This past Saturday (15 September 2012), ERM (Environmental Resources Management) together with the Masi and Nyanga branches took to Muizenberg’s Sunrise beach for the Annual International Coastal Clean-up.
With the equipment sponsored by Plastics SA, the Ikamvanites and ERM staff picked up waste (i.e. plastic, paper, bottles – anything “unnatural”) on the beach. With just little time to do so, a lot of waste was picked up – Sunrise beach being one the mostly used beaches in the Southern Peninsula by humans. Great thing was that most of the waste was recyclable, so most of the things can be re-used again or something new can be created out of it.
Ikamvanites hard at work to keep their environment clean.
Learners who picked up the most waste got rewarded with Pick n Pay gift cards – above are those from Masi. From left: Sifiso Jim (Grade 9), Zukile Maweyi (Grade 11) and Robin Fuzile (Grade 11).
Team work…that’s how we do it at IY!
“Hmm is that plastic?”
Thanks to ERM and those who made the day possible! The learners had a great time and took away valuable lessons. We’re looking forward to more partnerships like this in the near future.
Here are more pictures from the Coastal Cleanup…
Everyone who took part in the coactal cleanup.
Some of the collected waste.
Nyanganites
Masinites
This past Friday finally saw months of preparation and planning for our annual Career Indaba come together in a hugely successful day. Over 1800 students, parents, and community members flooded the Zolani Centre hall in Nyanga to explore their post matric choices and job opportunities.
IkamvaYouth’s founding motto is one of future-oriented thinking and pro-activity. The Careers Indaba is a fundamental step in fostering this mind set in the youth of South Africa. It is challenging to dream of a better future and to aspire to goals without knowing the realities of these goals and the opportunities that are available.
The event was open to high school learners from around Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Masiphumelele and surrounds, who came together to think about their futures and really take their lives into their own hands. They were informed not only about their career options, but also attended workshops on financial literacy by Capitec, and CV writing, interview skills and online CV development through Career Planet.
Over 25 Universities, companies, professionals and NPOs from all over Cape Town attended the Indaba as exhibitors. They did not merely provide factual information about careers and studying opportunities, but they also conversed with these young people and delivered a message of hope and possibility. This message is crucial for youth who are the victims of poor education systems and who live in a community plagued by poverty and all its products: IkamvaYouth focuses on changing the mind-set of youth, to think beyond their immediate circumstances and to believe in themselves and the possibilities that their futures hold.
The day was an inspiring success, with many learners and exhibitors commented at how much they had gained from the experience. Axolile, grade 10 from Sizimisle Technical High School said the most important thing he learnt is, ‘to know what you want to be in life and be dedicated, this will for sure get you to be where you want to be. ‘ While Sizalobuhle from Sinako High School said that, ‘ the Career Indaba helped me learn more about my dream career of being a lawyer, where to study and how to get into the best courses and universities. I also found out about how to apply for bursaries, and how to manage my money through the workshops.’
To organize an event of this size we partnered with Equal Education in helping to organize exhibitors and set up the event, and SAEP and the Department of Social Development joined the crew. We are also hugely appreciative to Mxolisi and his team at the Zolani Centre for the use of the hall and surrounding spaces.
It may have been about 2 months ago since we’ve had our winter school programme at the Masi branch, but yet it feels like 2 weeks ago. We hosted it at the Masiphumelele library, which is also our venue for the homework and tutoring sessions. Despite all the challenges we faced during the preparation of the programme, and with the help of our World Teach, local volunteers and Masi library staff, we managed to deliver an awesome winter school for our 87 learners…filled with tutoring and great workshops, from Creative Writing to Life Science experiments.
Besides the tutoring sessions that took place in the mornings,
The ever so handy Answer Series books for Grade 10 – 12.
This is what also went down during the afternoons
- Nadia Kimmie offered her skills and ran a pottery workshop with some of the learners (below is some of the work the learners did themselves),
Creativity at its best, right?
- A leadership workshop ran by Nico. This helped the learners a lot in boosting their confidence, taking initiative, and to always rise to the occasion.
- Ros and Dorothy from Fundza as well as Kate (a volunteer from World Teach) facilitated Creative Writing workshops for the learners. At the end, the learners were able to write their own poems as well as short stories. You’ll never know maybe the next Harmony High Series book will be written by an Ikamvanite…Watch this space!
Ziyanda Mwanda conducted Life Science and Chemistry experiments with the science learners. Here are some of the experiments conducted: looking at mitosis and understanding the process, testing for the presence of starch, observing osmosis using plant tissue, what are acids and bases – using household products and food. HIP2B2 got the learners thinking on their feet…who said math and science was boring? Learners had to conduct fun experiments and the team with the best results won a prize.
Siobhan Hayes (our Canadian intern) facilitated entrepreneurship workshops where learners knew more about how to start a business, marketing, and on the last day of the winter school programme the learners (Company name: Popcorn Divas) sold popcorns to their fellow Masinites.
Capitec Bank ran a financial literacy workshop whereby learners got to know the importance of saving money and why one should budget.
The UWC HIV/AIDS Peer Education Programme joined us and their peer educators ran a health and life skills workshop. As we know, the youth is involved in risky behavior, so the learners learnt quite a lot and importantly, how to take care of themselves. OIL Sexual Health also ran a sexual education workshop. The Live Mag team also took part and ran a media and arts workshop.
