Nurturing tomorrow's scientists

If excellent health research is to continue indefinitely, it is vital that the eager young minds of today be given the opportunity to become the scientists of tomorrow - a task the MRC's Community Liason Office takes very seriously. ALLAN JEFTHAS took the pictures.

The MRC's Community Liason Office is involved in many activities throughout the year that expose South African learners to the wonderful world of science.

Its participation in this year's National Science Week activities in Limpopo Province was no exception - thousands of learners had the opportunity to learn more about the MRC and its research, and 350 learners were lucky enough to attend a hands-on workshop to learn all the ins and outs of DNA.

The workshop, presented by Ms Ramahlape of the Community Liaison Office and developed by Prof Valerie Corfield of the MRC/US Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, gives learners the opportunity to play detective: one of their tasks is to use their newly-acquired knowledge of the mechanisms of inheritance to decipher who the real father of a soap-opera child is.

The learners also get a chance to extract strands of DNA that are visible to the naked eye!

'It was worthwhile for us to spend our school day here. We have learned a lot of things, such as how DNA is used to catch criminals,' said Mailula Johannes of Mothimako High School in Makotopong at Ga-Mothiba.

Ms Ramahlape presented another workshop devised by Prof Corfield, called 'HIV comes to the party', to around fifty teachers. The workshop showed teachers how to bring the serious message of HIV and AIDS home to their learners in a fun way. 'The teachers were so eager to learn more that many of them stayed on and talked until long after the workshops were over,' says Ms Ramahlape.

The team that went to Limpopo comprised Ms Khalipha Ramahlape of the Community Liaison Office, MRC photographer Mr Allen Jefthas and Ms MaMtshali Mefane of IKMD.