students are confronting. If I was a res student, I would ask a very critical question around African spirituality within the resident spaces because we are talking about the environment.
And perhaps the question would be have we gotten to or what are the ways in which we can get to the point where we are able to create an enabling environment for our students to experience total well-being in the midst of existing norms and standards, occupational health and safety. You know that balance. How do we strike the balance go between African spirituality in the environments we exist in while ensuring safety? Are there any practical ways even if it's one that as the University of the Fate we can take as you leave to come back?
>> Okay. So what I've been doing with my students at UC is for instance very controversial topic.
Um, it's got cultural significance differently to all of us per clan and tribe that we come from.
Um, but fundamentally we need that basic connection. It's like the same as praying for Christians, right?
M partler our candles and the manner in which I've been able to to cordon off the safety hazard issue with my students is the fact that they are now Impo incense sticks which do not have as much smoke as impo does or rather if they really need the actual raw herb to burn very little of it at a time so that it doesn't generate a lot of smoke and to open all of your windows while you are uses in Beo and your candles.
Um the other controversial topic in re spaces is ancestral transers.
Ancestral transers have been so it's such a difficult phenomena and reality to mediate because it's like energetic frequency, right?
Like audio has a frequency and it moves from here to there and we start reacting to it physically. It's got the same effect when somebody goes into an ancestral trance. There's a certain frequency that that person is emanating at that point and it can affect other students who have no exposure >> to African spirituality on that level.
Some of us come from families beating the drums.
But some of us don't.
And although we come from families that have not exposed us to those things, we still carry the very real spiritual and genetic reality of whatever calling could be running through that family.
So if I am an initiate or a sangoma and I am a student at Reso, um the reality is that my spiritual trance could affect the next student which then causes the next student psychosspiritual stress because they have no exposure to any of those things.
So there's needing to be a training for wardens, sub wardens, uh frontline responders when it comes to things like ancestral transes because each kind of trance is different. There is a trance that go that that is aligned to there is a trance that is aligned to invu and the red beads there is a and the black beads there is a trance associated with just your family lineages ancestors coming up to give you a message without any specific ancestral calling over your life maybe a spiritual gift right? Um, and you happen to be accessible to them as the ancestors.
So now it can get very uncomfortable for other students to the point that it infringes on their I don't want to call it constitutional right, but the students feel uncomfortable about it. It feels spiritually violating like an invasion to now be having a physical response to someone else's ancestral trance.
Um so needing to educate res spaces about the reality of what it means to live with people in their space that that um practice African spirituality.
the reality of when incenses burn, it's uncomfortable for some students and it can trigger spiritual awakening or spiritual activation in other students.
So there needs to be disclosure.
um if there can be a res intake form where students can disclose the fact that they come from an African spiritual background and these are the practices in which they need to be able to continue uh their wellness trajectory throughout their academic career and then there be education as well to the rest of the students to let them know that listen you will be living with a student like this like this in your res sometimes you're going to smell the residue of candles or ribeo sometimes there will be a very loud noise and screaming sometimes and making them understand that it's not anything that is demonic or wrong because most of us have been raised in Catholic and Christian churches to believe that once somebody goes into an ancestral trance there is demonic energy attached to it sometimes it is demonic energy sometimes it is not but African spirituality we're able to ascertain in the manner in which the trance happens the difference between it being an evil spirit spiritual warfare and an ancestral spirit that has come up to speak. So education it's a big thing and perhaps giving students a choice um and saying to them there are students that practice African spirituality in this race. Are you comfortable living with students that practice African spirituality so that we are not consistently dealing with this clash between the belief systems and realities >> let me thank you I'm going to take two questions from the floor um and then we'll continue with the conversation if you have mic it means you can speak.
Yes, please go on.
Um this one it's a bit personal cuz I can somehow relate as I started having my like started accepting my gift when I was doing my second year here in the University of the Free State and I used to stay at a resident called house Fermeni whereby by um some of my housemates when I would get in trance they would wouldn't know how to handle me and I knew what to do which required burning impair and candles of which it's restricted here at the university of the free state for those staying on campus and I did my research on how and why and then I understood that I might burn my candles, then they fall, then they burn the entire residence. Then I respected and acknowledged the given um restrictions.
