While all the Makhaza students enjoy the last week of their winter school holidays, taking a much needed break from the intense focused energy needed for winter school, the Western Cape matrics have given up their entire holiday to continue with tutoring, mentoring, exam preparation, and tertiary applications.
This week sees intensive academic writing and bursary application writing workshops being run by Rose and Francisca, two volunteers from Stanford university, as well as each matric filling out at least 5 application forms for tertiary. It’s only Wednesday and so far everyone has applied for UCT, TSiBA, UWC, CPUT, Northlink and a few for Stellenbosch University. All this interspersed with tutoring, tutoring and more tutoring (with the odd test thrown in..)
Big up matrics!! The end is nearly in sight, by giving up your holiday for this last gasp of intensive tutoring and mentoring it’s setting yourself up for a spectacular finish at the end of the year!
There are only a few days left, if you are interested in tutoring or mentoring the matrics, please email liesel@ikamvayouth.org, alternatively call Zukile on 021 362 6799
Winter school snuck up on us this year, and not in an unassuming king of way, kind of when a loud bang goes off next to you when you least expecting it kind of way Yes… just like that!
160 learners, 40 tutors, 3 busses and loads of enthusiasm, excitement and passion charged their way down the N2 to UCT Middle Campus for 10 days of learning, discovering and fun.
It’s hard to believe what we work so hard to plan for months before all ends seemingly faster than when it began! And with SO many amazing workshops, challenging tutoring times and passion from all the volunteers and learners it’s hard to give an overview of what happened this year, but I’ll try!
– Grade 11 and 12 chemistry workshops in the UCT Chemistry Labs – facilitated by Thobela Bixa, check out his incredible achievement here
– Tutoring for all the grades working through past exam papers and Answer Series books. With over 40 volunteers we achieved a ratio today of 1:4 learners per tutor! Talk about an intense time!
– PSH (Peers in Sexual Health) ran self-awareness workshops, while Sunstep got involved making alarms and facilitating other experiments with physics students.
– Rose, a volunteer from Stanford is working this week on a photography workshop, while other students got involved in deep debate.
– Andreas and his team from ERM, and Matthew from Cape Leopard Trust made sure the students got to grips with our environment, learning about how to make their immediate environment more sustainable, going for walks in Tokai forest finding a few wild animals along the way..
– Capitec ran some financial literacy training workshops, have a read about how they went here
– Nadia ran a very creative workshop where learners molded their own pots from clay (a little messy, a LOT of fun)
– Nkuli and the guys from Live Magazine were back this year for some photo shoot action, as well as creating content for their YouTube channel
– South African Astronomical Observatory ran workshops about what’s happening in our solar system, while the week ended off with Joy from UCT Wellness Centre putting our students through their dramatic paces presenting various health issues
Not to forget while this is all happening the Grade 11 & 12 students all ran through Operation Fikelela, a computer literacy program, while tutors set projects, homework and feedback sessions for all the grades.
Tuesday (26 June) in the first week also marked the one-year anniversary of the passing of Mphumzi Klaas, our friend, our confidant and a huge part of the Makhaza branch. We began the very emotional day with a very moving memorial service with a few people speaking, a video being show and most poignantly the choir singing moving the room to fresh tears as if one year ago was yesterday. And while the Ikamvanites once again balance grieving and all the madness that winter school brings, they did this instead of with incredible sadness and heavy hearts, but with a spirit of tenacity and perseverance they threw themselves into tutoring and workshops, with a renewed commitment to making this the best winter school possible, to show that through adversity and sadness, good can come, that people when united can make the impossible happen.
WOW! With so much happening, the biggest winter school IY has ever had finished with bang, and almost as fast as it arrived it was all over, classrooms packed up and cleaned, busses full to bursting on a day with some of the biggest downpour Cape Town has seen this winter, I can only begin to think of all the fun and excitement we can expect next year! Only after a loooooooooooong rest though…
A huge Huge HUUUUUGE thanks to ALL the workshop facilitators, tutors and learners – Your passion, commitment, excitement and leadership shown over these two weeks make this one of the best winter schools ever! Also to Lolita, Deidre and all that UCT for availing the space to us, BIG UP!!!
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!!
Five International interns are at IkamvaYouth centres (Ebony Park and Ivory Park) in Gauteng for the next six weeks. Four of the interns are from India and one is from The Czech Republic and they have already begun to actively interact with the Ikamvanites in Gauteng. The Ikamvanites are excited to learn about the interns’ different cultures and it became evident after the Saturday tutoring session that the learners all wanted to be around our new visitors.
The interns are currently involved in helping to organise Winter School, cataloguing books in the library, tutoring and mentoring the learners.
IY partnered with an organisation called AIESEC which made the arrival and participation of these interns possible. AIESEC is the world’s largest youth-run led organisation. It is focused on providing a platform for youth leadership development. AIESEC offers young people the opportunity to participate in international internships, experience and participate in a global learning programme.
Our new interns are moving around with the motto, “Each one – teach one,” and they believe that this is a good platform for them to empower youths in South Africa.
12 Makhazanites, 9 Masinites and 4 Nyanganites have been enrolled with the Young South African Innovator Challenge organised by HIP2BE2, 3M and the Western Cape Education Department.
This Challenge will see learners competing for the title of Innovator of the Year and the opportunity to develop and market their innovation with the help of 3M.
Please have a read through the attached article.
On the weekend of the 19th of May, Grade 11 and 12 learners attended the Open Day at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT). They went to the different faculties, accompanied by their dedicated volunteers. The learners discovered various career choices which many had never heard of and found to be of interest. The experience was both eye opening and exciting for the Nyanganites.
Noluvuyo, a Grade 12 learner said, “The trip was amazing; I now know what I’d like to do next year and I’m so excited that I meet the minimum requirements for the course”. The learners were impressed by the good organisation of the Open Day, and appreciated getting access to information on the different courses offered by CPUT. They also got application forms for study next year. Nandipha, another Grade 12 learner said, “I learnt that I must not choose a career because it is paying more but rather first look at my personality and see whether I’ll be happy with my choice in the near future”. “The exhibitors were very helpful and explained each course thoroughly” added Nomathamsanqa, a Grade 12 learner from Mandela High School. The future is definitely bright for the Ikamvanites, as they have been motivated once again, to achieve excellent results and so meet the requirements to get into university.
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Lloyd Lungu