Developing high level of trust in between team members is a key component in guaranteeing a high standard of service delivery for the young people we are working with. Therefore today was dedicated to team tasks focusing on senses that a leader can expand its awareness of the people he/she is working with. Who could imagine that a simple garden stick can arouse and invite to discuss around those topics. I dare you… we did it!! The below picture is proof to that.
The second session makes us discover or revise the different kind of leadership which can be applied to different professional situations. It has been followed by a collective application. We learned how to be directive, democratic, affirmative, how to be humble, how to be visionary and how to produce other leaders.
Frustration is also part of professional life and absolutely normal. It matters to identify the symptoms, and how to remedy from it. This feeling, which pollutes and reduces the human efficiency in interpersonal relationships, needs to be decontaminated as soon as possible.
To conclude the day, each and every staff discussed intensively on professional issues they are encountering within the organisation. No one gets shot. We succeed to do it in a climate of truth, respect and understanding.
We are looking forward tomorrow to give you more feedback.
IkamvaYouth branches in Chesterville and Umlazi need tutors, mentors, workshop facilitators, and administrative interns. This is a great opportunity to gain experience working with youth and community projects, build your skills, and help the youth of today.
Find out how on our volunteer_invite.doc.
I have always loved giving back and helping out wherever and whenever I can, so when I saw the opportunity to give back on Mandela day via “Cheesekids for humanity” (An NGO founded by the philanthropist – Shaka Sisulu) I immediately got excited and registered on their website.
I wasn’t alone in this as I was accompanied by my dear friend and Umlazi tutor Zandile “Dizzy” Dlamini. The giving back was initially scheduled for the 15th of July and due to weather conditions in Johannesburg and Cape Town at that time it couldn’t happen, (of course Durban was sunny and bright as usual). The date was then postponed to the 29th of July with hope that the weather would not be as gloomy as it was for the past two weeks. The 29th of July came and sadly the turn out wasn’t that great as we all had anticipated, assumingly everyone was “over” the Mandela day spirit however that didn’t stop us from our mission to make a change.
Each cheeesekid would be allocated to one of the surrounding townships of Durban which were (Marianhill, KwaMashu, and KwaNyuswa). We found ourselves in Marianhill at the Jabulani Self-Help Centre. The Jabulani Self-Help Centre provides help through self-help projects and support for disadvantaged women and their children. The centre was founded in 1988 by Sister Macro Gneis with help from the missionaries in the surrounding areas. Our task for the day was painting and brightening up the recreational rooms, halls and activity rooms the kids use at the centre.
Interestingly enough Marianhill is the place I grew up in for most of my childhood and were Zandile’s family grew up in and this was very humbling which reaffirms that nothing happens by chance. It was a really gratifying experience and hope that everyone doesn’t wait for days such as Mandela day to give back, making that small difference in just ones person’s life is a huge difference itself. And at IY we do that all day and every day.
Cheryl Nzama
I’m a Cheesekid, have been for the past year. I joined Cheesekids last year in July just before Nelson Mandela Day, soon after encouraged my friends to join in too. Being a Volunteer means a lot to me because it means I am able to make a difference in someones life which is something rare these days, a lot of people are only concerned about themselves and how they will benefit and are less caring about the needy and less fortunate. I believe in giving without expecting anything back and taking with appreciation.
This year Cheesekids has had a few charity events, the latest one being the Nelson Mandela Day Revolution which I took part in and had fun, although there were a lot of disappointments with attendence from my usual Cheesekids crowd, it was lovely experiencing something new with new people. Painting the buildings at Jabulani Self-Help Centre was rewarding for me and those who use the centre because I had fun while giving back to a community my family grew up in and those who use the centre get to have a welcoming place that adds colour and hope into their lives .
Zandile ‘Dizzy’ Dlamini
Wednesdays is usually Homework Sessions at our Vuyani Nkosi Memorial Youth Centre but all that changed for Mandela Day, where we dedicated 67 minutes of our usual 2 hour sessions to giving back once again to the community. The overarching objective of Mandela Day is to inspire individuals to take action to help change the world for the better. Well with the future in their hands, this is what IY’s Chesterville learners had in mind for their Mandela Day.
18 July ( Nelson Mandela’s birthday ofcourse ) saw Chesterville learners, staff and tutors return to the St Anthony’s Church’s Mission in a quest to not only finish painting a class we had painted during winter school but also brighten up another class we had been permitted to paint and this time it was in honour of our first democratically elected president, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela who was turning 94
St. Anthony’s Church has a mission which houses abused women and children. Mothers who live at the mission with their toddlers, have the pleasure of having their young ones attend a pre-school located in the premises of the church. These 2 classes are separated – one being for infants and toddlers while the other is for grade 0 learners.
having been the first black president in 1994.
Read a snippet about the event on the official Mandela Day site.
Some day we may be mining our landfills for the resources we’ve buried. A scary fact presented to the learners of IY’s Chesterville on their Operation Clean Up which was
held on the morning of Thursday, 28 June.
This was a new initiative piloting in Winter School in an aide to get our learners to give
back to the community that they’ve grown up in ( majority if our learners either attend
school within the Chesterville area and/or live within the area – or surroundings )
Durban Solid Waste and Ethekwini Municipality’s Parks and Recreation played a
major role in making this day possible. Thursdays activities started with the learners
taking a walk through the Education & Waste Minimisation Mobile Training Centre –
a bus which travels around various schools and communities within the municipalities
educating society about waste management and recycling through joint collaborations
between the municipality, Engen and the Association of Waste Management.
