Univen student receives Abe Bailey Travel Bursary

A rural boy from Dzimauli outside Thohoyandou flew to the United Kingdom last week. A master’s student in the School of Postgraduate and Integrated Studies at the University of Venda, Elias Ramarumo, is one of 15 South African beneficiaries of the Abe Bailey Travel Bursary for 2006.

Ramarumo will be back in the country on Sunday, 17 December. Other South African beneficiaries who will join Ramarumo are: Pravanshen Naidoo (Cape Town), Natasha Morris (Fort Hare), Phillip du Preez (Free State), Xolani Fakude (Johannesburg), Thabo Msibi (Kwazulu-Natal), Peter Mohlala (Limpopo), Asenathi Ndungane (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University), De Wet Coetsee (North West), Tarusha Moonsamy (Pretoria), Tanya Millward (Rhodes), Lourens du Plessis (Stellenbosch), Melani-Ann Cook (Western Cape), Ben Potter (Witwatersrand) and Tshepo Mvulane (Zululand)

This prestigious award has been made to over 650 South African students of outstanding calibre, since 1951. The objectives of the travel bursary are to broaden the views of young South Africans by enabling outstanding South African students who show exceptional leadership and academic performance. It also enables young South Africans to visit, understand and appreciate British history, institutions and culture and to foster enterprise, commitment and effective participation in common future.

It did not come so cheaply for Ramarumo to be classified among the best in the country. In 2001, he was the best Grade 12 student at Tshiwangamatembele Secondary School. He also received two merit certificates, one medal and one Learners Advanced Dictionary from Mutale Educational District and Tshilamba Circuit, for being one of the top 10 candidates of the District in the 2001 Grade 12 Examination results. He was also the recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Merit award in 2005 at the University of Venda and the overall best student in the School of Postgraduate and Integrated Studies in the 2006 graduation ceremony at the same institution, which qualified him for the school medallion award.

He further represented the University of Venda Postgraduate Students in a Savana June Study Abroad Course offered by University of Virginia, in Johannesburg, Venda, Mozambique and Mpumalanga from May to June 2006.

Shortly before his departure, Ramuromo said he was grateful to represent the country abroad and he hopes to acquire new knowledge that will enrich him and the local community. "The tour creates a very rich opportunity to move out of our familiar context and to see our country, our challenges and ourselves from a different perspective. Our South African culture and heritage are valid and meaningful, but I am prepared to learn something from the British. I know that things in Britain will be different. There is so much in our country that is exciting, enterprising and often amazing about our own growth and development, which we can share with others."

News - Date: 01 December 2006

Wilson Dzebu

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