On the Beat - Junior Edition - April 2018

Redefining Pulse
“In the waves of change we find our true direction”
The newly elected Pulse committee is
devoted to bring about change in the 2018
term. The last two years have presented Pulse
with numerous challenges and opportunities
for growth, and we as a committee have
actively worked to identify where we can make
a collective difference in the lives of the
students we represent. After a successful
planning and strategizing meeting late last
year, we are excited to bring you new and
exciting developments, which include efforts to make Pulse events more
inclusive, improving student support, initiating new culturally diverse
events and directly involving the student body in processes preceding our
decision making.
Each committee member and portfolio is approaching their tasks and
events with a transformative mind-set, one which aims to empower all
individuals and provide platforms for student involvement and
development. We are very eager to involve you as students and would
appreciate your input (suggestions, complaints or general comments)
regarding current or future events or services provided.
We commit ourselves to the student body and will strive to improve the
holistic student experience in everything we do. We can’t wait to partner
with YOU!
Lee-Anne Classen
Chairperson: 2017/2018

pulse executive
committee 2017/2018
Lee-Anne Classen
Chairperson
Michelle Cremer
Vice-Chairperson
Calyn Reddy
Secretary
Eden van der
Westhuizen
Culture: Chairperson
Juandré van den Berg
Culture:
Vice-Chairperson
Mulisa Nkhumeleni
Clothing & Branding
Chanelle Holtzhausen
Treasurer
Rütger van Gruting
IT & Communications
Chandni Desai
Academics Professional
Development
Appolonia Malapane
Publishing & Marketing
Yaseera Jagot
First Year Guardian:
Chairperson
Joané Nell
Social: Chairperson

pulse executive
committee 2017/2018
Kayla Geldenhuys
First Year Guardian:
Vice-Chairperson
Jacques Stone
External Outreach:
Chairperson
Chuma Malangeni
Internal Outreach:
Vice-Chairperson
Anani Mboyi
Social:
Vice-Chairperson
Clifford Bartman
Sport
Joshua Nunn
Student Affairs &
Transformation

Your Hatfield
Campus Bucket List
You only have about 6 months on Hatfield campus before you move over to
Prinshof permanently. Pulse Publications has compiled a list of 10 things
that you have to do before you wave goodbye to the campus at the end of
the semester...

FIRST YEAR SURVIVAL
GUIDE
PHY 131
Physics will be one of the easier subjects of
your three formidable courses (chemistry,
physics and bio). Your lecturer will be Dolly
Langa – if they haven’t changed the lecturer
from our year –try keep on top of everything
and physics will be a breeze.
FIL 155
Philosophy is a bit like a brain marathon! It’s
completely irrelevant and can become very
confusing. However, the lectures do help
because the lecturer always gives great hints
before tests. Tip: When it comes to studying,
just memorise as many answers as you can to
the test questions. You’ll survive this!
MTL 180
It helps you to understand the terms that you
will use for medical conditions, treatments,
etc. in the future. Tests are all about
vocabulary and the meanings of the terms and
are very straight forward. Tip: This is a
learning subject so study every word and
exercise in the textbook and you will do very
well.
CMY 151
Professor Schoeman teaches this module. His
lectures are amazing! Tip: Attend all the
lectures if you can. Study for every test and
prepare well for your practicals. The exercises
in the textbook help a lot. And NB!! The last
few themes always come out in the final
exam, so don’t skip any of the work!
MGW 112
People and their Surrounding Environment is
made up of sociology (first quarter) and
psychology (second quarter tip: Study from
the textbook for psychology because
questions come from there. Also take note
that questions are all multiple choice for both
subjects.
AIM 101
This is a compulsory course for all first years
during the 1st semester. It’s all about
computers (word, ppt, excel, files, etc.).
Everybody writes an entrance exam and most
fail. That’s just to give you an idea of where
you stand so don’t worry at all.

First Year
Climb
Imagine climbing Table Mountain
on a beautiful, clear, sunny day.
You look forward to getting to the
top and admiring the gorgeous
view. As it is a cloudless day, you
will see everything, the whole
horizon will be yours to admire. You
get to the top, and BAM. Clouds.
Clouds everywhere. The clouds
create a dense mist that you can’t
see through. You stub your toe on
a rock, yelling out in agony.
Determined to see clearer, you
move on, hoping you can run to the
end of the mist. You fall over a
rock, both your knees bleeding and
burning. By this time even the path
has disappeared under the mist.
You sit back and think to yourself:
“I was hoping for some clarity,
some guidance, but I have no idea
what to do.” But you persevere.
You push through. After 1 hour of
powering through, coming across a
fair number of tests along the way,
you see the sun. You yelp
excitement and start running again,
just to realise that the “sun” was
another lost first year with a
flashlight.
So, what I am trying to say is that
first year will be a tough one. It is a
big leap from high school to
university and high school just
doesn’t prepare you for it. But it is
a good building block and
foundation for the rest of your
years. All you can do is keep your
head up and see the battle scars as
learning opportunities. First year
has its fair share of challenges, but
none were impossible. So, embrace
it. Take part in activities and get to
know a whole lot of people who will
become your family during the next
6 years. When I look back at it
now, first year was one big
adventure and most probably the
best year of my life.
-Joané Nell

