Hearth & Soul is where its all happening. 22 Ikamvanites from across the country (4 provinces and all branches) have come together for the much awaited National Strategic Planning Week, which is a roadway to 2013. This will be an intensive 2 weeks of Transformational leadership, Strategic Planning and Team building, facilitated by renowned Leadership Developer Ilana Wetzler from SunRunners and Mignon Keyser from PEERPOWER.
Day one: this day laid a foundation and set the pace for all the following days, which included Self-awareness, Unpacked the qualities of a great leader and through this we realised that we have them inside us it’s all up to us to choose, this topic teaches us that leadership is based on service and asking what is needed here and thereby we changing the cause and not the symptoms
The day build up to experimental learning; that we learn from everything we do and sharing ,revisited IkamvaYouth Values which remind us about our responsibilities and abilities that we can respond rather than react.
All this was displayed through task teams which taught us the power of collaboration and resource sharing the Eye blinding game and the plank game just to name a few.
Day 2 has been a day of learning, fun and bonding here at Heath and Soul in Cape Town for the IkamvaYouth Team. It is true that when people put their minds together great things are sure to happen. The day started with a great ice breaker, where IkamvaYouth staff were taught how to breathe in and out whilst becoming one with nature and our surroundings. The NSPW facilitator, Ilana Wetzler, began to challenge the IkamvaYouth staff on how to understand themselves through self-awareness and highlighted the fact that we all should strive to develop our self-awareness so as to become better leaders.
Ilana- Facilitator(Left) and Joy -Co-Founder of IkamvaYouth (Right)
This year’s NSPW is full of experiential learning and we covered areas such as tools of dialogue, intentional misdirection and different types of energy. The IkamvaYouth team has been separated into three groups to complete team tasks. The names of the groups include the Rockets, the Sweet Chilli’s and the Bees.
Interestingly enough, Lungelo Masiza, the Chef preparing all the amazing food during our stay here is a former Ikamvanite. He has successfully started his own catering company called La-Thiswa catering and is a living testimony of how IkamvaYouth is changing and empowering lives.
Watch out for the IkamvaYouth team of avengers, going through an amazing transformation from no fear to complete love!
Who said young people couldn’t create, direct, produce, film and act in their own movie.
About 30 Ikamvanites in Gauteng had the opportunity on Saturday 22nd of September 2012, to go onto a professional movie set in Johanesburg at The Home Movie Factory and create their own master pieces.
The Home Movie Factory is an initiative created by Michael Gondry upon the idea that filmmaker creativity should be cultivated and shared as much as possible. Michael said,“I don’t intend nor have the pretension to teach how to make films. Quite the contrary. I intend to prove that people can enjoy their time without being part of the commercial system and serving it. Ultimately, I am hoping to create a network of creativity and communication that is guaranteed to be free.”
The Ikamvanites arrived to a ready-to-use film set and equipment which made an infinite number of storylines possible. The learners got to work independently and had creative control over all aspects of the movie and this included the genre and title of their film, the script, the acting and actual filming.
After three hours, the learners were able to see a screening of their film and were given DVD copies of the final product.
WOW is all I can say. It was amazing experience! We definately have some very creative young Ikamvanites here in Gauteng.
On Tuesday 18 September , IY attended the UCT careers expo. The expo was aimed at showcasing NPOs in the Western Cape to UCT students. The whole day was a flurry of activity with students coming in, asking about IY and signing up to volunteer, interns, or get more information about the work we do.
Shuvai and Siya of the Nyanga branch explained IY’s work to the students and got many to sign up for our Gauteng, Western Cape and KZN branches. One student, Xolile Zondi had the following to say: ‘I’m from Umlazi but I didn’t know there was such a program in my community. I would like to get involved back home.’
It was a tiring but definitely worthwhile experience, as more young people are now aware of IkamvaYouth and the work we are doing to raise a nation!
A mentoring workshop was held at the Ebony Park branch during the weekend, fascilitated by Nomfuzo Ntolosi, a life coach, of The Coaching Centre, with experience in running mentorship workshops. Aspects covered by the the workshop include:
– career mentoring, the responsibilities of a mentor and mentee
– the mentoring approach, managing expectations, boundaries, relationship building, signing on and smooth dissolution
– looking after (self) the mentor
– communication with Ikamva Youth as well as identifying risks
There are already some Grade 12 learners who have been matched with a mentor. The mentor commits to two hours’ communication every month through various forms of communication networks. The first meeting is facilitated by the IkamvaYouth office, where the mentor will get to meet the mentee, and they will sign a mentorship agreement. Thereafter, the IkamvaYouth office must be informed of any meetings away from the office, to which the mentee’s parent or guardian must consent. Grade 12 learners were part of the participants and this workshop gave them insight on what mentorship is all about.
The current and potential mentors who attended were from African Bank, The Helen Suzman Foundation, MISTRA as well as the tutors from Ivory Park and Ebony Park branches. The turnout for the event was great, regardless of the rainy and chilly weather. The session was interactive which gave participants an opportunity to express their views as well as their experiences throughout the session.
The overall feedback was that it was an informative, very helpful session and was ideal to give a head start for mentoring young people in any given setting. A positive response was received from the evaluations done at the end of the workshop. Thank you to everyone that attended regardless of the weather conditions, your attendance made this workshop a success. The target is to have all grade 12 learners mentored, and thus we look forward to having more mentors coming on board. We are also looking forward to all the fruits that the mentoring will bear in ensuring the learners access tertiary opportunities, and are motivated to achieve in life.
Inspired by the National Planning Commission’s story of Thandi, which Trevor Manuel told as a way to depict the key challenges facing the country, IkamvaYouth has launched Funeka’s Story, which explains IkamvaYouth model and its impact, and sends out a call for volunteers and supporters.
[video:http://youtu.be/NEFflXglk28 align:center]
A BIG UP THANK YOU to:
* Funeka, for sharing your story and being such a professional voice-over artist!
* Capitec for availing Funeka during work hours to go to the sound studio
* Dan Eppel who recorded and mixed the sound
* Freshly Ground for donating the tunes
* the staff and interns who helped behind the scenes,
and especially to:
* Lynne Stuart (@ideainaforest) for applying her design talents to explain what we do so concisely and beautifully!
Lloyd Lungu