AMAJITA’S MEN’S HEALTH PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE
BY TUMISO MFISA (Intern)
The Amajita’s Men’s Programme formally known as the Amajita’s Men’s Campaign was initially launched in three of the major campuses – District Six, Bellville and Mowbray campus, back in June 2018.
The Amajita’s Men’s Programme serves as a platform to bring young men of CPUT together to work on solutions and to take ownership of pertinent psycho-social issues on campus by addressing men’s involvement in health-seeking
activity, encouraging men to reduce risky behavior, and challenging gender inequalities that are driving the rapid spread of HIV and AIDS. To date over 130 young men have joined the forum. We mobilize men from all five Campuses since we want to have more men who seek to be responsible and are ready to be in the forefront of the fight against Gender Based Violence. This programme will provide that and ensure CPUT and our communities are safer with these men and that they’ll be able to groom others to be better men.
MESSAGE fROM THE HEAD Of UNIT
Melanie Marais
Welcome to our first newsletter for 2020!
We promise to bring you some good and relevant information. You’ll get to know more about the HIV/AIDS Unit, what we do, where we are based and about its very vibrant peer education
programme. Remember, we are one of the student support services within the Division of Student Affairs. You will find our details on the last page.
Being a student is one of the most rewarding experiences you’ll ever have in your lifetime. You are finding yourself in place of growth and development to enable you to impact those around you including the communities where you are coming from. The ultimate reward for being a student, is achieving your dreams as a future graduate and to eventually make an active economic contribution in society. As part of the health cluster in Student Affairs, our goal is to support you to make healthy lifestyle choices while you are a student at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
Those lifestyle choices include participation in our health screening programs namely HIV, STI, TB and other screenings
FIRST YEAR WELCOMING, STI AND CONDOM CAMPAIGN
BY MELANIE MARAIS
Working together with the HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) team, peer educators used social marketing and recruited students to know their HIV status and to do health screening during HCT campaigns after the Welcoming of First Years took place. Information table displaying educational pamphlets and correct use of condoms continues to be an additional method of continuing with awareness during health screening and HCT campaigns. Peer educators further recruited 67 male students to participate in Amajita’s men’s Programme, a programme focusing on men’s health and other related issues.
like blood pressure, blood sugar testing etc. COVID-19 brought some new dynamics within our lifestyle choices. We are challenged to not only take care of ourselves but to think of those around us. It is therefore important to note that, should you experience flu-like symptoms, seek medical care by paying a visit to your nearest Campus Health or Public Healthcare facility. Maintaining social distancing, very good hygiene, including hand washing and sneezing within your elbow is just a few of the very important things to consider preventing transmission of COVID-19.
Remember not to touch your face! Wearing masks, preferably cloth masks became important when out in public. We’ll share more about this in this edition. The most recent pandemic, COVID-19 will form part of our screening when student return to campus. We wish you the best of 2020 and stay safe!
DIVISION Of STuDENT AffAIrS
This department is mainly responsible for supporting students outside of their academic field. The Student Affairs Health Cluster focus on students’ health and wellness within the following departments and units:
HIV/AIDS uNIT
We have a number of exciting programs to keep you inspired and interested. Join our exciting peer education programme whereafter you obtain a certificate at the end of the year. Use it to enrich your CV.
STuDENT COuNSEllINg
This unit offers assistance, focusing on students’ mental health and wellbeing. These services are offered by professional, registered psychologists.
STuDENT HEAlTH ClINIC
The campus clinic provides primary health care to registered students who are attended to by professional nurses and you can make an appointment to see the doctor as well.
DISABIlITy uNIT
The Disability Unit empower and support students with disabilities to reach their full potential through academic support, policy development, research, outreach and advocacy
NEWLY APPOINTED PEER EDUCATION OFFICER
She then participated in a one-year Presidency Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief Fellowship Programme at Hope Worldwide-Olive leaf Foundation, where she facilitated HIV/AIDS awareness interventions for communities in Khayelitsha. She holds a PhD from uWC and her dissertation titled “Monitoring and evaluation of sport-based HIV/AIDS awareness programmes of selected non-governmental organizations in South Africa: Strengthening outcome indicators”.
Dr Nelisiwe Maleka is a researcher and strongly believes in the inclusive response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. f or 4 years, she worked at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) HIV/AIDS Programme and was responsible for monitoring and evaluation of HIV prevention projects on campus, in secondary schools and surrounding communities. Her passion for this field started when she was a health intern at the City of Cape Town HIV/AIDS office.