But now since we are now ba basically emphasizing intrusivity, truly speaking, I felt like I'm not welcomed.
Truly speaking, I felt like I'm now the problem in the building cuz even my housemates will try to comfort me. Vanessa Caesar used to be my housemate. She would comfort me and luckily my my room would always be near hers. She would try to comfort me although she doesn't have the knowledge about it. But then now why do I have to seek for comfort from the others where else I'm also a human being and like I've said I arrived here normal like everyone and then I along the way I encountered the gift I had to answer the calling since it's my calling no one else can answer the call except for me.
So now my question is while we're still waiting for a process that's going to benefit each and every golf here at the University of the Free State which advice would you grant a student maybe for for instance right now I'm no longer staying on campus cuz I felt like I should leave since but then for those who are still staying on campus what advice would you say they could do cuz I would b in order for me to be able to study and trust me I excelled and yes so now it required me to travel back at home in order to go and talk to my people cuz here it's unacceptable >> and then you know >> they don't tolerate that so I'll have to go every Friday then come back. I'm an NS pass student by the way. So that on its own it it cost me to take to use my the money I should have used for my groceries and toiletries.
>> So now for those at least who are still here on campus, what should they do?
Perhaps that would accommodate everyone.
Thank you.
Thank you for the question. Um, we've noted that question and as well as prof are going to answer the two questions at the same time. So, I'm going to grant you an opportunity and if we could cut a little bit on the preface so that we save on time and we can have more people asking questions. Over to you.
Hello everyone. My question will be very very short. Uh it's about um the well-being. I heard you uh talking about the well-being, how uh um students suffer and everything.
So what I've realized is that most of the students we come from uh backgrounds that will humble if we tell the story.
My question to you is um if you see you're a student, you notice that someone is struggling prof I've touched on something uh example students um going to pubs drinking alcohol um getting into dangerous situations. How will you take that as a student that have a knowledge to share with them um be there for the student um without even uh offending them. How will you do that?
>> Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you. Thank you for the questions.
And as we when we gravitate towards the end, I'm going to challenge you to also make some proposals to say as a student, this is what I want to see in the university because you know what we've done here? We've brought the executive director of student affairs, sport, arts and culture. We brought the vice chancellor and principal of the university so that they also get to hear what is it that the VC always speak about our student. What is it that our student wants to see in the university for them to thrive? Maybe I'll allow you to respond to the two questions.
>> Okay. Um um The other ways in which I've dealt with uh students needing to deescalate their spiritual activations with impe candles is to have them do it outside.
So when you are having your your issue is to try to take your candles and your po and to go outside at night. You can go with a you can go with another student, a fellow student and do your pepo and your candle outside, but otherwise during the day you can go outside into nature. Like I said earlier, we're not only connected to our ancestral spirits, but we're also connected to the nature spirits. So you are able to utilize the strength of nature to your advantage which is being able to then connect with your ancestors through the na the the the the natural spirits and that should be able to assist you so that you don't constantly have to travel back home to speak to amla. Um you can you can also um we can also develop public shrines although it's controversial to develop public shrines um but to develop public shrines one of the UC reses do have a room allocated for students to be able to go and Patla specifically So, so that is a room that is also spiritually taken care of in specific ways. It is cleansed in specific ways.
It is, it is spiritually nurtured and fortified in certain ways. We can also do that by having public shrines outside for students to be able to utilize. and those shrines would shrines would be taken care of according to spiritual protocols. Um that is one way in which we've been able to to to to utilize the outside spaces so that safety hazard issues are not such a problem.