Passion for Medicine
Celebration was the order of the day
when I found out I was accepted to
the school of Medicine – not knowing
the hardships ahead. The signs of
potential failure were there but just
like every struggling student, I ignored
them. I had three exams for that year
but I pushed myself too hard which
didn't help much because of the limited
preparation time. I passed all subjects,
except one. I checked my academic
record and I was three percent short
of advancing to the next year. I
remember feeling this deep pain, tears
pouring, stressed. I didn't know how I
was going to tell my family that I
failed, especially given our financial
position.
The passion for medicine and the
vision I have for my future kept me
going, which is why I chose not to go
back to work or give up. My life
experiences have taught me that I can
do everything through God who
strengthens me. Those who are ahead
of me are not guaranteed to be
greater than me. Our paths as people
will never be the same, I am an
individual and one day I will look back
and laugh about all this hardship. Yes,
I lost a lot of money with
regards to salaries and fees but I am
still pursuing my dreams.
The time for repeating the block came,
oh my goodness, the wounds that I
thought were healed were reopened.
The pain was unbearable,
accompanied by shame. Suddenly I
had a striking headache. I always
entered the gates of Prinshof campus
with such pride but that day I wanted
to be invisible, fearing former classmates’
eyes. I tried to avoid familiar
faces just to cope with the situation.
Eventually, with time it got better.
Accepting my situation was part of my
healing process.
I have learned that it is better to work
extremely hard in order to promote.
Failing is not the end of the world, but
it is painful and prevention is better
than cure. Regardless of your life’s
challenges, you will make it. We all
have problems, it is about how you
manage yours, seek help early when
you are struggling.
-Anonymous

Food For Thought…
Let’s talk about MENTAL illness
Why is this subject taboo? If it wasn’t,
why is the mention of a mental health
doctor something to joke about? If not
stigmatised, why are the people
suffering from it terrified to even
mention their struggles to others?
Mental disorders are real, with more
than 200 types listed. Still, these
people try everything in their power to
hide it and act normal to AVOID
drawing attention to the problem –
they may already feel embarrassed or
confused about it themselves. I feel
this is a very relevant issue: most of
the personality or mood disorders
show face during late teenage years or
early twenties. There may be dozens
walking amongst you and your friends.
Even someone you encounter
throughout everyday life, you would
not be aware of their mental disorder.
The symptoms of a mental disorder
are a bit like the features of Down
syndrome. We may showcase one or
two signs, but it takes a set number of
symptoms to occur before the person
is considered to have the condition. It
may take months or years for the
diagnosis, because the symptoms
overlap with the criteria of another
possible diagnosis.
My message for now is: just because
you have mood swings that leave your
friends scratching their heads, doesn’t
mean you are bipolar. Anorexia is
about much more than food. When
having an off day, you are not
“depressed”.
Mental disorders have one thing in
common: they affect the person’s life
to such a degree that they find it hard
to focus on anything else. The illness
becomes the larger part of their day
and permeates their every thought. On
the outside it may seem fine – but on
the inside, it’s living hell. If you liked
this article, you might find these videos
interesting:
Depression: The Misunderstood
Epidemic
Dr. Harry Barry: Understanding
Generalised Anxiety Disorder
What Is a Bipolar Manic Episode
Like? | Mood Disorders
-Anonymous

BURSARIES FOR BEGINNERS
“Money is tight. I feel guilty about every
cent I cost and every cent I spend. How
can I make things easier? I can’t find a job
that works with studying. I want to make
my family’s burden lighter.”
Perhaps this is you, maybe it’s better,
maybe it’s worse: “I am broke. My family is
broke. I don’t know how I will register for
the next year. I don’t know where to start
with applying for funding. I have no way of
getting surety for a bank loan. I can’t see
how I am going to spread the little my
family has between transport, food, tuition,
rent and other living expenses.” Let’s be
honest, there’s never enough money.
Somehow our ambitions and needs
consistently seem to trump our available
funds. Of course, this phenomenon is a
more problematic reality for some than
others. When our studies, our daily lives
and the circumstances of our benefactors
are negatively impacted by our needs to
finance our studies we need to look for
help elsewhere. For many the first thought
would be a loan, and this makes perfect
sense. We are all but guaranteed of a
sturdy income once we finish our studies,
so the problem would only be to manage a
job during the time we are studying… (that
bit where you work but you must pay to
work for someone else). A loan would
allow us to delay the burden of being a
student to a time that we are in fact
capable of affording it.
Unfortunately, this comes with the
responsibility of later having to pay back
the loan, which some people might want to
try and avoid. This leaves us with
bursaries.
What now? Don’t rule them out - consider
applying for a loan, from NFSAS, the Loan
Guarantee Fund, a bank or another
financial service provider. Two useful
places to start would be your bank and/or
Eduloan. Consult www.fundi.co.za to get
an idea of loan quotations. Browse your
UP portal: Student Centre to see if you
can apply for fee adjustment or financial
aid.
Bursaries can be viewed as “guaranteed
employment” once you finish, depending on
the conditions of your particular bursary, and
they can cover more than just tuition.
Textbooks, accommodation and living
expenses are sometimes included as well. A
few good places to start looking for bursary
providers are websites of the provincial
Department of Health and companies
associated with medical professionals, like
PPS.
Pay attention to newspapers, announcement
boards and class related WhatsApp and
Facebook groups. Often news about bursaries
are passed through these channels, like the
South African Medical Association’s bursaries.
There are a couple important things to note
when applying for a bursary: Application
criteria: your latest results, proof of financial
need, area of residence, citizenship etc.
Application documents to accompany your
application: ID, proof of residence, parents’
payslips, photograph, CV, testimony and, but
not limited to, letter of motivation are usually
requested. Check everything: don’t send in
any documents or forms with grammatical
errors or incorrect information. Make sure of
the opening and closing date of the bursary
in question. Don’t apply for one bursary,
apply for as many as you are eligible for to