Dr Maleka recently completed a two-year postdoctoral research fellowship under the South African Research Chairs Initiative in Health Systems Governance at UWC School of Public Health. During her postdoctoral fellowship, Dr Maleka became the Principal Investigator for the UWCUmeâUniversity (in Sweden) research collaborative programme on communitybased health systems which was funded by the South Africa National Research Foundation (NRF)-Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT). In addition, the programme focused on capacity building to improve research skills of
postgraduate students.
As a researcher, Dr Maleka has so far published 4 peerreviewed research articles. Her main objective in life is to develop her skills while participating in empowering others, particularly young people. Since 01 November 2019, Dr Maleka has joined the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) HIV and AIDS Unit as a Peer Education Officer.
Her focus is on developing peer educators to be strong student leaders on campus and become change agents in addressing HIV/AIDS and other social injustice at CPUT and beyond.
yOu MIgHT HAVE COME ACROSS THIS NEW BANNER THAT SAyS SAFE ZONE.
Thanks to our colleagues at University of Johannesburg, we fell in love with this banner and they were kind to share it with us.
This banner emphasized the importance that everyone matters, that you matter. The banner speaks for itself. It speaks of humanity and that everyone has a place in society and should be respected. We want you to know that you are in a safe zone.
We have student support services available across our campuses.
Should you need to speak to someone, feel free to make contact with us.
Contact details regarding Safe Zone services are right at the back of this newsletter.
2020 PEER EDUCATION TRAINING
BY TUMISO MFISA (Intern)
An important goal of Cape Peninsula university of Technology (CPuT) HIV/AIDS unit is to build sustainable capacity and leadership on CPuT students for the longterm reduction of the impact of HIV/AIDS and other social injustice issues in South Africa.
Collaborative work with Higher Health, external service providers such as Bridges of Hope and other CPUT departments plays an important role in the implementation of peer education programme in CPUT campuses and residences.
The CPUT HIV and AIDS Programme has a strong focus on developing peer educators to be strong student leaders on campus and become change agents in addressing HIV/AIDS and other
related issues. These point out to the need for exploring various methods of enhancing peer educator’s full participation in leading responses to HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence and other related issues, in order to strengthen relevance of peer-led programmes. A total of 74 CPUT students were trained to serve as peer educators in year 2020. Using participatory method as part of the training activity, peer educators developed risk reduction messages that guided and shaped “Responsible Love” campaign aimed at promoting healthy relationships during Valentine’s Day events.
Programmes integrating views of youth should continuously be reviewed and evaluated to measure effectiveness including relevance.
Reflection of the peer educator training
I’ve learned in this training a lot of lessons that I will carry on even after the program has ended for me. I have had the privilege to interact with many different personalities and that just because we may not have the same opinion doesn’t mean that either one of us is wrong. Secondly, I’ve learned to listen without a bias based on our cultural background or denominations because my
sole purpose is to educate and understand my fellow peers on different issues that affect our daily life. Thirdly, the exercises that we were assigned to for example building a tall castle with just spaghetti and marshmallow helped me in learning how my fellow colleagues see situations and how they solve them together. Last but not least, the presentations that were shown
Being a peer educator is a lot more than what it looks like. It is really taking your time to understand a situation and how best to solve it without creating any bias but with the mentality to improve state of minds.
to us by different pioneer facilitators helped me picture situations and increased my understanding of what I’m fighting for and how I can get the story across to different peers without boring them.
All in all, this has been the best three day training because there was a lot of learning, connecting, sharing, eating and a lot of fun activities like professional photo shoots and group presentations. I am enthusiastic on seeing what the year holds for us and our peers.
B Y N ICOLE B IRABWA
Gender Based Violence Dialogue Reflection
B Y N OBUHLE L UPHONDO (Lecturer and a first year coordinator, in Management & Project Management Department - Faculty of Business & Management Sciences
GBV DIALOGUE WITH STUDENTS
IN LEADERSHIP
The department has been trying to be proactive when it comes to issues that affect our societies.
