IkamvaYouth KZN Careers Indaba 2014
On the 25th of April 2014 IkamvaYouth KZN hosted their second Annual Careers Indaba. The event, which saw learners and members of the public walk through the doors throughout the day, was hosted in the Chesterville community hall.
Learners from Umlazi arriving
The vision of the Careers Indaba was to open up new opportunities for youth, providing them with information regarding the various programs, resources and support structures that are available to them. By educating people about the choices that are available to them, we sought to empower them, allowing them to make informed decisions about their futures.
This year’s list of exhibitors included eThekwini Municipality, ABI, CAO, Department of Labour, DUT, Training Force, Servest Group, Piece of Cake Events, Container, Career Planet and Libraries, ASN Teambuilding
There were also a number of interactive workshops on offer on the day, covering topics such as Entrepreneurial Skills, Career Decision-making, Leadership, as well as career choices available at institutions such as UKZN and DUT. These workshops were offered by UKZN, DUT and Gugu, who is a drug counsellor in Chesterville also gave the learners a career motivation workshop.
Learners also had the opportunity to hear from a number of guest speakers throughout the day, who all offered valuable advice about making career, as well as general life choices. Among these speakers, were the local councillor Mam Jabu Jabu Mbongwa, social development manager of the Cator Manor Area Based Management Khanyi Msweli and Brandon Hiemand from Career Planet.
DUT representative Mduduzi giving the Careers workshop
The day ended off with some excitement, as prizes, including t-shirts donated by Varsity College and delicious cup-cakes donated by Piece of Cake Events were awarded. Container, a small, youth-run business created quite a stir with a contest they ran, where volunteers were invited to devour a giant burger in 2 minute! This lead to them being recognised by Nosihle Mthethwa, from ABI, pledged an amazing R10 000 worth of support to see this business continue to grow. IkamvaYouth held a raffle draw for an MTN Stepper Android cellphone, which was won by Tanya Chiyambiro From the Chesterville branch.
Cellphone winner Tanya pictured with IkamvaYouth Staff member Thandazo
Learners at the Container stand
Learners felt that the day was informative, a lot of them reporting that they learnt things that they were not aware of before. Here is what a few learners had to say:
“… learnt that if we work together as isizwe sabamnyama (the black nation) we can make big things ezi valuable and special for izizukulwane ezizayo this was unexpected for real” – Zama Mpanza from Mzwamandla high school
“I Learned that you can apply for whatever you like, it’s just that you will have to do it on time because there are so many young people out there who want to study so have to do it on time ngayalezeli ,imbila yaswela usmila ngakho lokho” (Zulu proverb – meaning even the Hyrax did not get a tail due to procrastination) – Lindo Mbili
Volunteers and exhibitors also felt the day went well. With some exhibitors saying they had not anticipated the number of learners coming through the doors on the day.
“The day was okay. The thing here is the choice is from the individual, it’s their call to make. We can all do as much to inform them about what is available for them and how they are going to benefit we can only hope that they take advice and take advantage of the services we offer them” – Nokuthula from Harambe
Learners getting application advice from CAO rep
We would like to thank the Cator Manor ABM, our main sponsors for this event, for their support (financially and in-kind) in ensuring the success of this event. A special thanks goes to all the exhibitors, guest speakers, and workshop facilitators, as well as learners (as well as principals who allowed them to attend the event), who participated enthusiastically throughout the day. We would also like to thank our in-kind sponsors of this event, include the Playhouse Company (who donated production tickets for our volunteers), Unilever (who donated the gifts for our exhibitors & workshop facilitators), as well as ABI, who provided drinks on the day. Last, but not least, we would like to thank all the volunteers, some of whom were organised by the local counsillor’s office, for all their hard work throughout the day. It was a truly great event and we are looking to hosting a bigger and better event in the future.
On Friday the 11th of April, University of Witswatersrand opened its doors to aspiring high school learners. 35, Ebony Park Grade 12’s came together to see what university life looks like as well as to decide on their tertiary options. With the help of our very committed volunteer Hlengiwe Radebe, the learners were divided into 3 specific groups upon arrival. The humanities groups was led by Nyasha Zvomuya, the Ebony Park Branch Coordinator. The commercials group was led by Michael Thema, the Ebony Park Branch Assistant, and the last group of aspiring scientists was led by Hlengiwe Radebe.
The open day was very organised with 30 minute seminars being hosted by different faculties in different lecture rooms. The facilitators explained what programmes were offered in their faculties, what the minimum admission requirements were and what career opportunities students could look forward to after completing their studies. The learners’ then had ample time to ask questions and meet the lecturers who teach in those faculties. It was a very exciting experience for our learners and has given them an even added push to do well in their final exams.