>> You want to take the >> Thank you. I think the second one is quite difficult. Um >> it's digital in a sense he's asking what does he has to do to stop other people from drinking from a dish I don't know but I think I think from a a a a perspective and this is just an opinion because to be quite honest as much as uh you know the recipe was saying to people they have to read they have to study they have to pass it is their responsibility so basically each one of us has a responsibility towards us and our success in a way. Um everything else around us are facilitators that could get us to a certain point but we need to take responsibility of who we are. So I don't think it's going to be easy. You could have a best friend that you can talk to and say, "Hey, don't go to to the and don't do that." Right? So, those are the conversations that you could have with your friends. Um, and in in in terms of trying to make sure that we don't want to be what do you call it? We don't want to be nurturing a alcoholism as an issue. We can't do that as a a academia university space where we want to nerate thinking. We want to ner what we are talking about in terms of well-being with regards to all the concept of things that makes you happy. The question becomes are you happy when you are an alcoholic? It comes with regrets.
Yeah, I know there's there's a I don't think addicts are happy. Even if you can say yes at the back there, I hate you.
But because the first thing you you don't even have money, what what money are you using to buy alcohol? Because that's supposed to be helping you. But on a on a serious note, I think it is >> let's let's settle down.
I think for all it's a it's a a conversation that as young people in your groups in your grouping that you want to identify with to give you access to good education in those groups when you get to university you you kind of like form groups you form friendships and that is a space baba that we can take to say listen friend these are this is the path I think we should to take to be able to to you know to to get where we want to do. We should remind each other that you come from humble beginnings as you say and messing up your chance of being the first graduate, the one who might be securing the family's well-being in totality. Um once you get into those spaces, the gambling, the alcohol, the everyday out, we don't say student don't go out, go. It's it's nice to be a student. It's nice to be young. But you need to be a limiting to yourself and have self-discretionary to say this is where I stop and this is where I I I go because by doing things out of um or or or things that excessively you are actually excluding yourself.
While we are talking about inclusivity, once you start doing things that are out of bound that are going to get you in more trouble than what is supposed to be, then you're excluding yourself from the very inclusiveness that you want to to to to bring you in. Therefore, it is important to think of what constitute within what you want to do as norms and ask yourself question is it a wise move?
Is it a move that will actually enhance me being a happy, fulfilled, content person? Because that's what wellbeing is all about. It's about being content.
It's about being um happy with this the space where whichever type of it, you know, you don't have to be rich to be happy. Um but if you are content with the little that you have and you find ways in using them wisely then that that that enhances your your well-being rather than you know that you are going to go to the groups with the men's and the girls and tomorrow we are in trouble and therefore your life is also coming to a standstill. in in in trying to answer how do you what do you do? I think it is having those conversations with the people that you call friends and those that you see they might be heading towards the wrong direction and staying with you in a way I think those and just highlighting the danger of excluding themselves from what we would want uh students to become.
>> Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Uh thank you prof I'm going to give allow you but I just want to take there is a question from the floor one question from the floor and then in responding to the question you you might start off um yes from where prof left off.
>> Um greetings everyone. Um for the sake of time I greet everyone in according to the chronological order and allow me to say all protocols are observed. My name is Vanessa Caesar and I'm the CSRC on campus residence council um representing all the 21 on campus residences. Um my question um to you go is that how can the institution give support to our residence leaders? Our residence leaders usually are the first people to receive the call when there's an emergency in the residence and they are the people that bear with all the pain and the sufferings that um a certain student is going through. um we usually receive complaints like I was trying to assist the student and the student that was um in the act of um the spirituality pushed me and then I fell into the wall such things. So I just want to understand as to how can the institution better assist our leaders in residences in ensuring that Libona as well their mental health is also okay cuz they number one they are not trained on how to handle such um issues in residences. No one ever trains them and no one ever comes back to ask how are you guys doing? How do you guys handle such h emergencies in your residences? So how can the institution itself offer support to our students?
Cuz in as much as we can say that we can call one student that has the same calling in the in the residence but as you also mentioned yourself that sometimes the calling of someone else can affect the same person that has the same calling and some students sometimes they choose to distance themselves and say I won't be able to assist this time because this person is dragging my energy or whatever um the the thingy. So how can we better assist our leaders in residences as the first respondents to all the emergencies in residences with regards to African spirit uh spirituality calling. Thank you.
