Stellenbosch University
Welcome to Stellenbosch University
MGD creates a transformed student experience for Maties
Author: Division for Social Impact
Published: 29/10/2018

​The year 2018 has been an exciting one for Stellenbosch University (SU) and Maties Community Service (MGD), which is housed in the Division for Social Impact. Staff and students not only commemorated Mandela’s 100th birthday, but also celebrated SU’s centenary year with a number of impactful initiatives.

The most notable of these took place during Mandela Week, where students showed that there are more than ‘100 ways to impact’.

An anchor initiative of the Mandela Week celebration was the Toasties for Tummies Initiative, which entailed making a whopping 10 000 sandwiches for various organisations around Stellenbosch. The Golden Key Stellenbosch Chapter, in association with MGD, hosts the project annually.

Apart from the Toasties for Tummies Initiative, a wide range of events involving education, the arts, sport, health promotion, discussions, reading competitions and donation drives, among others, took place on both the Stellenbosch and Tygerberg campuses.

Activities culminated in a collaborative community event in the Kylemore area, which included the “WOW Debatfees” (debating competition), a health promotion event, Maties Sports Day as well as the Amazing Reading Race – a fun programme designed to create awareness of the importance of reading with speed and comprehension.

These are the types of programmes MGD drives to provide students with the opportunity to connect with communities and to be involved in sustainable initiatives that ensure long-term benefits for the beneficiaries.

Every year, MGD manages one main project that runs throughout the year – this year being an educational programme that happens every Friday at A.F. Louw Primary, an under-resourced primary school in Stellenbosch. In addition, several smaller project run throughout the year, for example the A.F. Louw Sports Day, the Community Interaction Morning, the Trip for Freedom and Mandela Week.

“Our Student Volunteer Programme aims to be sustainable and focuses on achieving long-term results in the lives of all beneficiaries by providing guidance and training to student volunteers to enable them to deliver excellent results within surrounding communities ,” said Mrs Michelle Pietersen, senior programme manager at MGD.

Another key initiative run by MGD is the Primary Healthcare programme. This programme provides a holistic after-hour and primary healthcare service to certain communities of the Western Cape who have limited access to healthcare. The initiative also contributes towards the professional development of students and improves their clinical skills by providing additional training. The students also have the opportunity to spend time with patients and listen to their stories, which contributes positively to the training of undergraduate health professionals.

“Our mission is to interact with communities in their specific context through the provision of our services and healthcare education in order to empower these communities to improve and maintain their own development and well-being, thereby creating the hope of a sustainable future,” said Mrs Avril Whate, senior project manager at Primary Healthcare at Tygerberg.

During 2018, MGD managed 780 volunteers, who contributed 400 hours over 20 sites.

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Stude​nts​ gain key competencies, which include collaboration, communication, contextual leadership and team leadership, allowing them to develop into well-rounded, engaged citizens with enquiring minds.

Students can also earn credit hours for their social impact work, which serves as an incentive for both future employment and developing graduate attributes that will enable them to become critical thought leaders who have compassion for people who are less privileged.

“Our work seeks to inspire students to be conscious actors in the world. It is about starting a new thought movement, fuelling new ways of responding to where we are as a nation and as a continent and re-igniting our imagination of what South Africa could be,” said Ms Reneé Hector-Kannemeyer, head of MGD and Deputy Director: Division for Social Impact.