Gender Based Violence has been one of the issues that the departments has been taking seriously and have tried to integrate it in the first-year level subjects. This has been integrated in a Community Engagement Project that first years are required to conduct since 2015 when one of our CPUT student was brutally killed in Khayelitsha. The department realised the need to equip our students with knowledge and to groom them in becoming active and participative citizens. My students have been focusing more on “misogyny” in reference to GBV and through their research they realized that this affects all genders and they
proposed including “misandry” as well as the focus. A lot is happening in our campuses that we are not aware of, that students are experiencing. I remember in the first year that we introduced this topic to our students, one student reported to her group that she was physically assaulted by her boyfriend as a result she could not attend their group scheduled meeting. And this made her group to take this topic seriously.
In 2019, one of my groups collaborated with HIV/AIDS unit to do an awareness campaign on D6 campus. My students took this seriously and they even printed
T-shirts for themselves from their personal budgets.
I invited a group of these students to participate in the GBV breakfast dialogue that was organised by the HIV/ AIDS unit. They appreciated the platform to get to engage with other students in a different level than just their classmates and to voice their opinions. The need to have such conversations going in all faculties is important. Having a space where students can feel comfortable to make their voices heard. They were so excited to hear from an academic that their findings about commercial adverts and music were confirmed.
Here are some text messages I received from my students after the dialogue:
“Thank you ma’am for exposing us to such a great opportunity.”
B Y S IPHO M OKOENA
(Former CPUT CSRC President 2018/19)
The gender-based violence (gBV) in Higher Education Dialogue held on 08 October 2019, was very progressive and proved to be a necessary platform as it gave us students an opportunity to sit together in one room, sharpen contradictions, educate one another on gBV and discuss how we can tackle the social constructs of gBV on campus and residences.
The dialogue was attended by student leaders and staff members of CPUT, University of the Western Cape, Stellenbosch University and gender activists. Also, in attendance were officials from the Department
of Higher Education, Science and Technology as well as the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) as well as a survivor of GBV from the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children, who shared her own experience and how she survived it. The dialogue was very educational and proved that there is a lot of ignorance in our society towards GBV, many of our male student did not even know that your partner needs to give you consent before having sexual intercourse. Them being your partner does not mean you have the right to their body anytime you want, many could not also understand the definition of rape and what sexual harassment is. The dialogue also revealed that the lack of understanding of these basic things from men was because of their childhood backgrounds, these behaviors are embedded in the mindset of these young men from a very young age and are normalized by society. It was clear that a lot of educating of young men is needed in our society and campuses, these young men need to first unlearn the
“It was quite informative and I loved the fact that as students we were given the platform to make our voices heard.”
“Thank you ma’am for inviting us to such debates, it was an eye-opener.”
“Kim’s group was correct to say that the music we listen to, the commercial adverts we see on TV contributes to such behaviors.”
patriarchal behavior that was embedded in them before we can move forward. With all this said, the dialogue noticed and concluded that it was time to take action and for individuals to realize that solutions to GBV begin with their actions and reactions.
When given the opportunity to address I lamented the fact not enough is being done to address the actions of the perpetrators. No one speaks to the culprits and tries to educate them about the wrongs they are doing.
I also highlighted that although there is a popular perception that GBV is only directed at women which was wrong and selective, GBV can also occur amongst men and the LGBTQI community. The problem we as men are facing, is that most cases of GBV is directed at women and children which emphasise the important role we have to correct this crisis. It is quite imperative that such dialogues are a need in our campuses and in our society in general, a lot of young people are still uneducated about GBV.
The high number of student deaths that have been reported this year from some universities, reinforces the need to have these conversations and debates going to make our students informed. We need to begin to be the change that we want to see in our communities.
One of CPUT core values is UBUNTU. This is a very important value that we need to instill to our students, and when we uphold this value, we will begin to treat each other with respect and dignity.
yO
u N g W OMEN E MPOWERMENT AT A GLANCE
Women Empowerment
This programme was established in 2017 after gender-based violence (gBV) became a huge focus area in our country.
Since then, we hosted an annual Young Women Empowerment Conference where many young women from neighboring postschooling institutions within Western Cape participated in a two-day conference held at our Bellville Campus Sports Hall.
Young women were exposed to various empowerment and capacity development programmes over two days.