increase your chance of being selected
How well do you know your country?
1. How many public Universities are
there in South Africa?
a. 16
b. 10
c. 26
d. 32
3. Which of the following is false?
a. Being the first country to perform a
heart transplant.
b. Being the first country to develop
the CAT scan.
c. Being the first country to develop a
low radiation dose X-ray.
d. Being the first country to perform a
successful penis transplant.
5. How many democratic heads of
state has South Africa had?
a. 3
b. 5
c. 4
d. 6
2. Which of the following is not a
national symbol of South Africa?
a. The king Protea
b. The blue crane
c. The Galjoen
d. The boabab
4. South Africa’s three capital cities
are?
a. Pretoria, Cape Town, Bloemfontein
b. Bloemfontein, Cape Town,
Johannesburg
c. Pretoria, Johannesburg, Cape
Town
d. Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, Cape Town
6. On which koppie are the Union
Buildings built?
a. Marijke
b. The Union mountain
c. Meintjieskop
d. Arcadia heights
7. Which language is spoken most in
South Africa?
a. Sepedi
b. isiZulu
c. English
d. Afrikaans
Answers: (1) c, (2) d, (3) b, (4) a, (5) b, (6) c, (7) b

Homemade remedies
Lemon, garlic, ginger and honey
This is one of the most popular cough mixtures. Boil a litre of water, add a lemon, a
piece of sliced ginger and some garlic. Boil the mixture again. Add some honey and
allow to cool, drink warm.
Aloe Vera
The Aloe Vera plant is an excellent addition to a home first aid kit. The gel extracted
from the leaves can be applied directly to any burns, grazes or sunburnt areas. Avoid
Aloe if you're pregnant, allergic to onions, garlic or tulips.
Black tea
Known for lowering the risk of type two diabetes, black tea can also help improve
those bags underneath your eyes. When cool, place the teabags over your eyes for
ten minutes.

Wearing scrubs
for the first time
Walking into medical campus in your casual clothes and seeing most students in their uniform,
scrubs/doctor’s jacket, makes you feel somewhat like an outcast knowing that you don’t even
own one of the two. You wait in anticipation to get a pair of your own. (First-year memoirs).
First time putting ‘em scrubs on, saying I was happy would be an
understatement. The feeling was… indescribable. You know that
feeling you get when you put on that Tux/dress for that one night
with your date to your first and last matric dance? (Though I haven’t
been there myself, mind you I said the feeling was “indescribable”
but hey, I’ve heard stories and I figured it’s a great feeling). Well,
now that feeling just multiplies because it’s no longer a one night
thing but a lifetime thing. Knowing that one day I’ll be the only thing
between a patient and the grave and a superhero for saving their
life is one of the pleasures that came with putting those scrubs on. I
just took a picture and sent it to my mother and told her that, “I
know I haven’t made it yet, but just know that your son is surely
getting there.” Can’t ignore the fact that with those scrubs, comes
hard work and compromises but it was going take hard work to
make the dream a reality anyway, right?
Jackson Maja
“One of our proudest moments! Excitement
filled with slight trepidation for the journey
ahead. Worth all the hard work and
determination.”
Chani and friend

I’ll Fall to Rise
Again
Come on, the whole lot of you, you’re more than welcome.
Do to me what you’re best known for.
Give me dagga, give me beer, give me rum.
Blindfold me, persuade me, kill me softly, do it more.
Insult me, call me names, say that I am dumb.
Spit on my face, step on my foot, drag me on the floor.
Cut me, bruise me, right from the start.
Axe me, stab me, tear me apart.
Burn me, pierce me, straight on my heart.
Hypnotise me, lie to me, do it with art.
Slap me, kick me, right on my butt.
Feel free, do all sorts of things to me, do this, do that.
Please… throw me high in the sky, deceive me.
Watch me fall to the ground, or with your jaws and paws wide open, receive
me.
Hurt me, pin me, such that nothing in this world can relieve me.
You got poison? You got attitude?, I beg of you, give me.
Break me into pieces, knock me down and then leave me.
I’ll scream and cry, but I’ll be back on my feet again, believe me.
-Reshoketswe Maropola