The last day of winter school for the Ebony and Ivory Park branches was filled with mixed emotions. We were sad about the end of winter school, uplifted by the amazing contributions at the talent show, and overwhelmed by a rather daunting part of the programme: “Andrew’s Farewell”. Andrew has been a key ikamvanite since 2009 and his contribution has been so significant that it’s really rather impossible to say goodbye. We have this saying “once an ikamvanite, always an ikamvanite”, and so, rather than bidding Andrew farewell, we spent some time thanking and celebrating him.
Andrew and I first met in 2008, when he became interested in our Operation Fikelela curriculum and its potential use for Siyakhula. He was interested in the IY model, decided to pilot it, and then founded IkamvaYouth Gauteng in 2009. His selfless commitment to realising his vision for the Ebony Park community has been relentless; he has been at every single Saturday tutoring session for three and a half years, and has built not only two branches in Gauteng, but played a key role on natcom, informing who we are and how we do things, and enabling us to become an organisation with a national footprint.
Together with the many learners, tutors and supporters whose efforts he’s inspired and coordinated along the way, Andrew has made an incredible impact. In 2011, the Ebony Park branch achieved a 94% pass rate and 100% post school placement, with 45% at universities, and last year they reached a 100% pass rate and 83% access to tertiary.
Not only has Andrew’s work fundamentally changed the lives of the people he’s worked with, but he has established something that will keep on changing many lives. The individuals who were learners during Andrews time will become the tutors who will support more learners to reach similar heights.
But this work is not easy, and it’s this, even more than the outcomes that I want to thank Andrew for. Andrew has essentially been volunteering for IkamvaYouth all of this time. He has a full-time job running his own NGO, and has sacrificed massive amounts to create this beautiful home for all of us. And he even managed to study and win awards in addition to his two full time jobs! He has sweated the small stuff: filling out attendance, capturing data, making sandwiches and dealing with the un-fun aspects of this work. And he’s also been a visionary leader who’s inspired hundreds of people to change the world.
So I’m not going to say farewell. I know that our organisations will continue to collaborate and that ultimately we are still working together towards the same goal:
The fact that 2 million of the 2.8 million South Africans Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETS) haven’t passed matric tells us something about how to fix this problem. What IkamvaYouth and Siyakhula are working towards is ensuring that young South Africans don’t become NEETS but rather IETS. (“Iets” means “something” in Afrikaans.)
So what IkamvaYouth and SEF and everyone in that room on the last day of winter school, led by Andrew, is doing, is ensuring that ikamvanites become iets; become something. Ikamvanites become something so great that very soon they can in turn help other learners to become something. And what ikamvanites are going to become and are becoming already, are the leaders of the country. Because the generations before us do not know how to fix this problem. The education crisis is so huge and so massive that they are scared by it. But we do know how to fix it. And instead of wringing our hands and talking about how we need to work together to fix things, we’re getting on with it.
That’s what Andrews been doing for the last 4 years, and, through SEF, is going to continue doing for the next many years, and so this isn’t a goodbye but a huge thank you. For your leadership, your volunteerism, your inspiration, your selflessness, for challenging us, for pushing us, and for sharing all you know with this amazing team of people who will continue with the amazing work you started.
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.
IkamvaYouth programmes are provided to the township youth at no cost. The learners are expected to commit themselves so as to improve their results in school. The Ikamvanites in Gauteng (Ivory Park and Ebony Park) have gone beyond being just beneficiaries of the Ikamva programmes, to giving back to the community. The idea of Ikamva Cares, an initiative to give back to the community, was suggested during the 2011 Winter School.
On the 26th of May, the Gauteng Ikamvanites, in partnership with Tzu Chi Foundation embarked on a heart touching act of kindness to help an elderly woman in the Ivoty Park community. The elderly woman is known to be staying on her own for the past 12years, with no track of any of her relatives. The community members have made several attempts to have the elderly woman removed from the community. The elderly woman has developed mental health problems, and she finds herself gathering wood, brocken equipment, bones, rugs and empty containers, thus filling the house and the yard with dirty. The children in the community have labelled her a witch, because she uses a ‘vampire-like’ doll to scare them away when they tease her. Lots of rates were breeding in her house and yard, and the smell of dirty and dead rates was unpleasant to the neighbours. But she would not allow anyone set foot on her yard, which was all heaps of rubble gathered over many years.
The Ikamvanites braved the smell and the dirty to clean the house and the yard. It took at least 3hrs for the Ikamvanites and Tzu Chi volunteers to clean the house and yard, with the heap of rubble almost blocking the street. The rubble truck had to make 3loads to clear the rubble, besides the 4 loads which the Tzu Chi volunteers had cleared the previous day. The Ikamvanites were so excited they had something to give to others. The community marvelled at the learners’ act of kindness, and one of the members noted that the grown-ups in the community had failed the elderly woman, but the Ikamvanites came to her rescue from the stinking atmosphere she was living in. The community member went on to say that what the Ikamvanites had done was not only for the elderly woman, but for the whole community, citing that the rubble was a pollution to the neighbourhood, as rats were spreading to the neighbours from the elderly woman’s house. Tzu Chi Foundation has plans to demolish the almost collapsing house, and avail a new house for the elderly woman.
This is just the beginning of many such acts of kindness by Ikamvanites to give back to the community.
“Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.” ? Mother Teresa
About 40 Grade 10 learners from both the Ebony Park and Ivory Park branches in Gauteng attended the Hip2b2 Innovation Challenge Introduction Event. The focus of the event was to spark the interest of learners in Maths and Science and they were told that their innovation could win them the ” SA Young Innovator of the year award.”
Maths, Science and Technology related topics where presented to the learners in a fun, interesting and relevant way. It was a fun-filled afternoon event with activites, team challenges and videos introducing learners to the world of innovation, science and engineering. Learners were given guidance on how maths and science lay foundations or building blocks for careers in the fields of innovation, technology, healthcare, safety and transport.
HIP2B² has partnered with 3M, a diversified technology company serving customers and communities with innovative products and services and industry leaders in innovative solutions for everyday life, and our learners got to see how exciting maths and science can be.
Our learners are geared up and ready to show the world how they can contribute to their communities positively.
On Saturday the 12th of May, 25 Grade 12 learners were at the IkamvaYouth Ebony Park centre by 6:30am ready to attend the much awaited University Open Days. The Universities that had Open Days included Wits University, University of Johannesburg and Tshwane University of Technology. The learners arrived at the different Universities by 7:30 am and began to tour the University grounds and also began to interact with other learners from the universities as well as other High Schools. They toured around the different faculties and with the assistance of our very commited volunteers, the learners began to make some serious decisions about what they wanted to study in tertiary and see what they already qualified for with their current marks.
The Ikamvanites enjoyed the whole experience and said that it gave them a chance to interact with people from all over the country and also get a perspective of what university life is like from the university students. Dikamatso, an Ikamvanite from Tsosolotso High School said that it was a great motivator to see what they saw and experience all they experienced. The end result of the day was that the Ikamvanites decided to continue to take their future into their own hands by collecting the application forms and bursary applications. The Matriculants all understand that by failing to prepare they are already preparing themselves to fail, therefore preparation is very essential.
We look forward to succcessful Grade 12’s this year and the IY team would like to continue to thank the loyal volunteers who have committed themselves to helping all our learners.
Lloyd Lungu