Pretoria - "Choose your moves, put on your shoes, round-up your team and dance to the dream... We will rise South Africa.”
This is the message from Cape Town-based Sister Theresa Basson, founder of the Exceptional Nurse Campaign.
Through the campaign, she is calling on all nurses around the country to get ready and dance as part of the #WeWillRise dance challenge for hospital heroes. The campaign has partnered with Ndlovu Youth Choir, which dedicated the song We Will Rise to the campaign to the fight against Covid-19.
Hospitals and nurses around the country have been asked to take part in the dance challenge and submit their videos showing off their dance skills to the beat of this song.
Basson said with the current hardships facing the overburdened nursing profession, many have forgotten that 2020 was officially declared the Year of the Nurse and Midwife by the World Health Organization.
This is in recognition of the 200th anniversary of the birth of legendary nurse Florence Nightingale.
She said the Covid-19 pandemic had highlighted the selfless work that nurses around the world undertake on a daily basis.
“When I heard the Ndlovu Youth Choir singing We Will Rise on Mandela Day, I immediately contacted them on the same day to hear whether we could use the song in the dance campaign.”
Basson said she knew when she heard it that this song was needed to uplift the spirit of the exceptional nursing staff in the country.
“We are very excited that the choir has partnered with us on this project and allowed us to dedicate this song and dance challenge to the nurses of our country.”
Basson, the wife of a pastor, said the Exceptional Nurse Campaign started five years ago. Many members of their congregation are health workers and she realised that the shortage of nurses, especially in the government health sector, was a huge problem. Young people no longer wanted to choose the profession and there was a decline in dedicated nursing staff in the public health system.
She said that there would be great prizes to be won.
The competition ends on October 9. Entries can be emailed to [email protected]
*For the latest on the Covid-19 outbreak, visit IOL's #Coronavirus trend page.
** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, please call the 24-hour hotline on 0800 029 999 or visit sacoronavirus.co.za
Pretoria News