Some people come from poor families and because of that they have to leave school and find jobs to support their families at an early age. when you leave school at an early age the is no way you can find a good job so that means you wont get out of poverty you are making it worse. having a low-paying job increases poverty because you wont meet all your basic needs.
Lack of health can also perpetuates poverty because if the breawinner is sick and cannot afford the medicine then there will be no one who can provide for the family.
Some children lack the information about their careers so they end up doing nothing after thier matric. The government must try to open centers in townships that will help he youth to learn about careers.
Unemployment also perpetuates poverty because some people are unskilled therefore they wont be employed without skills.
The youth can break the cycle by not letting the poverty destroy them. They can go out there and try to find more knowledge. All they have todo is to work hard at school and do better so that they can get bursaries to further their education. the youth can write letters to government about thier issues that they struggle to ovrcome in their education. The youth must inform the government that ther must be people who can bring them careers indabas where they can get more ideas on what they want. There must be more organisations in townships like ikamva because they are scarce.
Joining organisations can break the poverty cycle and the voices of the youth can be heard by the government. Lets us change the situation the we living in and be empowered.
Sci-Bono – the largest science centre in Southern Africa, opened its arms and dug deep into their pockets to give Ikamvanites the unforgettable lessons of their lives. Free transport, tour to the centre, visit to Palaeo Sciences at Wits University and a goodies box to top it all, what more to ask for this season of goodwill.
Tour to the centre – What? Can you cycle a stationary bicycle to generate power enough to light your bulb, play your TV and radio, to switch on your fan and remember if you stop cycling then you invite load shedding into your seating room. I think South Africa can be the healthiest nation in the whole world; do you share the same sediments?
Survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom – watching a video on a big screen highlighting the co-existence between crocodiles and hippos in the dams, the hunters and the hunted, struggling for water and survival helped the children to empathise with other animals.
Bubbling maths concepts – Mrs Bubbles (the clown) took time out to teach maths in the funniest way ever imagined. If you think maths is hard and boring, think again or get hold of Mrs Bubbles’ manual for making maths teaching fun.
What’s in the bones – Traditional healers throw bones to read messages from the ancestors. Palaeontologists study bones to close the gaps within different stages of evolution and to answer questions of origin, because if we don’t know where we come from we will never know where we are going to. Vuyiswa and Alex took Ikamvanites through an exciting story of fossils and origins of human kind.
And the show goes on – trip to Sci-Bono inspired endless debates and discussions from the bus until IvoryPark.
A very big THANK YOU to Schneider-Electric – the global energy specialists – from a very excited group of Ivory Park Ikamvanites as staff from Schneider-Electric spent the afternoon with our learners and awarded awesome gifts to our top attending Ikamva-KNIGHTS!
After a presentation on Schneider-Electric and some insight into the multitude of career opportunities available to young motivated learners leaving school, we heard from Schneider-Electric staff who shared their personal career stories and experiences in the working world.
It’s easy to see that Schneider-Electric is a company specialising in energy management as the energy levels grew quite palpably as awards were made for learners based on their levels of attendance over the past year. Learners with the best attendance each received scientific calculators and a stationery pack in recognition of their commitment and dedication. Those learners who made the minimum 75% attendance criteria also received very cool stationery packs for their efforts too.
What’s more, Schneider-Electric purchased Mindset teaching DVDS to help with revision across a range of school subjects in grades 10-12. These DVDs will be sure to come in extremely handy as learners try to get to grips with sections of the curriculum they are struggling with. We look forward to the queues of learners lining up to work with the DVDs as they seek to improve their understanding.
Once again… a very big debt of gratitude to Schneider-Electric for a memorable afternoon and for enabling us to recognise the dedication of learners who truly are ‘taking their future’s into their hands’.
Given IkamvaYouth’s learner’s consistently high achievement, we’re often asked about our learner selection process; the quick answer is that our learners select themselves. This approach is based on our organisational values (i.e. equal access to opportunities) and beliefs (that anyone can achieve success with commitment and hard work).
IkamvaYouth’s open days are held at each branch at the beginning of the year. They’re open to all (learners, parents, volunteers etc) and any learner in grades 8 to 11 can take an application form. The application requires learners to motivate why they would like to be an Ikamvanite and why they’re willing to commit to attending more than 75% of all IkamvaYouth’s after school and holiday programmes. Applications are considered on a first-submitted first-served basis; only those who have failed to make significant effort are placed aside. IkamvaYouth does not consider academic results or writing ability in selecting learners. Most providers of supplementary academic support that we know of in South Africa either select learners who already demonstrate academic achievement and potential or rely on teachers to select appropriate learners. IkamvaYouth doesn’t do these things because we believe that everyone has the potential to succeed and that it’s only those who have decided for themselves to take their future into their own hands that are likely to do so. Learners who join us with significantly poor academic results often demonstrate the greatest improvement.
At last… we’ve been threatening for a while to step up the non-academic aspect of Ivory Park’s Saturday IkamvaYouth sessions and we were able to take our first step in this direction on Saturday as Danny Naidoo led the learners through one of the fundamental components of improving one’s personal effectiveness: GOAL SETTING.
Danny presented a step-by-step account of what this might entail and spoke about identifying goals for one’s life and the resilience and perseverance that is essential for achieving these goals. Over the next few weeks we’ll be looking to build on this goal setting framework and provide opportunities for Ikamvanites to identify the areas they most want to target in their own lives.
To a large extent we are using these sessions as an experimental opportunity to identify where the learners find value with a non-academic focus. If you are interested in contributing in this area then find the branch nearest to you and get in touch. Basically if you have a talent or a gift that you’d like to share that is something other than tutoring then why not try it out.
So to prospective artists, creative types, life coaches, motivational speakers, drama fundi’s, etc – come join us.
Before I attended my first Strategic Planning Workshop for IkamvaYouth, I was kinda apprehensive, not knowing what kind of people to expect…it only took a fraction of a second to realise that Ikamvanites from other provinces are such open minded people, free spirited, passionate about the improvement and development of an African child’s education.
The whole session can be easily summed up as sharpening of our skills to advance the objectives and programmes of IkamvaYouth. Big up to all the Ikamvanites who renewed their commitments to the vision of IkamvaYouth South Africa.
Lloyd Lungu