The IkamvaYouth Mahikeng branch was officially launched on the 6th of February 2016 at our host school, Danville Secondary. More than 300 people attended the event which was made up of learners from our main feeder schools Danville Secondary, Boitshoko Secondary and Setumo High school among others. Prominent Stakeholders from the Department of Education in the Ngaka Modiri Molema district, Lifeline, Famsa Mahikeng, University Of North West (Mahikeng), Taletso FET College, parents and the community were also amongst the attendees.
The Danville Secondary school hall was filled to capacity as people were eager to learn more about the programme IkamvaYouth had to offer to the learners. Our main funder Amalgamated Beverages Industries (ABI) spoke about their partnerships with different community projects under their Corporate Social Investment department(CSI) and also about continuing to invest in the IkamvaYouth programme. With Mahikeng being the 5th branch funded by ABI, “we are hoping to grow and fund more IkamvaYouth branches” said Nthonyana Kitsa their CSI specialist, “We really saw a gap and a need to grow and reach more learners in the North West” She added. Nthonyana went on to elaborate that “it is not just about the money that we donate but we want to see our country become a better place and groom leaders in partnership with programmes such as IkamvaYouth”
Also amongst the speakers was Mrs Moncho, a mother to an 18 year old Ikamvanite learner. She expressed her gratitude to IkamvaYouth for what it has done and is continuing to do for her child. “IkamvaYouth has really helped my child to improve her marks and to get her off the street. She is now focused and I am glad she is starting to see the possibilities of the future.”
Omphile Mosweusweu, a 15 year old learner in grade 11 thanked IkamvaYouth for giving him the opportunity to enrol in the programme. “I wish to become an Architect and a part-time entrepreneur and IY is helping me reach my goals. I heard about IkamvaYouth when it got introduced to my school and I never thought twice to grasp the opportunity”.
The Mahikeng branch started with tutoring sessions last August at Danville Secondary School whilst renovations for our office and tutoring hall were taking place. The branch started with only one grade (grade 10) of 82 learners. Unfortunately, some learners were removed from the programme due to failure to meet the 75% attendance requirement which left the branch with 59 learners at the end of term 4. With the growth of the branch we will now have grade 10s and 11s for 2016 with a plan to add the grade 9 class as we expand in the upcoming years, our grade 12 cohort will come from the previous years grade 11 class as we do not recruit any new grade 12s. About 200 learners expressed an interest of joining the Mahikeng branch, but the sad reality is that we only have the capacity to admit 80 learners for now. This really shows the level of demand for the programme in the area.
Of course, if government and corporates have keen ears and are interested in making an impact where it matters the most, this is an opportunity to invest financially in IkamvaYouth and increase its capacity to take in more learners; to be a part of a life-changing initiative. IkamvaYouth literally changes the lives and future prospects of learners, they benefit from the knowledge of successful ikamvanites who return to pay-it-forward by becoming tutors.
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.
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
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.
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.
Lloyd Lungu