Media, Image, and Expression
By Luyanda Kota
Once again the Media, Image and Expression programme was well represented at the last Tsiba Winter School. The line up of activities started with Chri Fan getting organised and offering Creative writing workshops, creative writing provides a platform for expression and when that foundation is there poetry and many more writing activities such as essay writing are possible.
We also had Art workhops with Donna and our learners created tangible things such as tags which if I may say were beautiful while they had strong messages on them. From there we had poetry and we are happy to present the poem at the bottom of the article as the artcle written by our learners while they were at the Winter School.
Last but by no means less we had our photography sessions were conducted by Sena Allen, Emma van der Vliet and Nicola Pallit. This provided a lot of pretty pictures that had a theme called FIFA Fever. These provided enough for the exhibition that was held at Desmond Tutu Hall in the Talent show.
Music Is…
Music is my passion
My inspiration
Makes me think of passion
Music is my everything
It reminds me of old days
It is my inner voice
Makes me feel good
Makes me feel sad
Music is my freedom
Music makes me feel welcome
Feel energetic, makes me feel warm
Music makes me feel pessimistic
Not happy at all
Music is my home
Music is my let out
Let out for sadness and stress
Let out for anger and pain
Music is my mentor
Music is my world
Written by the 11B students of IkamvaYouth Makhaza Winter Programme
Taught by Christopher Fan, IkamvaYouth Intern
Learners from IkamvaYouth Nyanga recently had the opportunity to visit various locations around Cape Town. The first stop was the Iziko Museum where the students viewed and learned about the artwork in the gallery. They then went to the Iziko Annexe where art work created by learners from schools around Cape Town is on display and were given a basic lesson in art. Then using basic materials such as cardboard, markers, crayons, and paint, the learners created their own pieces of art. Many of their creations touched on peace, happiness, and unity. The next destination was Kirstenbosch gardens where the students learned about the ecology and biodiversity of South Africa. Although the rain prevented the learners from experiencing the beautiful gardens, they enjoyed learning about the different South African biomes and the process of photosynthesis. We also viewed and studied several specimens of plants. The last stop was the Two Oceans Aquarium on the Waterfront. The Nyanga learners were able to view a vast array of aquatic life including penguins, frogs, sharks, and the poisonous puffer fish. They all enjoyed learning about each of the animals and watching them in their respective environment. Overall, the learners and the volunteers alike had a wonderful time on these excursions and would like to thank each of the venues for their generous hospitality.
Two Oceans Aquarium: http://www.aquarium.co.za/
Iziko Museum: http://www.iziko.org.za/sam/
Kirstenbosch Gardens: http://www.sanbi.org/frames/kirstfram.htm
This year’s winter school was a success! We had 55 Nyanga learners and 23 Ikanyezi learners join us for two weeks at the University of the Western Cape.
Inkanyezi Learners
During the morning sessions, the programme offered learners the chance to get extra tutoring on subjects they were having a difficult time with. We were fortunate to have anywhere from 7 to 15 tutors a day to help all the learners.
After lunch the learners had a great opportunity to participate in a wide variety of workshops that were focused on educating and the learners on different things outside of their school subjects. We had everything from Acting to Team Skills Workshops. Workshops included: Art, Drumming, Acting, Team Skills, South African History, Point of View Improv and Drug Awareness
Learners show us their moves during the drumming workshop
In the Point of View workshop learners had the great opportunity to learn more about sexual health and stigma’s associated with HIV by using innovative activities that engaged the learners and made them more comfortable to share their thoughts.
Molly Blank came in to show the learners her new documentary film all about the xenophobic attacks that happened in South Africa in 2008. The learners watched the film and were able to have a question and answer session with the director herself afterwards. See some of their responses here.
Some learners who showed interest participated in a photography workshop which allowed the learners to take home cameras to take shots of the world cup mania in their area.
Sive Bushla, 11th grade ‘Big Vuvuzela’
New Start was also kind enough to come in to offer testing and counsel any learner or volunteer in the programme who wanted to get tested.
One of the opportunities the learners really enjoyed was the access to the computer labs that were made available to them for the whole of the programme. The learners were able to learn the key elements of Microsoft Word and Excel, how to send attachments in emails and basic computer literacy issues. They were really happy to be able to work on their typing skills as well.
We had a number of sponsors that made planning the programme much easier. PicknPay gave us enough to buy everything we needed for tea and snack breaks while Red Hot Catering & Events provided the lunches for all learners and volunteers at a convenient cost. Fedics sponsored one day’s lunches for all involved in the programme. And of course, UWC offered the space to make all of this possible.
Learners, for the most part, only had good things to say about the programme. There were some ideas that would make next year’s programme better. Mostly, learners wanted to see more tutoring subjects available. We would have loved to see this too, but unfortunately we didn’t have enough tutors comfortable teaching all the subjects. Hopefully next year, that’ll be different!
On the last day of the Nyanga Winter Programme, the learners had a chance to showcase their many talents. And they did not hold out! The volunteers and tutors were able to watch the 78 learners perform in any which way they wanted! Some read powerful and moving poems that they had written, others danced, a few learners showed off their vocals in songs, a few showed off their creative minds in raps and there was also a play!
playtime
All of the acts were creative, innovative and well thought out. Very impressive!
Amidst all the craziness of World Cup matches and Winter School, gold Ikamvanites from Nyanga took a welcomed break from their studies to take a trip to Cape Town City Bowl District for an afternoon of art and theatre. They started off the afternoon by visiting the Goodman Gallery in Woodstock. Their exhibit featured South African artist Kendell Geers and his collective work entitled Thrid World Disorder. The Ikamvanites were fortunate enough to have a personal guide for the exhibition focusing on tranformational images and language.
After a quick bite to eat for lunch, the Ikamvanites ventured forth to the Fugard Theatre to watch the well-received musical of Aesop’s Fables. With lots of music, singing, danicing, and joking eveyone had a wonderful time in town.
Special thanks to James Krowlikowski for arranging the afternoon’s activities, the Goodman Gallery and its staff, as well as the Fugard Theatre for their warm reception.
IkamvaYouth is a non-profit organization based in from Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Masiphumelele in the Western Cape, Ivory Park in Gauteng, the greater Cato Manor area and Molweni in KwaZulu-Natal. IkamvaYouth is a for-youth, by-youth leadership organization that focuses on self-empowerment of its students in grades 9-12. We volunteers are community members who are either international university students or past IkamvaYouth graduates who believe in making a change. We believe that students are the masters of their own futures and successes and only by challenging and supporting each one of them to believe in their own strengths and skills. By doing so, we believe that students will be better equipped with the proper skills for education as well as the job market. We not only focus on educational initiatives but also on social and civic initiatives. Our success is marked by the number of students who graduate from high school and progress to either university or success in the job market.
In the Western Cape, IkamvaYouth is hosting its annual Talent Show & Photography Exhibition in Makhaza.
Date: Saturday, 3 July 2010
Time: 9:00 – 13:00
Location: Desmond Tutu Hall (next to Nazeema Isaacs Library)
Makhaza, Khayelitsha
Cnr Lansdowne and Cekeca Rds
Lloyd Lungu