>> Yes. Maybe um I will allow you to to to build upon what PROV left off and then you can also respond to the question.
Thank you. Thank you.
>> Okay. So, the the the addiction question um we have wellness drives at the university I'm working at. During wellness drive weeks, we have informants that come in to speak about things like depression, anxiety, addiction, etc. They speak on you on the radio.
They will come in and they will do talks during the wellness drive um for people to be able to understand what to look out for. So what our wellness is doing it also has wellness Wednesdays which means coming in to come and uh we have what we have SWS peers peers which are student wellness peers right um and then what we would do is that those peers get educated about how do you teach regarding addiction for instance um how do you educate regarding addiction uh so that when there are gatherings regarding things like addiction, educational gatherings, you can take your friends there so they can hear for themselves. You understand? So that they get there, they get to understand what constitutes addiction.
What is the cause of addiction? Because usually there's an underlying issue where addiction is involved. If it's gambling, poverty could be an underlying issue. um self-esteem could be an underlying issue. If it's alcohol, if it's drugs, if it's if it's sex addiction, if it's whatever, it's usually because there's something that that that person's psyche is escaping through a dopamine rush that they are getting by engaging that addiction, that addictive substance that they are using or outlets that they are using. So to be able to to teach what constitutes addiction and what are the causes of addiction, then you are able to look into what's going on in my friend's life. Do you know what I mean? You're able to pick up, oh no, there's an unresolved maybe emotional issue here or there's a poverty issue here. Um and then you begin to to speak about the psychosocial support services that they can reach out to like Gamblers Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, um Sedak speaks to people. Uh there are there are boards that restrict people from being able to register for gambling for instance. Um so we give them the information regarding those psychosocial services of also taking the responsibility of engaging their addiction and taking responsibility for it themselves. So you send them to wellness.
send them to wellness you know and be like I noticed that uh AB and C is happening in your life and I noticed that when I was at a talk this information came up regarding addiction and usually the underlying issues for somebody doing something as frequently as you are conotes addiction and then you get to then say they are wellness practitioners that can help you understand what it is that's causing you to engage addiction that way. Yeah.
>> Yeah.
>> So that also means we need to educate student wellness, we need to educate about addiction etc. >> Um the other question about student leaders and reses.
Um at UCT what I've been doing is gathering wardens and sub wardens and I would specifically have training with them about responding to ancestral callings and transers. So I would give them different scenarios regarding the kind of transers that would come up or the spiritual activations that would come up, what they would look like and how to approach them so that they can also then protect themselves. You understand? And I also try to identify who are the people in those wardens or sub wardens and in those raises who are exposed to African spirituality that can then get get concessions to become firstline responders.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Cough. Um, so many students have raised the realities that they go through, especially living on campus, you know.
So, if we were to meet here in the next 3 to 5 years, um, what do you think is what what are the pathways that you would want to see for you to be able to say, "Yeah, we've made it. we've made a shift towards holistic well-being for students. What what frameworks, what powers do you want to see instilled for you to be able to say, "Okay, now we're at a point where we're progressive."
>> Um, I'm going to I think I had that thing.
Sorry. I think one one of the things that I would want to see moving forward is where student feels like they belong.
Yeah, >> I think that is the first thing when student feels like they belong when they are safe within the space they they are in a university and are able to express themselves like they are now. I think we we are taking a hold where students are able to talk about spirituality free from being fear of stigma that is going the right direction. It means these conversations starting they start with um you know just saying that there is something happening that is the first thing the second thing I think I would want to see and I think we would say we would have done you know we we we talk about we don't talk much and even today we didn't talk much about the existence of technology and where are we going with it right and whether each and every student who walk into the university of the free state is able to confidently say that I can use technologies that are available. Right? We we we talk about everybody has a cell phone.
But how many of the people who owns smartphones know how to use all the features in that smartphone?
>> Those smartphones are are much much smarter than the people who carry them.
