salifemag
- Dec 28, 2020
- 2 min read

SA Nurses 2020 Victory Song - #WeWillRise Dance Competition!

The Nurses of South Africa have a 2020 VICTORY SONG to boost morale and infuse courage as they continue to serve tirelessly on the Covid Frontline. On Mandela Day the award-winning Ndlovu Youth Choir from rural Limpopo, dedicated a beautiful song – “We Will Rise” to all the courageous nurses of our nation. The words: “Be strong, be brave, keep the faith, after the darkness comes the light, together WE WILL RISE!” have certainly struck a chord with one and all.

With the declaration by the World Health Organization that 2020 would be ‘The Year of the Nurse and Midwife’, the world anticipated great celebrations to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. Sadly, the Covid Pandemic took centre stage, leaving our nurses no time at all to commemorate or celebrate. The call to serve on the Covid Frontline took absolute priority - many of them have been risking their lives to save others. We have no words to express our deepest gratitude!

“Music and dance always brings joy and builds team spirit” says Sr. Teresa Basson, the Director of The Exceptional Nurse Campaign – TEN Campaign. “We wanted to give our hospital heroes something to take their minds off the stress and strain of the challenges at work.” We partnered with the Ndlovu Youth Choir to launch the #WeWillRise Dance Competition for Hospital Heroes and invited all hospitals to enter. Healthcare workers got together after shifts, practiced the dance, took videos and entered from all over South Africa, even as far as Shongwe Hospital near the Zimbabwe/South African border. Joy and hope began to rise as hospital staff started singing and dancing to this vibrant, inspirational song.

The Crazy Store, Food Lovers Market, Run/Walk for Life and Bramley Cosmetics joined in the excitement by sponsoring beautiful prizes to the 3 top teams. After a careful audition and dance video assessments, our panel of judges chose the following hospitals as the winners:

First place went to: Jubilee District Hospital, Themba Rural, Gauteng.

Second place went to: Worcester Provincial Hospital, Western Cape.

Third place went to: New Somerset Hospital, Greenpoint, Cape Town.

You may view these wonderful videos on The Exceptional Nurse Facebook page, under videos.

On behalf of The Exceptional Nurse Campaign, the Ndlovu Youth Choir and the grateful citizens of South Africa, we want to thank our nurses for their selfless dedication to the sick and suffering. At the same time, we want to CONGRATULATE the winners of the #WeWillRise Dance Competition!

We now put out a challenge to all hospitals, companies and schools: