Funding from major corporate companies is always welcomed by organizations such as ours, as it means we can continue serving the communities we work in, in the best way we can. It is however so humbling and indeed encouraging when the employees of that company demonstrate a genuine interest and willingness to participate actively in their company’s social investment initiatives. ABI, is such a company, as demonstrated in the past few weeks.
On the 28th of June, ABI hosted a media launch, formally opening the doors of the new branch in Umlazi, which began operations in April this year. We were invited as honored guests at the event, which was quite exciting as we got to meet with various members of the mangement team, and had an opportunity to learn a little more about this amazing company.
ABI’s involvement in our winter school cannot go unnoticed. The day after the launch, ABI employees joined learners for their sports day, eagerly participating in all the events and getting to know the learners. ABI also got involved in our careers day, aimed at introducing learners to various career possibilities. The CSI team have been amazing, providing refreshments at these events, sponsoring t-shirts and water bottles for all the learners, as well as providing sound and sports equipment for the sports day.
As Tumi (Corporate Affairs Manager at ABI), said in her speech at the launch, “ABI does not just talk the talk, they indeed walk the walk”. ABI’s involvement in these few weeks is testimony to that. IkamvaYouth kzn is indeed privileged and honored to be partnering with not just a major company, but a team of individuals dedicated to the upliftmet of others!
Samkelo Nkosi speaking at the Careers Day
The ABI truck that provided entertainment and refreshments throught the day on Sports Day.
Activities at the Makhaza winter school are in full swing, with one of the Wednesday and Thursday morning sessions being financial literacy training presented by Capitec Bank to all the pupils. During these sessions, learners had the opportunity to share their career ambitions, and more specifically where they saw themselves in the next 10 years and what they hoped to save up for. Groups included pupils who hope to become financial risk managers, business owners, world travellers and computer scientists, to name but a few. When it came to the items they’ll be saving for, undoubtedly top of the list was a home for mom and flashy cars for themselves.
The Capitec Bank team then ran through the elements required to achieve those objectives, highlighting a key to saving is one’s ability to differentiate between what qualifies as a need and a want. The pupils shared some of their thoughts and understandings on the matter and it was determined that everyone’s needs and wants are different. For example, many of the pupils shared their views on the importance of education but whether education qualifies as a need or a want was a contested issue.
Other topics covered were drawing up a budget, making the commitment to stick to that budget and save, and opening a Global One savings account with Capitec Bank to manage that process. The session closed off with a Q & A where a few goodies were handed out.
Thanks Megan and your team!!
It’s almost becoming a yearly ritual but once again Ikamvanites feature on the Mail and Guardian’s list of 200 Young South Africans.
This year two more Ikamvanites have been honoured:
- Thobela Bixa (Former IkamvaYouth learner and now IkamvaYouth Board Member)
- Andrew Barrett (Co-founder of IkamvaYouth Gauteng and Siyakhula Education Foundation)
Last year, three ikamvanites were featured on the 2011 M&G list:
Last year we said we could barely wait for our first cohort of ex-learners to make the list and this year Thobela has started what we expect to become a trend. Onwards and upwards.
Its that time of the year again. We have reached that crucial midyear point. Umlazi started operations on the 14th of April 2012, tutoring began on the 23rd with just 18 learners. Winter School sees a number of 58 learners and 14 tutors making up the Umlazi team.
It’s been a very interesting time for us here in Umlazi, challenges galore but we made it through. When the branch started operating we sat with 18 learners for 2 whole weeks. We had to approach schools over again and convince learners face to face at assembly that we are here to help them. Our biggest ally in getting the learner number up to the target (50) has been the learners themselves. They are so happy with the help they are getting that they just seem to bring more and more of their friends.
We now sit with 58 learners in the space of 2 months and the number is set to grow with time. The great thing is that even the number of local volunteers is increasing. In the 2 weeks leading up to Winter School we have 3 new tutors from the neighbourhood come in and join 🙂
Looking forward to our first Winter School as a new branch.
Lloyd Lungu