EBE student council launches a Student in Distress Fund

With the poor economic climate and the changes in the funding criteria for NSFAS funding – there are a number of EBE students on campus who have no money for food, accommodation or just basic necessities.

With this in mind, on Friday 14 August, the EBE Student Council launched a fundraising campaign to raise money for a Student in Distress Fund. During the meridian, the student council members approached students and asked them to give up a luxury for the day and donate to the fund. Within an hour, they raised the first R600 for the fund. This will happen every Friday and will be handed over to the incoming 2016 EBE student council to continue the fundraising campaign. The EBE student council is also working with the two entrepreneurs, James Shin and Jason Hardy, final-year mechatronics students, who started UniCafe on campus. They will be raffling tickets for coffee, and donating the money to the fund.

The Faculty Office will administer the fund. This year, two students who were in dire need of assistance, received funding from the Chancellor's Challenge Fund. One of them, a final-year chemical engineering student said, "I would like to thank the fund for giving me an opportunity to graduate and make my family proud. I believe words of gratitude are not enough to show how grateful I am, but I totally am. I am glad that I will now focus on design without worrying about having access to the computer labs and the library."

"Through the fund, we hope to relieve the students of some of their financial burdens and help them to complete their degrees and graduate," said Sister Kashala, the EBE student council member driving the fundraising campaign. Anyone interested in contributing to the fund should contact Mandisa.Zitha@uct.ac.za.

Photo caption: Chris Sexwale, Itumeleng Ragoleka, Zain Bana, Sister Kashala and James Shin.