“I now know what is required for me to follow my dream to be a doctor, if I get accepted at Wits,” said Quintress Sefala, one of the Grade 12 learners. Another learner, Virginia Sibanda, could not express how grateful she was to get the opportunity to attend such a spectacular open day. She said, “Thanks to IkamvaYouth, we know that all things are possible”
It was David and Goliath, except for the differences in the endings of the stories, the Afrobot competition organised by SciFest Africa between Ikamvanites, Galaxy – an independent engineering team, Magnete from Graeme College(former private school) and Ntsika High School lived up to the biblical metaphor. Little did we know, that Magnete and Galaxy have had 3 and 4 years respectively to prepare and practice for this taurnament while Ikamvanites had only 3 days to prepare.
The preparation stages were shaky, as expected under the circumstances. On Day 2 of preparation, Ikamvanites demonstrated tremendously high spirit and unity of purpose as they put together their robots. A spirit of team work inspired by IY’s values of “teamwork and peer-to-peer support” became the useful tool as frustration due to pressure grew in other teams.
By 5pm on Friday, Ikamvanites were testing their robots and helping each other in preparation for the next morning’s show down. The teams had to build remote controlled robots to pick up or push 6 cans from one place to a designated spot in a space of 90 seconds.
Both Ikamvanites’ teams demolished Ntsika High School, added Graeme College among the casualties and went on to meet in the finals of their category.
Exhilarating as the finals of the pushers were, the fact that both teams were Ikamavanites added a bit of sourness to it. The winning team in the Pushers final went on to meet the winning team in the Lifters category, Galaxy. Though Galaxy took 4 years to build their robot, they were certainly given a run for their money by Ikamvanites which saw them winning by a small margin of just 2 points.
The creativity, courage, determination and commitment shown by Ikamvanites through the preparation stages of the taurnament and the tremendous discipline demonstrated during the actual competition saw us earning an early invitation to the taurnament due to take place in March 2015. Indeed, Ikamva Lisezandleni Zethu!
On Friday the 14th of March 2014, our grade 10, 11 and 12 learners of the Masi branch attended a Career Fair that was held in Rondebosch. This was a very special day for the learners as they got the opportunity to explore an unfamiliar environment while also gaining valuable knowledge of the various opportunities available to them. Attendance from the learners was extremely impressive and the general attitude amongst the learners was that of willingness to learn and determination to pursue available opportunities.
The Career fair was a great opportunity for the Masi learners to get exposed to the many careers that exist, learn more things and interact with learners and tutors from the other IY branches who also attended the Career Fair. Given the distance between the branch and the venue, by the time the learners arrived, many of the other schools and attendees were already on their way out, giving our Masi learners a greater opportunity to obtain as much information as possible.
Going through the career exhibition the learners appeard to be having fun while also getting all the information they needed and more about all the different career choices available to them and the enterance requirements for each. It was a great pleasure seeing how being in an unfamiliar environment can assist with building an excitment to learn and grow.
A report from the learners concluced that more of such events are wanted and needed for the learners in order to obtian more information about more opportunities.
On The 8th of February 2014, IYWC learners went on a scenic hike up Table Mountain, through Kirstenbosch Gardens. The outing was organised by the Pride of Table Mountain and 41 learners from Makhaza, Masi and Nyanga participated. The outing provided a good opportunity for the WC learners from the different branches to meet, mingle and get to know each other in a relaxing atmosphere.
The Pride Projects help to fulfil the need for an environmental education outreach among disadvantaged youth from urban and rural areas. The experience received on the hike helps to instil a sense of pride and responsibility in their natural heritage.
‘If more of us love nature, the environment will take care of itself’
The learners who participated enjoyed themselves immensely, and Mzukisi Gwegwe said the following. ‘I love nature so I enjoyed learning about the different trees; specifically that our indigenous trees are best for our land. I learnt that some exotic trees suck too much water from the ground and this causes our trees to suffer.’ Another participant highlighted that the outing gave her clear insight on the importance of nature, and she also learnt fun facts, such as the fact the protea, South Africa’s national plant can make ink.
A huge thank you to Andrea Sanke, Sharon McCullum and the Pride of Table Mountain team, for making this outing a reality.
On the 21st of September, ikamvanites in the Western Cape participated in the annual Coastal Cleanup, hosted by ERM.
The learners from Masi, Makhaza and Nyanga braved the slight chill and went out to pick up litter from surrounding beaches. The occasion provided an opportunity for ikamvanites to meet, get to know one another and have fun whilst taking care of their environment.
A huge thank you to ERM for hosting the ikamvanites again this year.
Lloyd Lungu