Wits Volunteers Programme – giving credit where it is due
Wits Volunteers programme honoured with certificates students that are making the institution proud
in the nation building projects in and around Johannesburg.
“Are you the change you want to see in your community?” – Moipone
“Volunteering is changing the future by making a difference today – act upon what you think is right.” – Peter
IkamvaYouth volunteers had an awesome evening.
As the regular followers of our blog will know, IkamvaYouth’s national committee met for a full week at the Grail Centre to reflect on the last 12 months, plan for the next, and share our skills, knowledge, and experience.
Thanks to Marie Sutherland-Lawless and Catherine Scott, the notes that were made throughout the week have been transformed into a beautiful report, available to download here. The appendices include our financial controls, performance reviews policy, and IY-in-a-box presentation.
SPW_Report-1.pdf
SPW_Report_Appendix.pdf
The report provides a comprehensive overview of all we covered, and outlines our plans for 2011 and beyond.
Watch out education crisis…here come the Ikamvanites!
Saturday the 18th of September 2010 was dedicated to a 3 hours cleanup on Long Beach in Noordhoek.
12 learners from the Masiphumelele branch, fully equipped with yellow bags, have been tracking abandoned rubbishes from human activities. Last year, they counted 3 600 different types of objects. Among those items they all found products that humans denigrated to put into a bin.
From glass bottles to heaters, passing through cotton buds, or lollipop sticks, plastic bags, wood logs, are the daily life of migratory and local birds.
“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors: we borrow it from our children” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.
Some people come from poor families and because of that they have to leave school and find jobs to support their families at an early age. when you leave school at an early age the is no way you can find a good job so that means you wont get out of poverty you are making it worse. having a low-paying job increases poverty because you wont meet all your basic needs.
Lack of health can also perpetuates poverty because if the breawinner is sick and cannot afford the medicine then there will be no one who can provide for the family.
Some children lack the information about their careers so they end up doing nothing after thier matric. The government must try to open centers in townships that will help he youth to learn about careers.
Unemployment also perpetuates poverty because some people are unskilled therefore they wont be employed without skills.
The youth can break the cycle by not letting the poverty destroy them. They can go out there and try to find more knowledge. All they have todo is to work hard at school and do better so that they can get bursaries to further their education. the youth can write letters to government about thier issues that they struggle to ovrcome in their education. The youth must inform the government that ther must be people who can bring them careers indabas where they can get more ideas on what they want. There must be more organisations in townships like ikamva because they are scarce.
Joining organisations can break the poverty cycle and the voices of the youth can be heard by the government. Lets us change the situation the we living in and be empowered.
Sci-Bono – the largest science centre in Southern Africa, opened its arms and dug deep into their pockets to give Ikamvanites the unforgettable lessons of their lives. Free transport, tour to the centre, visit to Palaeo Sciences at Wits University and a goodies box to top it all, what more to ask for this season of goodwill.
Tour to the centre – What? Can you cycle a stationary bicycle to generate power enough to light your bulb, play your TV and radio, to switch on your fan and remember if you stop cycling then you invite load shedding into your seating room. I think South Africa can be the healthiest nation in the whole world; do you share the same sediments?
Survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom – watching a video on a big screen highlighting the co-existence between crocodiles and hippos in the dams, the hunters and the hunted, struggling for water and survival helped the children to empathise with other animals.
Bubbling maths concepts – Mrs Bubbles (the clown) took time out to teach maths in the funniest way ever imagined. If you think maths is hard and boring, think again or get hold of Mrs Bubbles’ manual for making maths teaching fun.
What’s in the bones – Traditional healers throw bones to read messages from the ancestors. Palaeontologists study bones to close the gaps within different stages of evolution and to answer questions of origin, because if we don’t know where we come from we will never know where we are going to. Vuyiswa and Alex took Ikamvanites through an exciting story of fossils and origins of human kind.
And the show goes on – trip to Sci-Bono inspired endless debates and discussions from the bus until IvoryPark.
Lloyd Lungu