University uplifts hospital
The University of Johannesburg students and staff members turned the Helen Joseph hospital around for Madiba's birthday.
On 18 July 400 staff members and students offered gardening services, planted trees, cleaned, cooked, distributed food parcels to patients and did general maintenance at the hospital.
Enerstine Meyer-Adams the university’s campus coordinator said the hospital is ideal because Nelson Mandela is in hospital. “UJ students receive experiential training at the hospital and we are proud to offer something in return,” said Meyer-Adams.
According to the hospital’s CEO Ray Billa, this follows after a memorandum of agreement between the hospital and the university. Billa said the hospital has identified some areas where the university can uplift the hospital and this is phase one of their engagement. In the second phase the students and the hospital will identify other areas of development and training.
As part of giving back, doctors and the theater staff made the theater available for circumcision to boys under the age of 16 years. “We are living out Mandela’s volunteerism legacy, it is not about what the country can do for us but what we can do for it,” added Billa.
The hospital’s spokesperson Lovey Mogapi said she would not have succeeded in making the project a success if it was not for the UJ communication students who are doing their internship at the hospital.
Nokuthula Mboxele one of the students said she doesn’t mind giving up her spare time to help the hospital more often as she has noticed a lack of staff.
