This past week, Gr 11s at the Nyanga branch enjoyed a refreshing gala event at Zolani Centre. In a bid to foster group cohesion, friendship and greater support, as the learners get into Matric next year, the Nyanga team threw a brunch for the Gr 11 learners. The learners were paired up with fellow learners and tasked to get to know each other better during the course of the brunch. It was a fun morning, filled with laughter, jokes, music, food and a general festive mood.
Siphelele, Nyanga Branch Assistant, exhorted the learners to support one another with their work across friendship groups. The Gr 11s are looking forward to finishing 2013 stronger than they started, and get into Matric in 2014 a more cohesive group than ever before.
At the end of the dinner, the learners had a lot to say.
‘I want to say thank you, Shu and Siphe for making this effort for us. We enjoyed ourselves and also got to talk to each other, which was good’. (Yanga Kamteni, Gr 11)
‘It was nice to have something like this, because we see that Ikamva is not only about books but also having fun and becoming friends’ ( Banathi Buso, Gr 11)
A big thank you to the Matric class of 2014 for showing up and enjoying the event, and to our tutors Onelisa Qwaka and Bomi Popi who assisted on the day.
Saturday the 21st of September 2013 was a very exciting day for the Ikamvanites. Despite waking up to very cold weather, Ikamvanites from both the Ebony Park and Ivory Park branches came together at the Ebony Park branch to receive special gifts from the Tzu Chi Foundation.
Dean Teng, a Tzu Chi Foundation representative said that the young Ikamvanites have always helped and supported The Tzu Chi Foundation when they were conducting their Winter Relief Community Outreach Programmes over previous months. Dean said it was now the Ikamvanites’ turn to receive from Tzu Chi. A truck full of bags of 5kg rice as well as stationery packs parked on the IkamvaYouth premises and each Ikamvanite was handed the gifts from Tzu Chi. The learners were so thankful and appreciated having such support from people coming from very far away. The young ladies, especially, had to grow some muscles to carry everything they had been given back to their homes because it was really heavy.
The Tzu Chi Foundation has been working together with IkamvaYouth for 3 years. They bring fruits to the learners every Saturday morning and have also given some of our Grade 12s bursaries to continue with their tertiary education.
Thank you Tzu Chi for your continued support to all the Ikamvanites!!!
ENKE LEADERSHIP CAMP CONTRIBUTORS: SIBONGISENI JONAS ZIZO MDINGI SINENJONGO NGXAMELENI NCEBAKAZI NGCABA ZIZIPHO NGXOLA SINOVUYO QABA Attending the Enke Forum Class of 2013 was a great experience! It was incredibly fun and worth the long journey from Masiphumelele to Wellington. On our first day we had to introduce ourselves to the other trailblazers who hailed from various provinces within our country. One of the memorable things about the camp was that every games and/or activity held a lesson which was incredible. We learned lifelong lessons about leadership skills and gained increased knowledge, compared to what we knew about the subject before. We now have the task of applying the knowledge which was imparted. Even more, we have an opportunity to impact our communities and as the youth, we are eager to change the world in order to be a better place. On 7 July, the CEO of MXIT gave a profound speech and one of our Masinites, Sibongiseni Jonas thanked him on behalf of all the learners.We were each given an opportunity to choose a project which will uplift our community. The Enke leadership made us realise that the future lies in our hands and we can change the world. In order to bring about change, we need to think positively about ourselves and allow nothing to stand in our way. Coupled with strength and courage, we shall succeed in our projects and carry on our leadership skills. Various towns and countries were represented and this added to the diversity of the camp. It was compulsory to speak English and this also improved our language proficiency. Another highlight was when we watched a video of a girl and her boyfriend. The couple was in love and in a trusting relationship. The girl cheated on her boyfriend and she wanted to shift the blame. The moral of the story was, “Love someone as if it is the last day of your life.” Despite the story relating to a romantic relationship, it also showed us how we should treat each other. Lastly, it is important that we relate one of the lessons on leadership that we were taught at the Enke Forum. We did a visualising exercise in which we had to project where we thought we would be 15 years from now; the need for respect and how to break free from our comfort zone. A wonderful, life changing experience that we shall never forget!
