BCC STUDENTS PULL TOGETHER TO HELP FEED FELLOW STUDENTS

The spirit of Ubuntu permeated across the Buffalo City Campus on Thursday 10 June as approximately 40 destitute and unfunded students were gifted with food parcels thanks to a small group of their concerned counterparts.

The parking lot at WSU’s College Street site resembled a grocery warehouse as the parcels, consisting of, amongst other items, cooking oil; porridge; maize meal; milk; vegetables; tinned food; pasta, were decked across the lot ready for the expectant owners to pick them up.

“The inspiration behind this was brought about by a disdain for suffering by our fellow students. Numerous students, after finding out they were not funded, wrote on numerous student platforms about their plight – chief of which was their empty shelves and empty stomachs. As people who grew up being taught about Ubuntu, we couldn’t sit back and watch our fellow students starve,” said third-year administrative management student Khanyisile Mlakuhlwa.

Mlakuhlwa said she and 10 of her fellow students from across the different sites answered the clarion call and, without hesitation, quickly organized themselves and assumed the duty of soliciting donations from fellow students and staff.

She said the experience was a most fulfilling one as it has brought hope and dignity to a counterpart who’d otherwise still be languishing in hunger without the group’s intervention.

“It’s a tough climate out there and as we all know, a lot of our students come from very poor backgrounds and sometimes even groceries are hard to come by. In that spirit, we urge the WSU community to be ever-vigilant and assist where one can when one sees a need instead of ridiculing these students for what is probably a very tough time for them,” said Mlakuhlwa.

The positive response in giving from both the donors as well as the positive impact on the students has spurred the cohort on to look opportunities for growth beyond this initial intervention.

Mlakuhlwa said there was a definite opportunity for the initiative to grow and impact a broader student body both at universities as well as TVET colleges across local regions.

By Thando Cezula