The key focus areas of this programme includes Personal & leadership development; Health screening including HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT), including Provider Initiated Counseling and Testing (PICT), TB, STI, blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar screening and condom promotion; Women and girls Empowerment - personal branding & grooming, gender-equality, self-acceptance, mentoring, job seeking and personal safety; Entrepreneurship
- companies and NGOs are invited to promote entrepreneurship and business empowerment; Reproductive Health - contraception, sexually transmitted infections, breast and cervical cancer and condom use; Sexual and gender-based violence awareness - rape culture, human trafficking, intimate partner violence, ‘blesser’ relationships, sexual harassment, sexual assault, where to seek help if you are a survivor of any form of gender-based violence.
We have a Facebook page named WC young Women Empowerment Programme and want to encourage you to like and share the page with your peers.
We are looking forward to see you at our next conference once we are allowed to host conferences after the COVID-19 pandemic is over. In the meantime, stay safe!
BY MELANIE MARAIS
Do you have any new ideas for this programme? Please share with us!
Coronavirus
Signs and Symptoms
General feeling of malaise
Fever, sore throat
Difficulty in breathing
How it
spreads?
Symptoms may go away on their own but experts advise seeking care early
Coughing and sneezing
Runny nose and headaches
Commonly spread from an infected person to others through:
The air by coughing and sneezing
Close personal contact; touching or shaking hands
How to keep safe?
Touching contaminated objects and not washing hands
There is currently no vaccine available to protect one against the Coronavirus infection. Transmission can be reduced through:
Washing hands thoroughly with soap and water for 20 seconds
Coughing into your elbow & practising social distancing; keeping your environment clean
Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth with dirty hands
Avoid contact with people who are infected with the virus
Seek medical attention when feeling unwell
P EER E D D ISCUSSIONS
The group discussion was conducted on the 1st March 2020 in South Point (Stanhope) Residence.
We agreed that gender-based violence happens everywhere and needs to be stopped. We discussed factors that we believe contribute to genderbased violence; for example physical violence, things that made it predominant in our society: in some cases, women might stay in an abusive relationship to maintain economical stability in their lives. Second factor is related to marriage when a woman wants to protect their childrens emotional trauma. Alcohol abuse contributes to physical violence because when people are drunk they tend to portray socially unacceptable behavior. Anger issues may also contribute because of difficult circumstances, they tend to
express that anger in terms of physical abuse.
Psychological violence is when one individual exposes another
gender Based Violence - creating awareness and finding ways to combat the issues of GBV in discussion
B Y S ITHEMBELE M ACEBA ( Junior Peer Educator )
What was also discussed was how possible uncontrollable sexual urges, fantasies and desires could contribute to sexual violence. Substance abuse: when people are under the influence, they claim they do things they are not aware of. We spoke about males who take advantage of women who are under the influence of alcohol. Another issue is the blesser and blesee concept because blessers feel entitled to the blesse bodies because they provide financial support to the blesee.
individual to behaviors that might lead to psychological trauma like anxiety and stress disorder. Alcohol abuse could lead to emotional violence where a person under the influence speaks negatively towards another person.
Some said emotional violence can occur when someone is emotionally aggressive to another and end up abusing them emotionally. All in all this was a very active debate that opened up opportunities for more discussions on the issue of GBV.
The group discussion took place at New Market Junction student residence in Cape Town, on the 3rd of March 2020. Which had male and female students in attendance, the theme was “Sexual Benefit Relationship” – let’s make the uncomfortable, comfortable in all relationships.
The reason I chose the topic Sexual Benefit Relationships is because some claim that because of being hurt in previous relationships, we think that when the relationship is only about sex we wouldn’t get hurt as there would be no commitment, we forget about our emotional, physical and mental health. This presented an opportunity to also expand more on what other reasons
is HIV positive and who is HIV negative, so when they were done picking I told them the real HIV statuses of each of those people. They were so shocked of how they judged people by the way they look, wealth and job title.
Sexual benefit relationship - let’s make the uncomfortable, comfortable in all relationships
could influence or motivate a person to go into sexual Benefit Relationships.
The first question I asked was “Who has ever been in a sexual Benefit Relationship and why”. Discussions were about some claiming not to be ready to be in a relationship, I did it for fun but he ended up being my boyfriend so I’m glad I did it, I don’t want to get hurt”. Other claimed they had never been in sexual Benefit Relationship because they prefer not to sleep with people they are not in love with.
We also played a game where I had pictures of different people, I then asked them who has HIV, so each one of them had to tell me from the pictures who
I asked them two questions “Is it easy to tell your sexual Benefit partner to go for HIV testing? Do you know the HIV status of your sexual Partner?” The majority said it’s not easy to tell a person who is not your boyfriend to go test or ask about their status, as that is too personal, the minority said they use condoms so that they don’t have to ask uncomfortable questions.