Tsiba Report
EDUCATION AND LIBERATION When we arrived at the June 16th Celebrations, it felt like we had stepped back into 1976 Sharpeville riots. This is true; when one considers that you are standing next to Antoinette Sithole, Hector Peterson’s sister. We find out that Hector Peterson’s traditional Xhosa name was Zolani. She told us about the day her brother was shot .She encouraged us to live a fulfilling life and to get educated because “…without education you are nothing.”
Antoinette also told us about the incorrect manner in which the nation is celebrating Youth Day/June 16. “It’s as if people are celebrating my brother’s death. It was inspiring as she explained that one’s background does not determine your future when it comes to education, especially with endless financial possibilities, like bursaries which are available. An interesting part of our day was when parents and children conversed in a quiz. One of the questions which was posed was, how do you feel about education in this democratic era?
MANDELA DAY On the 13th of July, we celebrated Mandela Day. As part of the Tsiba Project, we had to choose a practical project which we would assist for 67 Minutes. As Masiphumelele representatives, we chose to clean the Muizenberg beach. We wrote a message to Madiba, wishing him a speedy recovery. Our facilitators arrives and took pictures of what we had done, after which we returned to Tsiba. We were then addressed by a speaker who told us about how his grandmother taught him to achieve the seemingly impossible. For example, in the old days, women were not allowed to become lawyers. He notably also informed us that, without energy, a human being cannot function. We had a brilliant day!
August is a special month for all women in South Africa as we all celebrate Women’s Day on the 9th of August of every year. ABI together with Joan Madibeng, a South African business woman and media personality, invited 10 of their mentee’s from IkamvaYouth Ebony Park to attend a very special occasion to celebrate all women on the 24th of August 2013. This event was titled, ” Women – The Real Architects of Society, ” and was aimed at providing attendees with some insights into the world and also provide guidance for them as they mature into women-hood.
The event was packed with inspiring speakers, incredible performers, amazing food, spot prizes and fabulous goodie bags. There were many special guest speakers and these included Herman Mashaba, Thabiso Sikwane, Edith Venter, Dr. Michael Mol and Azania Mosaka. The learners really appreciated being given the opportunity to attend this event largely because ABI paid R10 000 for all the Ikamvanites to get a seat and enjoy the day.
Joan said, “It is key that women be given the tools for their upliftment and be given access to information relevant to all areas of their dynamic lifestyles. It was a wonderful privilege to host fellow Women, and inspire them in a small way”
The learners have pegged this to be a day that they will live to remember for the rest of their lives!
Thank you Joan and ABI!!!
On Monday 25th June 2013, IkamvaYouth Ebony Park Branch established a way for learners to make well-versed choices with their academics in a program called FUN MATHS. This programme aims at preparing Grade 9 learners to have a solid background in mathematics. IkamvaYouth has been working closely with its feeder schools, in and around the area . The FUN MATHS program took place at one of the feeder schools’ called Tsosolotso Ya Africa High School. The program “FUN MATHS” had learners coming from different schools including Ponelopele Oracle Secondary School and Kaalfontein Secondary.
The program started with 30 learners and went on for two weeks during Winter School starting at 9am till 12pm. Tsosolotso Ya Afrika school’s Principal Miss Ntebo Phahlane said that “The program has good intentions in developing our learners and getting them ready for Mathematics that is generally approached with a negative attitude. I personally think it will install positive attitude towards the subject, I fully support the program”.
One learner- Siphosethu Moyo said , “The program will be a huge help to all the learners from all the schools that are involved and I think generally this will help improve the school’s pass rate in mathematics.” IkamvaYouth is looking forward to continue with the program and influence the pass rates in mathematics in all the neighboring schools by getting more learners to join the FUN MATHS.
Lloyd Lungu