An event geared to highlight how the Covid-19 pandemic affected loneliness, was also used to raise funds to contribute towards mental health resources for people living in Kayamandi.
This was according to Hannah Frattaroli, an organiser of the Friendship Friday event, which was hosted at the CoCreate Hub in Stellenbosch.
The event, held on 4 August, was hosted in collaboration with the South African Mental Health Foundation, said Frattaroli.
The Back-a-Buddy platform was used to facilitate fundraising. At the time of publication, R1 247.31 of the target of R5 000 had been raised, said Frattaroli.
Forging new friendships is very important because it can be very isolating to come to university, said Brandon van Koaten, BA Humanities student at Stellenbosch University, who attended the first Friday Friendship event at the CoCreate Hub on 4 August. PHOTO: Tapiwanashe Zaranyika
Addressing loneliness
The event was meant to address the issue of loneliness among students at Stellenbosch University (SU) and the broader Stellenbosch community, explained Frattaroli.
They chose CoCreate Hub as the venue as it was the perfect place to host this particular event, according to Julia Tubaro, who was also an organiser of the event.
They hoped to provide a more relaxed and subtle environment for interaction, especially catering to introverts, explained Frattaroli. Ten people attended the event, she said.
“The event is like speed dating but for friendship,” said Frattaroli.
Attendees met different people and started conversations through the use of prompts like “dad jokes” to help them formulate a friendship, according to Frattaroli.
“We wanted to allow the introverts to make some friends,” said Frattaroli.
The Friendship Friday event, hosted recently at the CoCreate Hub was organised by Hannah Frattaroli and Julia Tubaro. Pictured above (from left) are Julia Tubaro and Hannah Frattaroli. PHOTO: Tapiwanashe Zaranyika
Conversation starter
The event created a way for Brandon van Koaten, a first year BA Humanities student at SU from Swaziland to make new friends, as he is in a new environment and does not know anyone yet, he said.
“I found the usage of prompts to interact with people as a conversation starter to be interesting,” said Van Koaten.
Attendees of the first Friendship Friday event at the CoCreate Hub on 4 August were encouraged to draw and write positive messages on a white board, said Hannah Frattaroli, an organiser of the event. PHOTO: Tapiwanashe Zaranyika