An information-packed workshop started with an intense Saturday Tutorial Session which was followed by a mind elevating workshop which was facilitated by the Tzu Chi Foundation South Africa. Tzu Chi Foundation is a Buddhist volunteer organization, that has extended its relief support from Tembisa’s disadvantaged families to two branches of IkamvaYouth based in Ebony and Ivory Park. Tzu Chi Foundation South Africa was formerly known as the Chinese people that always bring fruits at break time during IkamvaYouth Saturday Tutorial Sessions, until they broke new grounds and provided 6 Ikamvanites with bursaries to further their studies at Wits, UJ, UP and other credible tertiary institutions in the Gauteng Province. Tzu Chi volunteers are visiting Ikamvanites’ homes to assess the need and intervene accordingly. This provides a holistic approach to leaners and gives other learners opportunities to change to lives of other community members.
Howard Teng, the younger brother of the MC of the day, Dean Teng, brought along an energetic, physically fit, and knowledgeable professional who was kind enough to introduce rare careers in the townships of South Africa, Bio kinetics and Sport Science. Michael da Silva is a highly profiled and experienced Biokineticist and Sport Scientist. He has worked for Bafana bafana and the Springboks, amongst the others. Michael enthusiastically took us through his academic career before and after he qualified as a Biokineticist at Wits University. His energetic, impressive and interactive presentation kept everybody on their toes and left us with more inspiration and motivation to explore this field as a future career.
Tzu Chi volunteers made a presentation and to top it all, danced with everybody to an inspiring song performed with sign language.
“Drum Beats……” And the Winner of a New Samsung Phone is Mary Makgamatha who is joined by her colleague Nompumelelo Nkosi in celebrating her achievement. Mary’s poster won in an IkamvaYouth Democracy competition announced in a joint session between Ebony and Ivory Park Branches. The awarding of these prizes took place on Saturday the 14th of April 2012 just after the tutorial session. The competition was open to both tutors and learners.
Mary could not contain her happiness when Modjadji handed over the Samsung phone in a box and expressed her gratitude to her colleagues that have encouraged and supported her when she was engaging her creative juices, to produce a story-telling, winning poster. Well done, Mary!
IkamvaYouth Gauteng had an extra-ordinary Saturday Tutoring Session on the 14th of April as we took the last hour of the tutoring session to celebrate IkamvaYouth being the first South African (and African) organisation to make it onto the WorldBlu-accredited list of the “World’s most Democratic Organisations”. The two branches in Gauteng (Ebony Park and Ivory Park) came together making the venue full to capacity with over 250 learners and over 50 tutors. The celebration was attended by our Guest Speaker Phumza Makanya-Ojowuro, the Director of Employee Relations and Wellness at UNISA who spoke to everyone who was present about what Democracy is and how important it is to South Africa and the world. She also expressed how proud she was of IkamvaYouth and how this is an important announcement to the whole country.
To mark the occasion, the IkamvaYouth branches in Gauteng were running a competition for learners and volunteers to submit a response to the question, “What does democracy mean to me.” Learners wrote essays and employed their creative means to answer this question. This day was filled with loads of fun as the winners who entered our competition were announced after Phumza’s Makanya- Ojowuro’s speech. Five learners walked away with airtime vouchers and two learners walked away with a cellular phone voucher each. Our funders African Bank and ABI attended the function with ABI bringing drinks to hand out to everyone who was present at the celebrations. The Tzu Chi Foundation, who have been great IkamvaYouth Gauteng supporters, were also present and brought along their boxes full of apples for all the learners and volunteers.
The learners were especially inspired as one of the learners Shaun Theko said, “She’s glad she is living in a democratic South Africa and even more glad that IkamvaYouth has continued to be such a good example to everyone.”
We continue to reiterate the words spoken by Joy Olivier Co-founder and Director of IkamvaYouth, “democracy is not just something we do at IkamvaYouth, it is who we are.”
