Nyanga Winter School

Nyanga’s 2013 Winter School got off to a great start, with 75 learners hosted by TSiBA! The Nyanganites have had a great first week of tutoring, workshops, excursions, team building and all-round fun.

Ms Lindelwa Hanjana, our TSiBA host welcomed us warmly and said the following: ‘’Of course we want IkamvaYouth here. We want young people to learn and we are glad to have the learners at TSiBA for the Winter School program.’’

In the first week, learners had a variety of workshops, led by a huge range of workshop facilitators

HR and money workshops by Capitec bank

Capitec Bank delighted the learners by showing up for their workshops with a sound system, and a colourful set-up and décor arrangement. Learners were ushered into the workshop venue to the sound of contemporary music, but soon the workshop started and the learners learnt about CV writing and other job-related skills that they will Their  second session included all the grades and the team spoke to the learners about using, saving and investing money wisely. Learners got prizes for a variety of things, including, but not limited to great participation, good listening and giving good answers to questions posed.

Suzelda Windvoel, a Grade 10 learner said the following after the workshop:  ‘ I really liked the money skills workshop. It showed me that I must be clever with my money and buy things I need; not waste it on things I want.’

Creative expression workshop by Nelisa Ngqulana

Nelisa Ngqulana, our Head of MIE, ran creative expression workshops with learners, where they learnt how to write poems and express themselves creatively. It was difficult for the learners at first, but with time, each learner got to write something. At the end of the session, the group read all the poems and voted on the top 3, which got the honour of appearing in our first issue of IkamvaYouth News, Nyanga upcoming magazine, being run by the Media, Image and Expression portfolio.

Media workshops by Reel Lives

In the first week, the group taking media and journalism workshops went through workshops covering a wide variety of issues that young people face in their everyday lives. The facilitators used the ikamvanites’ Reel Lives videos from 2012 as starting points and the bases of the discussions. The discussion touched on interesting, yet sensitive topics such as motherhood, fatherhood, family, gangsterism, culture, and homosexuality. The learners who made the videos were available for question and answer sections and the workshops were very emotional, as learners identified with the whole range of issues covered by their peers’ documentaries.

One of the learners had this to say, after one of the sessions: ‘It is very emotional to see this film because it deals with things that are already happening in our lives.’

Life skills by Nebulas

Rayne Moses of Nebulas spoke to learners about skateboarding and using your interests in a positive way. After sharing the story of his process towards starting a skateboarding organisation, he asked the learners to give their reasons for attending Winter School. The learners opened up to the facilitators and spoke about some of the difficulties they face, and the dreams they have, which will help them overcome those difficulties.

Rayne closed off the session with words of encouragement to the learners and encouraged them to stick to their dreams and what they believe in, because these things will come to pass, if they work towards it and do not get discouraged by obstacles.

Entrepreneurship and business by Silulo

Luvuyo Rani ran a workshop on Entrepreneurship and Business with a group of learners, who were very touched by what he said. He quickly enabled the learners to identify with him by telling them the story of his upbringing, which, like all our learners, was in the townships. He spoke about his journey growing up and eventually starting his own business, which is now a big enterprise in Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

The learners’ appreciation of this workshop is perhaps captured best by Mr Rani’s words at the end of the workshop, where he said that, ‘The vote of thanks I received from (a learner) touched me very much. I am happy and I feel that I made a real difference just talking to them about where I’ve come from.’

History and Social Justice by the Jewish museum

Nyanganites also went on excursion at the Jewish museum and the learners were very excited to have an off-site workshop. Our host, Tamara Guinsberg welcomed the group warmly and in smaller groups, the learners got a tour of the museum. The group learnt about the Holocaust, the history of the Jewish people and the richness of Jewish culture, and the facilitators juxtaposed it all with contemporary issues of xenophobia and other discrimination that happens in a South African context, which the learners can relate to. This workshop was a very rich and enriching experience for the learners and on of our volunteers noted the following: ‘this workshop shouldn’t just be for some learners. I learnt so much and I think everyone can learn a lot from this experience. For the coming years we should make it a workshop that every learner participates in.’

Marine Conservation by Save our Seas

Although Cape Town is a coastal city, the marine world is somewhat removed from the everyday reality of our learners and a workshop by Save Our Seas brought this home. Paul and Zanele from the Shark Centre ran an awesome workshop on sharks and their importance in the marine and therefore world eco-system. To kick off the session, Paul asked the learners what they knew about sharks and all answers mentioned sharks as dangerous predators that bite and eat people, and should therefore be feared. The Save our Seas team then debunked the shark and explained how sharks live, breed, what they eat and revealed the number of people who are actually bitten by sharks each year, which is much less than what people believe.

Our learners got the opportunity to view and touch shark skeletons, teeth, skins, eggs and other shark-bits and came away from the workshop more knowledgeable about the world in the deep blue sea.

Life Skills by Inspired Inc.

One can never have enough life-coaching, and Bradley van Reenen from Inspired Inc proved this as he ran an exciting life coaching workshop with our learners. This workshop covered identity, goal setting and dreams and before long, even the quietest learners were embracing their vulnerability and sharing their deep-seated dreams and life goals with fellow Nyanganites. It was a very touching session and learners encouraged one another, and got encouragement from Bradley, who assured and reassured them of their ability to rise up to the levels they have set for themselves. The session ended off with each learner writing down their dreams as a reminder for themselves, each day, until they fulfill those dreams.

SAAO

Our Technology and Engineering stream got a chance to work with their hands and make telescopes under the guidance of Cedric from the SAAO. Using simple apparatus, namely cardboard, paper, glue, pins and lenses, the learners made telescopes and before the afternoon was out, they were outside, trying out their new telescopes and engaging in some daylight star-gazing! 

Team building, by IY tutors

It has been an event-filled and exciting weekend for learners, tutors and staff members and by the end of the first week, everyone was feeling the strain of the early mornings, the morning cold and the buzz of activity that has been week 1 of Winter School. To give the learners a break and to foster good relationships among the different grades, we had a team-building exercise on Friday afternoon, where the learners got into groups made up of the different grades, and each had a tutor facilitating.

It was rewarding and sweet to witness the learners affirming one another, talking about the things they liked about each other and then sharing the things they are proud of in themselves, that they wish others knew about them.

A huge thank you to all our partners for the workshops, and for putting up with our venue changes, our excited learners, and our busy staff and volunteers. A huge thank you to TSiBA for accommodating us in our large numbers, and finally, thank you to our volunteers and learners for the energy, the commitment and the passion for education, which is the reason why we are here. To week 2 and beyond!

If you would like to come by and see what we up to please contact:

Shuvai – 079 885 4372

shuvai@ikamvayouth.org