So if we look into a point where students and and staff maybe we end up having um what our lessons in spaces or in on on the tools that student have that they can they are able to to to access them without having to spend a scent on them. That will be an interesting pathway. not just using a phone for a phone call but being used also as a tool of of teaching and learning for the students. I think what I would also want want to see is where the the education stuff that lecturers and um everybody who deals with students are also immersed in understanding the technology and meeting our generation that is literally living on the phone. I mean if you look into what is happening right now a 3-year-old uses a phone imagine when that 3-year-old comes to university yeah and they meet me who don't even know how to use cobalt or when I talk about cobalt people don't know what cobalt is so it means it is when we get to a point where every staff and every student is comfortable to use tools that will increase the uh learning and strength strengthen their capability to success. That would be one of the things that we would have made headways as a university if we have provided those skills for both our groups of people.
And um also looking into the whole issue of of the culture and traditions that we are talking about where we get to a point where when we look into a curriculum of the university of the free state there is aspects of spirituality that talks to it.
Um when we look uh into the h our our modules there is something that really orientate not only African students because all the students in this university are going to meet people outside anyway. So sharing those diversities with other groupings, understanding that we are all going to come into contact with each other at some point. And if we can get a five year by 5 years, even if you get a a a white medical student able to say, I understand when somebody is going into a trans what does that look like, right?
And I will be able to assist. So if we moving towards those pathways of inclusivity that are just beyond you maybe just going back one of the things that I've picked up and we don't talk about a lot it is the the the um students in the middle what the missing middle students we never talk about them much right and those missing middle student also have their own spaces in university because when we do plan for things a lot of times we we blend to the the the NSF first students but we don't talk about this student of a teacher who does not earn over 600,000 and the mother is not only the mother to her but is a mother to the cousin's child and the sisters whoever and all those type of things. You can imagine this child who knows that their mother is a professional or is expected to live a better life but knows that they are circumstances at home are not as good as they're supposed to be. So if we are able to not only look at the other groupings but also inclusively and intentionally look into these groups so that we don't lose them because that is where the suicides and happen. And suicide most of the time doesn't happen with what we call the student from humble beginnings. Most of the time they suicide happen amongst student who are middle class because of they cannot talk of the their their issues as compared to the other. So if I have to see the the university of free state that also have spaces or that also have financing for that type of student then I will say we are inclusive. We have looked into everybody in in totality.
>> Wow.
>> Thank you so much. um go jamas 2 minutes to give us your concluding remarks on this topic before we send you back to Cape Town with the hope that we will invite you again and when we invite you again we hope that you'll come and stay with us >> two minutes >> um when we when we look into the aspects of African identity, the one thing we all need is unconscious bias training.
Um to understand what immediately shocks us and what immediately sends us into a a withdrawal when something different to what we know is presented before us.
because it's it's partly compassionate leadership in community, but it's also self leadership because as much as you want to be accepted amongst everybody else, everybody else also wants to be accepted by you. But if you're not making the effort to figure out the best way to support that person, including their belief systems, even if you feel like you shouldn't be engaging, we also need to understand that one day you may be in the crisis that is relating to your belief system for instance, and you may be needing support from someone who is not necessarily aligned to your belief system. So, we need to figure out and understand what does unconscious bias training look like and what does it look like? I mean, I've been working with grade 10 in in Cape Town who are part of the Cape Town Interfaith Initiative, all kinds of faiths, young people 16 years old, learning to be leaders that are compassionate to different forms of belief systems and learning that when my when my when my classmate is in a spiritual crisis, I know what I need to do for them. And it doesn't take away anything from my belief system or from my humanity.
>> Thank you so much.
>> And and now Prof. Petu, what would your concluding remarks be?
>> Um, I actually had to write it down because I knew you were going to ask me concluding marks.
So I I actually thought of it and I said for the broader university student population especially for the student from rural areas the first generation student coming in well-being it's inseparable from material security from academic belonging from linguistic inclusions and institutional visibility. You can't separate them right and innovative properties do not require expensive new buildings. don't have to build another university. They require proactive outreach.
We we shouldn't wait for student to fall, right? Um they they require cultural responsiveness of care.
We when we talk about counseling is not a one-size fit all. We need to be thinking about how we we respond to people.