A lesson was learned from the discussion: A person’s status has nothing to do with how a person looks, how wealthy they are and what they do for a living. Let us then normalize testing, talking about HIV and always remember that HIV and Aids knows no age, race or status. A moment of fun may lead to a lifetime of regret.
B Y A WODWA P ICANE ( Senior Peer Educator )
P EER E D A WARDS 2019
Special Award Winners
JuNIOR PEER EDuCATOR OF THE yEAR
1. Nompilo Bengu (WINNER)
2. Lufuno Ratshitimba
3. Thandile Ntombana
4. Sisekelwe Boloko
5. Benediction Moholobela
SENIOR PEER EDuCATOR OF THE yEAR
1. Sthombe Msomi (WINNER)
2. Siyasanga Baleni
3. Ntombozuko Bota
CONDOM DISTRIBuTOR OF THE yEAR
1. Thandile (Alex) Ntombana (WINNER)
2. Benediction Moholobela
CHANgE AgENT OF THE yEAR
1. Nompilo Bengu (WINNER)
2. Thandile (Alex) Ntombana
3. Lufuno Ratshitimba
4. Siyasanga Baleni
5. Vernon September
ROlE MODEl OF THE yEAR
1. Thandile (Alex) Ntombana (WINNER)
2. Nompilo Bengu
3. Siyasanga Baleni
4. Lufuno Ratshitimba
5. Ntombozuko Bota
BEST PERFORMINg CAMPuS
District Six Campus
PEER MENTOR OF THE yEAR
Tumiso Mfisa
Nasiphi Sokufudumala (Diploma in Internal Auditing)
Sthombe Msomi (National Diploma in Food Science & Technology)
Namhla Matwa (BTech: Sport Management Cum Laude)
Ntombozuko Botha (Diploma in Financial Accounting)
G RADUATION 2019
Siyabulela Mchila (BEd Bachelor of Education)
Noxolo luxi (Diploma in OMT - Office Management & Technology)
Phumeza Makupula (Diploma in OMT – Office Management & Technology)
Ncebakazi Mayana (Diploma in OMT – Office Management & Technology)
IMPORTANT CONTACT DETAILS
As the HIV/AIDS Unit, we are committed to ensuring that our readers know where to seek help when needing assistance with daily life challenges. Below is a list of important contact details.
HIV/AIDS UNIT
Cape Town +27 21 460 4252/3
Bellville +27 21 959 2868
Wellington +27 21 864 5268
DISABILITy UNIT
Bellville +27 21 959 6964
Cape Town +27 21 460 9071
disabilityunit@cput. ac.za
www.cput.ac.za/hivaids
National AIDS Helpline 0800 012 322
Lifeline 011 725 2001
SANCA
South African National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Depedence 086 17 2622
Rape Crisis
021 447 1467
SADAG
The South African Depression and Anxiety Group 0800 567 567
CAMPUS CLINIC
Cape Town +27 21 460 3405
Administration Building, Level 2, Room 2.900
Bellville +27 21 959 6403
New Library Extension, Ground floor
yOUR HIV/AIDS UNIT
STUDENT COUNSELLING
Cape Town +27 21 460 3237 [email protected]
Bellville +27 21 959 6182
We are here to ensure that students and staff members make informed decisions on their holistic health care and lifestyle. We are committed to providing a safe learning and working environment to protect you from becoming infected with HIV, STI & TB while studying at CPUT.
Melanie Marais Head of Unit +27 21 460 4252 [email protected]
Rene Williams Admin Assistant [email protected]
Makhonza Boyce Mobile Wellness Unit Driver [email protected]
Nelisiwe Maleka Peer Education Officer [email protected]
Lusanda Mangele Counsellor [email protected]
Miseka Ramncwana Counsellor [email protected]
Bonita Ngwenya Registered Nurse [email protected]
Reception
ARE yOu INTERESTED IN JOININg AN HIV SuPPORT gROuP?
Contact Melanie Marais [email protected]
Compiled by Tumiso Mfisa
Design by Bridgette Hunt
+27 21 460 4253
ARE yOu INTERESTED IN JOININg THE HIV PEER EDuCATION PROgRAMME?
Contact Dr Nelisiwe Maleka [email protected]