RUCE: Rhodes University Community Engagement

Celebrating with the winners of the 2025 VC's Distinguished Community Engagement Award 🏆

For almost three decades, Sakh'impilo has taken pharmacy students beyond the classroom and into rural communities, bringing healthcare closer to people who need it.

The curriculum-embedded mobile pharmacy programme recently received the 2025 Vice-Chancellor's Distinguished Community Engagement Award, recognising its sustained impact on communities, students and healthcare partnerships.

Read how Sakh'impilo is bringing teaching, learning and healthcare together.

Link: https://www.ru.ac.za/latestnews/sakhimpilo_vc_award-1.html

RUCE: Rhodes University Community Engagement

📸 Ntomb’Zekhethelo Ncanana

A very happy 25th Anniversary to a very engaged Department - leading from the front with community based learning opportunities for students and staff while making an impact in our city. Congratulations! 🌳 🌳 🌳

When woman rise, communities grow. Thank you to all the woman who tirelessly work in all corners of our country to make it a better place for all ❤️ - Happy Womans Day! 🌟

On Saturday 1 August 105 learners from the Makhanda region and 90 experts from the Science and Pharmacy faculties at Rhodes University came together for the Regional Expo for Young Scientists. 🌿

The projects, which learners had been working on for months, were showcased to the public. They explored ways to solve real problems in the community such as ways to prevent the spread of fire, how to sustainably clean polluted water, and how also to encourage plant growth in the presence of drought. 🌱

These projects were also assessed, with 5 Gold, 27 Silver and 34 Bronze medals being awarded. Three learners also received bursaries for a full year to study science at Rhodes University 🏅 🏅 🏅

The successful 2026 Expo was made possible by the Leadership of Prof Kevin Lobb and Ms Nadia Czeredrecki-Schmidt and the support from Rhodes University Faculty, Students and Community Engagement (RUCE), in partnership with Expo and many schools in the region.

A huge collective effort - well done to you all! 👏

The Siyakhana CE Reps and Volunteers were out for their 2nd semester training today. 🌟

Each RU Residence Hall is partnered with an ECD centre and they work together over the year to enhance opportunities for 3-5 year olds in the school.

Today they were preparing for the Maths initiative. Earlier this year, they worked with numbers 0–5 using the Monkey Storybook Pack, and today they are building on those sessions by extending to numbers 0–10 and introducing skip counting in twos. 🟡 🟢 🟣

This is a collaborative initiative between PECE and CSD in the Faculty of Education, the South African Numeracy Chair and RUCE, working together to strengthen bilingual early numeracy development facilitated by Tabisa Booi, Dr Wellington Hokonya and Nosi Nkwinti.

Well done to our amazing volunteers for their commitment to education outcomes for little children in Makhanda! 💜

Such inspring work!

Interested in Engaged Research? ... well dont miss this presentation on Thursday afternoon at the Faculty of Education where Prof Callie Grant and Dr Olilia Chiramba share their work on leadership development in a Primary School. All welcome!

IN LOVING MEMORY OF SISTER AMELIA MURPHY💕

A great tree has fallen in the forest.

The Rhodes University Community Engagement family is deeply saddened by the passing of our beloved Sister Amelia Murphy—a woman who dedicated her life to serving the people of Makhanda with extraordinary compassion, courage and commitment.

Sister Amelia established the Nutrition Centre, ensuring that vulnerable children received a nourishing meal each day, together with the academic support they needed to thrive at school. She was also instrumental in establishing the Assumption Development Centre, which has grown into a vibrant centre of community and economic development, supporting hundreds of people in Joza.

These are only some of the many initiatives she established, strengthened and supported throughout her lifetime. RUCE was privileged to work alongside Sister Amelia on a number of projects, and we witnessed first-hand her deep love for people, her unwavering belief in the dignity of every human being, and her determination to build a more caring and just community.

Sister Amelia was a mother to many, a friend, a community activist, a healer and an extraordinary human being of the highest order. Her life was full, purposeful and beautifully lived. She gave herself generously to the service and care of others, and Makhanda is immeasurably richer because she lived and worked among us.

We extend our deepest condolences to her family, loved ones and the Sisters of the Assumption. We pray that they will be comforted by the knowledge that she leaves behind a beautiful and enduring legacy in our city. 🙏

Sister Amelia was deeply treasured, loved and appreciated in her lifetime, and she will continue to live through the people she nurtured, the institutions she built and the countless lives she touched.

Rest in eternal peace, our beloved Sister Amelia. Your community will remember you with profound love and gratitude. ❤️

For those who are unable to attend her funeral in Gqeberha tomorrow, the service may be followed here: https://youtube.com/live/8PFUeqAGUEw

National Arts Festival (NAF)/Social Employment Fund (SEF) Practical Literacies Course

This project arose from conversations between Sam Naidu, an experienced community engagement activist in the areas of reading cultures and literacy promotion, and Nicci Spalding, who coordinates many of the NAF-SEF initiatives. A skills training and development gap was identified among SEF participants. This gap concerns practical reading and writing skills that could increase employment opportunities. The next step was for Sam to meet with SEF participants to discuss their needs and potential contributions to the course. See Appendix 1.

Consultations with Maso Nduna from the Assumption Development Centre and Mbali Jiyane from the Department of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, regarding the Department’s Professional Communication service-learning course, also informed the project’s planning and design. Discussions with Thabang Moleko from the Rhodes University Business School about its Business Ideation Programme also contributed to the design of the course.

Thereafter, a programme was designed to cover the basic reading and writing skills requested by the participants. Fellow academics Priscilla Boshoff and Nomonde Ntsepo were invited to help facilitate the workshops. RUCE was approached for practical assistance, and the Department of Literary Studies in English provided a small budget for expenses.

The logistics were then planned: a six-week course consisting of one workshop per week; a suitable venue; the required materials; assistance, including the recruitment of student volunteers; and anticipated constraints. The curriculum for each workshop was designed based on participants’ requests, and monitoring and evaluation strategies were devised. The pedagogical benefits for student volunteers were also considered and incorporated into the project’s design.

To get the project underway, a screening method was devised and implemented by NAF-SEF so that 24 participants could be selected for the first iteration of the course.