Having a mentor for a young high school learner can set you up for a life time. The guidance and mentoring that professionals give to high school learners is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted.
GetSmarter and IkamvaYouth (Nyanga Branch) have collaborated in one of IkamvaYouth’s core programmes, mentoring. Where a young professional is partnered up with a high school learner for 12 months and the mentor guides and assists the mentee in their academic walk from matric into tertiary.
IkamvaYouth learners made their way on the 25th of February to the GetSmarter offices in Observatory to meet with their mentee’s and get the ball rolling of the year. The matric learners were very excited to get out of their comfort zone and head to the big city with lights. The session started at 16:00 was intended to end at 18:00 however it was one interesting and fun session that it went slightly over time.
This relationship formed with Getsmarter is one exciting one for IkamvaYouth because the learners get to have quality mentors who are interested in their career and where they will be in the future.
We surely can’t wait for our next visit
Results, Results, Results
We are headed towards the close of term one this means reports will be coming in, results tabled and the robots shall light up.
We are looking forward to tabling the results for the first term.
On the 17th of February 2016, a computer lab container arrived at the Ivory Park branch at Kaalfontein Secondary School. It will be great to see the sort of successes this achievement will allow us to bring about.
It was early in the morning and Ditiro (the Gauteng District Coordinator) was there monitoring the delivery of the container, a resource that will contribute greatly to the success of the branch. It has given us ,the staff, hope and we are eager to deliver one of IkamvaYouth’s key programmes – computer literacy. This will open up new learning experiences and opportunities for the learners and the branch staff.
The principal of the school said, “It has now given me a place of hope when I see this new implementation”. We strongly believe we are on a path to meeting all our objectives and the teachers and other school staff have borne witness to that.
We are even more dedicated to fulfilling our mission this year and wish all the IY staff and stakeholders a year of prosperity.
On Saturday the 6th of February 2016, IkamvaYouth hosted its first alumni meetup for the year in Cape Town. The aim was to get the alumni to meet one another especially since they attended different IkamvaYouth branches in high school, across different years, but may currently study at the same tertiary institutions and live in the same areas. Another goal was to get them thinking and talking about the various post-school opportunities available to them and plan for the year ahead. Thabisile Seme, the Alumni Coordinator, facilitated the session and ensured that it was informative and fun!
The alumni shared what they are currently doing (be it work or study) and what their plans are for the year. Leànne from Mintor joined the meetup and gave the alumni an in-depth explanation of how the platform works. Mintor is a platform that allows students to build skills and credibility ,broaden their work experience and earn some money in the process. By completing a profile on their site, students avail themselves to businesses looking for skilled candidates . Leànne founded the platform when she realised that one of the pressing issues in the country is the difficulty that exists around finding employment after studying, partly due to lack of experience. Mintor seeks to connect students to what she calls “Micro-internships” which is part-time work a student can do from the day they start studying. Such opportunities may also help students come to realisations about their field of study earlier giving them the chance to gain certain skills or change their career path. Mintor also caters for graduate job-seekers and students looking to complete learnerships and in-service training. Leanne emphasised that the best way to improve your credibility is by “demonstrating your interests alongside what you study” instead of waiting for an opportunity. You can learn more about mintor here.
For the first activity, everyone was given a sheet of paper with different statements like “Matriculated before 2010”, the goal was to match a statement to an individual and get them to sign for it. Individuals weren’t allowed to sign for more than 2 statements per sheet. It was a really fun way for everyone to learn some quick facts about one another.
For the second activity, alumni were asked to form a straight line in order of when they joined IkamvaYouth, the twist was that no speaking or writing was allowed! As they moved around mutely,occasionally giggling, everybody quickly found a way to communicate their position in the line.
At the heart of the day’s activities was having everyone paired up and sharing their “IkamvaYouth story”. We heard from Thobela Bixa who was part of the first cohort of matrics to go through IkamvaYouth; he went on to pursue studies in chemistry and earned a Masters in Chemistry. He currently works as an analyst in the Finance sector and is pursuing his new passion: Business. As everybody shared each other’s stories, it became clear that there are different ways that they can help each other in their studies and careers from sharing books to guiding someone in their job-seeking or letting them know of new opportunities in the workplace.
The last activity reinforced the concept of how everyone is connected; it involved everyone throwing around a reel of string (without impaling anyone) and saying what they are looking forward to this year. The common thread was that everyone wanted to learn more this year and equip themselves to create even better lives. In the end, the string had formed a web which connected everyone and Thabisile demonstrated that a tug at one end of the web could be felt by everyone. She encouraged the alumni to support one another through the programme, reminding us all that: “whatever you do in your life, you have an impact on other people and if we consciously want to make an impact, that impact becomes a lot bigger…”
We’re looking forward to seeing the alumni again on the 5th of March at the Get that job! workshop. You can see the event details here.
IKAMVAYOUUUTTHHH!!!
IkamvaYouth Mamelodi hosted its Open Day on the 30th of January 2016, with the aim of celebrating our 2015 Matriculants and encouraging our 2016 learners.
The branch recognised the Matriculants who did well in their respective studies and Ofentse Keitshepile Mokgoshi from Mamelodi High school received the first prize. Sipho Matola from J.Kekana Secondary school and Karabo Malemone from Gatang Secondary received most outstanding learner awards respectively and Sipho Matola gave a testimony on behalf of the Grade 12s.We also had a parent, Mrs Veronica Maake who spoke about her child, Donald Mosuoe, who passed Grade 11 in 2015 to join the 2016 Matrics.
Ms Akhona Sishuba from ABI addressed the learners and spoke about the support that ABI provides to IkamvaYouth and the sort of results that ABI encourages the learners to achieve. Ms Sophia Makweya from the Gauteng Department of Education encouraged our Ikamvanites and confirmed that the department will continue to support the Mamelodi branch.
Our guests were entertained by Mpho Frank Masetlane, who recited a motivational poem for the learners.
(Pic) from left Kagiso Monyatsi, Mamelodi Branch Coordinator; Akhona Sishuba ,A.B.I CSI Coordinator Mamelodi; Karabo Malemone the 2015 Matric with his mother, Nurse Malemone; Ms Sophia Makweya, Gauteng Department of Education Life Orientation HOD and Ditiro Huma, Gauteng District Coordinator
IkamvaYouth is a beacon of hope for the youth in Mamelodi, especially for those who never thought anything good could come out of their township.
IkamvaYouth Mamelodi is excited about the level of support they receive from parents through their regular visits, attendance of branch meetings on progress and their support to the feeder schools such Vlakfountein Secondary school; Mamelodi Secondary school; Modiri Technical High; J.Kekana Secondary school ;Vukani Mawethu secondary and Gatang secondary school.
IkamvaYouth would like to thank the community in Mamelodi and Pretoria for their great support.
To get involved contact Kagiso on : 0746311725 or kagiso@ikamvaYouth.org
Lloyd Lungu