RAG of Hope Day serves as an annual event where the university tries to give back to the community. Students are given the opportunity to raise money for charity by selling products made from recycled goods, and have the agency to choose what charities their proceeds are donated to. This year’s Coachella-themed Rag of Hope Day was held on 25 February at the RAG Farm, and due to the lackluster RAG of Hope Day last year, this year’s event had a lot to improve on from low attendance and limited stalls to very few attractions. Though post- COVID recovery blues were blamed last year, the same excuses could not be used again this year when the same problems reared their heads. In the bizarre modern reality of RAG 2023, it would not be far-fetched to say that the main issue this year is simply that the homies did not pull up to RAG.
The stalls – the cliché
UP RAG stalls did not live up to their potential. In concept, they should be a platform were students from across the
University of Pretoria’s different pockets of activity sell creative wares that are recycled and environmentally friendly. While the notion inspires the idea of green innovation, students were met with the same succulents sold by different people. And consequently, RAG stalls have suffered from a yearly redundancy that has plagued the event. Aside from the forest of succulents in some or other painted recycled containers, coasters made from old CDs, corks or whatever the vendor deemed “cute”, continuously make a comeback. Another idea that has been exhausted is beaded jewelry, which did not fare well at the stalls this year. The free market has spoken; retire these ideas.
Innovation
Even though some stalls lacked creativity, others led the way with new and innovative ideas. These marvels ranged from Law House’s magnificent charcoal drawings created by Law House Chairperson Jeandré Otto, to the pet rock with a very human twist from Khutso and the Tower. Other standout stalls were House Ukuthula and Erica’s clay workshop and House Tau and Asterhof’s thrift stand that offered stylish, quality threads. What this should illustrate is that a stall does not have to be a one-stop shop for consumerist habits gone “green”, instead it is a place where awe and value is found in the care with which the goods were made. That being said, many of the student vendors could give PDBY reasons why they believed that their stall was the greatest. Nyiko Baloyi of House Tau had the following to say about their stand: “It has the most unique things. Everyone at their stall is selling these little trinkets, but our stall feels like an actual shop. I can tell by how quickly our stuff is selling that people are really loving it, and that is why I think our stall is the best.” Perhaps on a less materialistic note, Keisha du Plessis of House Mags commented on the superior quality of their own stall: “We put a lot of love and spirit into what we did and put it all into the smallest details.”
TuksSport dropped the ball
Sports is a key feature of RAG of Hope Day’s festivities; however, due to poor logistics, TuksSport saw several games between the various teams experience delays or go without referees. An insider woman in the Law Faculty offered greater insight into the controversy: “So, as Women in Law, we put ourselves up to be volunteers for the day, and the main thing we were supposed to help with was sport. When we arrived to help, they did not give us a schedule or anything about where we needed to be or when… They gave us these forms based on which we had to judge teams, but they did not tell us where to be or how it worked.” She further explained, “A lot of the games had no referees, and then they asked us to be referees, and we did not know how that worked. The admin and the organisation of it was
very sh*tty, and even the sport people did not know what to do or where to be.”
Conclusion
RAG of Hope Day 2023 had every reason to be better but struggled to stick the landing, which is a tragedy, given that this year could have seen a complete revival to the post-pandemic student social activities. However, the silver lining comes in the small victories: the innovations and the good will in the hearts of those student structures that participate in student culture. Maybe next year the homies will pull through.
Oh my this is awkward. Having to tell you who I am is a whole ordeal because I am still trying to figure that out myself lol. The most I know at this point is that, I am an unhinged hillbilly from a small town in Northern Kwa-Zulu Natal; My first love had “Petronella” as a middle name (gross right?); I will on occasion get dressed in a onesie, using my red blankie as a cape to live out my fantasy of being the caped crusader of justice: Captain Tanuki; Finally, I have an obsession with owls that should get its own section in the DSM-V. On that owl thing, I feel like in one of my many past lives as a shrew somewhere in the world, I met my end to one of those majestic birds and that specific bird reincarnated as my first love who, at the time of writing, has not killed me…yet! Talk about a circle of life, neh. My goals? Well right now, I have but one very simple goal: to be the best human I can possibly be. Achieving that would make a hillbilly like me, a better person and growth is always good. My time at the paper has made sure I stay on this path. Should a lost soul wanting to know about the paper, stumbles across this bio, I want you to know that I will totally be a radically different person in the best way possible. Who knows, I might have reincarnated as an owl, by then.