We we shouldn't only think of adding services while the barriers are still intact.
>> So as we think that what is it that we are going to do, >> we should remove what are those things that are barriers because we we can't expect different results while we're doing the same thing. And and when a royal first generation student can find a quiet place to study, ask questions in their home language without shame and see someone like themselves succeeding, that is where we are going to say we are inclusive and that is my end of the story. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you.
And it is at this stage that I'm going to really firstly thank you Prof. I think in starting the conversation for sharing with us some of the diameters of well-being but also for defining what well-being really means and we appreciate um that and you've also touched on the responsible use of digital technology. The device that I'm using should not be smarter than me.
Thank you so much. Let's give Bro a round of applause.
Go. Thank you for I think for inviting us to reindigenize ourselves but also for sharing so openly your views on African spirituality.
But your experience as well has come in handy in this conversation. We appreciate the nuggets of wisdom that you've shared with us and we hope that you will partner with us in implementing some of the nuggets that you've shared here with us today. A round of applause for Pro.
And before we conclude the program, I'm going to invite the vice chancellor and principal as well as the executive director of student affairs borders and culture to present gifts to our panelists. Were they not amazing?
You may just go to the floor. Yes. Thank you. Thank you.
You can just go I say >> thank you.
Thanks.
>> Thank you so much Dr. And if we could just settle a little bit, we are drawing the program to a close, but I do know that Quasi has something for us just at the end. I'm just going to do my part and leave the stage. I just want to appreciate firstly you Quasi.
>> I think you did a stellar job. You did a great work and I must say without breaking that Quzy has an association that she registered with the student governance office. She's running a TV. She's our TV presenter who is you can see it.
And let me appreciate the vice chancellor and principal at the beginning of this program for giving us a keynote address that was so grounded in the realities of the institution but also for reaffirming the commitment of the university executive under your leadership to make sure that no deserving and alleible student is denied their right for access to education. We really thank you for your commitment towards responsible societal futures. A round of applause for the VC Ed in student affairs, sport, arts and culture. You challenge us each and every day to create spaces like this. But you don't only want us to create these spaces. You create them with us. We appreciate you for creating the space where we could reflect really and innovate. We really really appreciate you. Please do continue creating spaces like this. And the ED said, I must invite you to the global well-being summit because these conversations are a leadup to the summit on the 7th and the 10th of July 2026 where the vice chancellor and principal on the 7th will also be present at the summit. A round of applause for the ED.
I know I'm not going to get an opportunity to come back here and thank the the performance that will be rendered at the end, but I do want to appre appreciate the student governance office at the Bloom campus. One for creating a space where student can be themselves and they can register and have their own small pockets of belonging because the two performances that were rendered here are by student associations that are registered under student governance. And I do want to appreciate also Duma for arranging the three performances for us. Let's give them a round of applause.
Colleagues, I must appreciate the organizing committee for the excellent work. Look at the decor that they've put together. I see Africa just behind me.
They did an excellent work. So there was a team behind the scenes. There was just so many too many for me to mention all of them because there are other colleagues who kept coming in here and there in between giving ideas on how this can look just as it looks like. And I do want to appreciate the LOC. I want to appreciate all the service providers that are here who made sure that the session is recorded, the sound, the quality sound, the well coordination, the sign language interpreter for the inclusivity. colleagues, let's give all of them a round of applause.
I'm going to pack my bags and leave Quasi and Quasi will tell you what will happen next. But what I can tell you so that I become famous is that just at the end once Quzi is done with her part of the program, please be sure to leave nicely and quietly from the back um you will be served your dinner on my left.
Yes.
But and that is wellbeing.
Let's settle down a little bit.
In doing so, Hallelujah.
Amen.
Black.
Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much.
You have been an amazing audience. And at this time, I would like to call upon the Batswana to give us a performance.
Thank you.
worship.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah.
Thank you so much to the Vatana.
May we kindly request that students first.
May we kindly request that students allow the executive to leave first.
Thereafter, students may also begin exiting through the front exit in a very orderly manner. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your evening, ladies and gentlemen.
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