| ####

29 / 40

29 / 40

27

M U T

S P I R I T

/ /

S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 0

Honouring nurses as frontline workers in the fight against

COVID-19

Dr Phumelele Jabulisiwe Kunene

While legend has it that the “once and future” King

Arthur will come back from his resting place, Avalon,

to save Britain from whatever threatens it, the world’s

“once and present” – our beloved nurses – are saving

lives now, as you read these lines. These frontline

workers have risen to the challenge and are tackling

COVID-19 head-on. If it were not for them, the

story being told about the pandemic would be even

gloomier. The efforts of these essential workers have

been recognised not only by the WHO but by our own

Mangosuthu University of Technology.

According to the Senior Director of the Department

of Marketing and Communications, Mbali Mkhize,

the University will recognise nurses in two ways: “We

will host a public lecture dedicated to the nursing

profession. The department has also decided to

profile a couple of the nurses. We know that many

nurses have contributed to the profession, but we

couldn’t write about all of them,” said Mbali. “We also

acknowledge that there are also male nurses, and that

their role in this field is just as important,” she added.

The three nurses that we feature in this edition are

our own former colleagues, Martha Buthelezi and

Nontando Duma, as well as Dr Phumelele Jabulisiwe

Kunene. Combined, these retired nurses have given

over 100 years of dedicated service to the nursing

profession, and their stories are deeply inspiring.