The newest branch of IkamvaYouth in Ivory Park – supported by African Bank – officially opened its doors to 90 local learners in Grades 10 and 11 on Saturday 11 February 2012 and the tutoring sessions were quickly in full swing. The brand-new Ikamvanites were selected from over 700 applicants and it was an incredibly difficult job trying to work out who we think are going to be the most committed learners this year.
A number of our longest serving volunteers have moved across from the established Ebony Park branch to the new Ivory Park branch to help us get started and ensure we do things the unique IkamvaYouth way. The energy and dedication evident in our new group of learners is infectious and it’s impossible to attend a session and not feel like something special is happening in Ivory Park.
We have been massively privileged to welcome a number of volunteers from the University of Johannesburg and even though many of these volunteers are themselves brand-new Ikamvanites, they have fitted in seamlessly and their contribution is hugely valued and important. We have to express a big thank you to all the new and returning volunteers at all the IkamvaYouth branches but we especially want to thank the new cohort at Ivory Park as it is this group that will help us begin a journey that will continue to benefit learners from the Ivory Park community even long after these volunteers have moved on to other things themselves.
Finally, we have to say a massive thank you to African Bank for sponsoring the new branch and we look forward to reporting on significant improvement in the grades and results of the first group of Ivory Park IkamvaYouth learners who will graduate in 2013.
To volunteer at either of our Gauteng branches, sign up to our weekly volunteer emailing list here. Free transport is available every Saturday from both Wits and UJ.
IkamvaYouth Ivory Park held their Awards Ceremony at which learners were required to vote (per grade) for the iKamvanite that they believe bests excelled in a specific category. With the Motto for the day being: The Future is in your hands, Grab it!”
The categories were:
- Leadership,
- Commitment to Ikamva,
- Confidence,
- Creativity,
- Most Improved and
- Intelligence.
Each category was playfully represented by famous cartoon characters such as Shrek and Boondocks and iKamvanite Shelton Chadya cleaned house with prizes and awards, accepting them with inspirational words filled with gratitude, humility and memoirs into the journey he travelled with IkamvaYouth Ivory Park.
Then it was the tutors’ turn! The tutors were also given a spot in the limelight as they were acknowledged for the self-less work they put into the organization. The learners had their say in three fun categories:
- Strictest tutor,
- Friendliest tutor
- Coolest/funniest tutor”.
The tutor awards were in collaboration with the cartoon characters theme for the day who epitomized a category value. The tutoring department also handed out awards in recognition of the individual efforts made by tutors at Ikamva. Those awards were “Soul Provider” to volunteers Samuel Suttner and Nthabiseng Mokoena, who have dedicated their efforts to starting up an Ikamva library with book and shelving donations. Kihisha Suleman was recognized for her hard work in co-ordinating the Career guidance and mentoring efforts and was also awarded the “Die-Hard” award for being the longest-standing tutor to date. Other awards handed out were for Most dedicated tutor and Stamp of approval.
In addition, the University of the Witwatersrand commended all volunteers from the university for being part of the Wits Volunteers’ Programme (WVP). The learners and tutors were commended with amazing prizes.
A BIG shout out to those who sponsored prizes: Jetline Wits, Ninos, Spur, Linobe Productions, 7-Eleven, Albeit, Wits Stationers and Wits Cellulars. Together with great entertainment from our very own idols and poets, the event left everyone inspired with a complete sense of achievement and ready to grab the future!
Written by: Talent Mzili and Kihisha Suleman
Editors note: A big shout out also to Kihisha and Talent who organised the event including the prizes, certificates and the presentations. Awesome day well spent and an excellent way to bring an end to a busy year.
As is becoming a tradition at all IkamvaYouth branches around the country, the Ivory Park Winter School was once again a roaring success. Special thanks to African Bank for helping fund the winter school programme. Click on the image below to download the full report.
Lloyd Lungu