ERM (Environmental Resources Management) teamed up with the learners and got to work on an Environmental Management Plan for our branch, which looks at the environment and sustainability. The learners also got know more about careers in the environmental field, thanks to ERM.
Mathew (from the Cape Leopard Trust) took some of the learners on a hike at Silvermine where they got to know more about nature and the environment and also preserving it.
Thanks to Nick Jones for facilitated a history workshop, Nate and Buhle who ran a debating workshop with the learners…philosophical stuff I tell you. Fatima (a Pilot) ran an aeronautics workshop with the learners, where they got to know more about airplanes.
And all of this was just some of the things that happened. All the hard work put in was really worth it at the end. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO WAS PART OF THIS AMAZING TWO WEEKS!!! Those above-mentioned are just a few of them. The winter school wouldn’t have been that awesome without you.
(Listen to the actual debate at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/p00x8h4d)
Ikamvanites in Gauteng were invited to take part in the BBC Africa Debate at the University of the Witwatersrand on the 31st of August. The question posed was: South Africa at 18- Does black and white still matter in the rainbow nation? (Unfortunately, due to the nature of the topic and the manner in which BBC radio created the racial references, this article will also be using such terms.)
The debate was hosted by BBC radio presenters, Audrey Brown and Karen Allen, and a panel of speakers selected by BBC in an attempt to represent the “Born Free Generation” as people born on or post 1994. The panel was a strategized mix of Black and White persons from St Benedict’s Private School, Pretoria Boy’s High and Wits Students in an attempt to represent “all” youth. The audience consisted of political party representatives, organisations like Ikamva Youth and academics.
The panellists were divided both racially and with their opinions. However, their opinions were not divided according to race as predicted. Throughout the debate, depending on one’s personal background, circles of influence, experiences and current state of affairs, people felt and saw things differently.
Some youth stated that race does still matter and is still used as a form of identifying and relating to people – finding a commonness (based on cultural, linguistic and socio-economic) amongst a diversified crowd and finding it easier to socialise better with people who have the same social backgrounds. Is this based on the fear of rejection and the need for belonging that most humans feel? On the other hand, as highlighted by the presenters, race is possibly merely used as a code to cover up other issues, such as how race is experienced on a social level. It was great to see that after the debate, the IkamvaYouth learners, also Born Free, interacted with people outside of their normal circle – spreading their horizons.
Some of the issues raised involved nationalisation,education and poverty. A poll was raised and showed that the majority of the attendees were against nationalisation. In terms of the economy, some ‘Born Free’ learners argued that the need is for South Africa to focus on the mines and entrepreneurs to grow the national economy in order to develop society. The issue of shared wealth was then raised and with this race dimensions came up again. A majority of the audience share the view that the majority of poor people are black because the majority of South Africans are black and it is an underdeveloped country – hence the poverty. However, many still see it as: Black people are poor because they are black and financial status is a racial issue construed by the past racial injustices.
Most issues that were given attention were national issues. Policies of Apartheid reformation such as Affirmative Action, BEE and the Constitution were brought up and their role in healing the racial divide were questioned. Unemployment and access to equal opportunities is an evident issue that maintains the gap between the rich and poor. With statistics showing that South Africa has overtaken Brazil GINI ratio – wealthiest. White per capita is 8 times more than black per capita.
This shows that real issues facing South Africans are issues of inequality based on many issues with race only being a structural component created by history and inherently inherited.It was largely seen that differences in race still matters only because South Africans make it matter. All the views of participants were forcibly related to racialism and were rarely from a personal experience of injustice. It seems that society continues to insist on segregation economically, linguistically, geographically and ethnically. One of the audience members noted that: ‘the rainbow colours never mix’, maybe it is inherently human nature to distinguish through separation rather than taking advantage of differences to enhance the whole. There is a shared fear of being different because South Africans were once forced to be different based on race only. The question posed was: when will South Africans stop being forced as well as force ourselves to view one another as Black and White?
IkamvaYouth is at the core at tackling these issues and is a community that is aware, wants to be heard and has the power to make a greater change – The views many Ikamvanites have are from a personal and sincere point of view. These views matter and make issues and discussions more linked to the humaneness of the issues people face on their daily lives.
Ikamvanites, Speak Out! Only you can represent your views with the intensity that they should be viewed. If you feel strong about something – Shout!
Thank you IkamvaYouth for showing us that our voice matters!
Written by Kihisha Suleman (Volunteer in charge of Career Guidance at Ebony Park)
This past Sunday the Masinites hit Table Mountain. Despite the outing being cancelled twice during winter school because of unpredictable Cape Town weather, the learners finally made it to the top of our local natural wonder of the world! Thirty-five learners and several volunteers ascended in the cable car and braved the icy temperatures to explore the top of the mountain. Visibility was not ideal, but the fog did clear enough to take in the stunning views of Cape Town. It was great to have an outing together and reward everyone for their hard work and dedication to IkamvaYouth!
Today the Ladies’ Club from the Masi branch shook, shimmied and sweat in a nia class. The girls went to Ocean View High School to attend a class put on by Maggie Joubert. Nia is a form of cardiovascular aerobic exercise that is done to the beat of music and puts you more in touch with your body. The girls danced, had fun, and got a workout in the process! They loved it so much that plans have been put in the works to make nia a monthly occurrence for the club. Thanks to Maggie for hosting us and we are all looking forward to coming back soon!
Yester
Lloyd Lungu