Mr Njebo, who is in KwaZulu Natal’s head office of Waste Management delivered a talk
about recycling and gave learners ideas on household waste they can recycle.
After all this, learners and tutors were separated into various groups and it was time to
walk around Chesterville to help clean up the community. DSW kindly sponsored gloves
as well as plastic bags which we would use to collect all the waste we found along our
way.
Our first stop was the local hospice where learners cleaned outside the premises, the yard
and gardens. Thereafter we took a walk down towards the St Anthony’s Church’s mission amidst
the support and cheers of local community members.
Arriving at the mission, we were greeted by a Parks and Recreation truck which was
there to deliver the tools sponsored by the department which would be used to clean up
the yard.
Once again learners were separated into groups and cleaned around the yard of the
mission as well as clearing the yard of weeds.
Learners enjoyed clearing up the garden and we are looking forward to hopefully return
to plant a few vegetables for the abused and abandoned women and children which this
mission houses.
After our Operation Clean Up, Chesterville learners returned to DUT for academic
tutoring. At this time, Umlazi learners, who had started the morning in the classroom,
began their Operation Clean Up with a presentation from Zanele, from the DSW
education department. The presentation focused on various aspects such as awareness of
pollution, waste management, different disposal areas in KZN and what effect waste has
on the environment.
Zanele futher empasised the importance of “the 3 Rs” (Reduce, Re-use, Re-cycle), in
combating the negative impact waste has on the environment.
Another important aspect which they touched on was the illegal dumping of waste
especially by our households when they miss the scheduled time of the municipal truck
picking up waste in the neighborhood.
After the insightful presentation, learners were taken to the beach, not to swim, but to
give back to their environment, by cleaning up the litter in the area.
Having Joy Olivier ( co-founder of IkamvaYouth ) and Zamo Shongwe ( IY’s National Coordinator ) join
The clean-up was an added treat for the learners. The amount of litter collected in the
few minutes that the learners were there (just under 30 minutes) was a real eye opener.
Learners really got to see just how bad the issue of pollution on our beaches actually is.
We hope that this is the start of a great initiative and that learners will be able to use all
the knowledge that they gained about taking care of their environment, within their daily
lives.
IkamvaYouth’s 2011 Annual Report is out and available here for download!
Many thanks to our super-talented designer Lynne Stuart, to Julia de Kadt for proofreading, and to everyone who contributed stories, quotes and photos. We love it, and hope that all the readers will too!
Ikamvanites got through some really rough times in 2011: our office was petrol-bombed, a devastating fire in Masiphumelele destroyed 1000s of homes, and learners spent a week rioting after their classmate was badly injured while beaten at school. 2011 was also a year of tragic loss: three heroes (Mphumzi Klaas, Nomzamo Kali and Dave Eadie) all passed away before their time, but not before they’d each made significant contributions to IkamvaYouth and South Africa at large.
There were some good times too: 560 ikamvanites (learners & volunteers) spent their holidays at one of the five winter schools (hosted by TSiBA, UWC, Masi library, DUT and SEF), and 426 learners achieved more than 75% attendance, three times a week, through all four terms. 100 tutors regularly spent their spare time tutoring at the five branches. The ikamvanites’ hard work paid off: 99% of learners in grades 8-11 passed onto the next grade, and 85% of our matrics passed (41% Bachelor, 39% Diploma passes). 69% of matriculants are at tertiary institutions, and 9% are in learnerships and/or employment.
IkamvaYouth’s track record of impressive results has led to some important and exciting attention. We were visited by the Minister of Basic Education (twice!) and mentioned in her budget speech; the Duchess of Cornwall popped in, and Jonathan Jansen inspired our learners at the Masi branch. We were featured in national media including Business Day, SAFM and SABC2 and MNet, made our own Live magazine, went to Slovenia and won a bunch of awards.
A key organisational objective for 2011 was consolidation, and despite the challenges, we’ve managed to achieve this; thanks to the support from our visionary donors. We ran our first-ever national strategic planning week (when many of us met the colleagues with whom we collaborate online on a daily basis in person for the first time); open-sourced our model through the ikamvanitezone (where you’ll find shared information and resources, how-to guides, tools & templates); had an independent evaluation conducted by Servaas van der Berg and his team of education economists, and grew our team.
Over the past year, IkamvaYouth has received 28 requests from communities in all provinces to establish more branches. And after our year of heads-down consolidation, we’re ready to step up and respond. 2012 has seen two new branches established: African- Bank-funded Ivory Park and ABI-funded Umlazi. Next on the horizon are Grahamstown and another two Gauteng branches. We’ve also begun thinking about ways to generate income and sustainably scale expansively, without entirely relying on donor funding in the future.
Ultimately though, IkamvaYouth’s sustainability lies with the ikamvanites. During our first few years, people would often tell us sagely that “initiatives that rely completely on volunteers aren’t sustainable”. We don’t get that anymore. And indeed, ikamvanites have shown that not only is the model sustainable due to the learners becoming tutors, and the tutors being so committed, but that volunteers produce results in contexts where few can.
We invite you to get involved in whatever way, and be a part of the change we need in many more communities throughout the country.
We hope you’ll enjoy the 2011 Annual Report multi-media experience we’ve curated for you, and make the most of the hyperlinks providing detail behind the headlines to youtube clips, blog posts and reports.
Thanks again to every indivdual who played your part in enabling all that was achieved and overcome in 2011, and to those who’re boosting us to ramp it up for 2012!
Lloyd Lungu