Over the next 11 years, the Stellenbosch University (SU) Rita Huysman Trust will offer financial assistance to 20 Matie students per year who need additional funds to address basic needs such as food and toiletries.
These funds will fall under the overarching #Move4Food programme aimed at students seeking support via the Centre for Student Development and Counselling. However, the Bursaries and Loans Office may also make recommendations.
Food insecurity and the need for the most basic items are becoming more prevalent among students in South Africa.
“The general perception is that students in need will receive financial support that covers all their university costs," says Karen Bruns, Senior Director of Development and Alumni Relations at SU.
“Unfortunately this is not so. There are limits on each expense component, like tuition, accommodation and food allowances. This results in shortfalls that the student is still liable for," she explains.
The plight of students who struggle financially came to the attention of Daniel Revyn and his second wife Marie-Rose a few years ago when they learned of a SU student who had not been allowed for the new academic year as she had outstanding debts.
“We were shocked that this was even possible. After some research we contacted Candice Egan at SU’s Development and Alumni Relations office to arrange payment of the student’s past debt and to pay for her food until she graduated.”
Although Daniel, a retired business man and MBA graduate from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KUL), has many friends with connections to SU, he has no formal ties with the institution.
He and Rita, however, loved South Africa.
“As a student at KUL, I participated in the protest marches to free Nelson Mandela. I consider Madiba one of the few heroes the world ever had. In 2000, I had a house built for my wife, who was in love with SA. From 2000 to 2006, we spent three to four months a year here, escaping the Belgian winter, in this wonderful place at Shelley Point, until she died at Mediclinic Panorama.”
After Rita’s death, Daniel continued to visit South Africa and was looking for a project to honour his late wife. He decided to set up a trust in Rita’s name and donate the proceeds of the sale of the Shelley Point property to the trust. The proceeds will go entirely to two beneficiaries, SU and BIA (Born in Africa). The latter is a project started 16 years ago by Flemish people to provide educational and social support to school children and young adults in the Bitou area. SU will receive R3million from the sale.
Daniel believes education is the basic right of every child and the key to progress for the country.
“We speak from experience,” he says. “Marie-Rose and I are products of the turnaround that took place in Belgium after the Second World War. A government bursary programme enabled all children and youngsters to study whatever their social background. Before, only the wealthy could afford university. And now the main economic asset of Belgium is our brains.”
His passion for South Africa lives on, even though he acknowledges the country’s challenges.
"But there are things that are improving, and that gives us hope,” he adds. He believes it will take two generations before the present improvement in education will yield results. And the Rita Huysman Trust will certainly contribute to this process.