IkamvaYouth Gauteng hosted a very successful Open Day this past Saturday, 21st of January 2012, at the IkamvaYouth Centre in Ebony Park. The day started at 9:30 am with a spectacular turn out of over 700 people. The hall was filled to capacity and there was a hub of excitement from the learners, parents, volunteers and other supporters.
Several activities took place with the Branch Co-ordinator, Joe Manciya, introducing IkamvaYouth to all those who attended. He encouraged the learners to take their education seriously as their future is in their hands and pointed out that IkamvaYouth in Gauteng had opened a second branch located in Ivory Park. The day was filled with lots of information and fun, with Ikamvanites providing entertainment through music and dance. The successful Ikamvanites who matriculated in 2011 also got a chance to speak to the crowd, encouraging their peers to take their education more seriously by becoming an Ikamvanite.
Several sponsors were present, including ABI and The Tzu Chi Foundation. ABI, which was represented by Beverly Selepe, their CSI Specialist, donated the branding that was used on the day, t-shirts, beverages and entertainment. The Tzu Chi Foundation was represented by Howard and announced that they had made four, R20 000 scholarships available to the 2011 successfully matriculated Ikamvanites towards their tertiary education. These successful matriculated Ikamvanites were strongly encouraged to apply.
In conclusion, the Open Day was a resounding success, many of the learners took the application forms after the presentations and IkamvaYouth is looking forward to a very successful 2012 with all your continued support.
For the first time ever the Nyanga Branch has had the opportunity to experience the growth and development of the Grade 11 class of 2010 who were our very first Grade 12 class of 2011. We take joy in sharing our achievement of the 2011 Grade 12 class, who have obtained us a 93% Grade 12 pass.
Today we are proud to say, we too have seen the fruits of hard work and that the Future begins now!
Benfilda Mwindi (on the video clip) is from Zimbabwe and came to South Africa in 2008, because she had no one to look after her back at home, while her mom was very sick and her father had come to South Africa to find employment.
She is really courageous and hardworking and has surprised us time and again. Last year she lost her mother and was not able to attend the funeral in Zimbabwe, after she had been sick for a very long time but this has never been a reason for Benfilda to give up.
Anathi Malindi
At Oscar Mpetha High, Asanda Nanise and Anathi Malindi looking at his results.
Anathi has been the true evidence that hard work pays and today his mom says “I am so relieved and happy that his future is bright”. Ananthi is in the Branch Committee and also has been the Grade Head in Grade 11 at the Nyanga Branch, he is ever eager to work harder and do more for the Branch. He has assured us that this year he will be tutor of the year.
He received great news just before he received his good matric results that he has been accepted at the Cape Town University of Technology for Analytical Chemistry and his classes commence on the 17 January 2012.
Anathi received a Bachelor pass.
Yesterday her expression of joy and disbelief filled our small home with warmth.
“Ow sis’Nombu I just can’t believe this!” these where her very first words as she walked into the Nyanga office hugging her accounting tutor (Asanda Nanise, our Branch Assistant).
Benfilda passed with a Bachelor!
Masande Ndongeni
Masande’s achievement brought tears to his mom’s eyes today. On the 21 October 2011, a day before Masande’s Business Studies exam his home was burnt down to untraceable ashes while he was in the Nyanga Library studying. Everything was burnt and all they were left with is the clothes they were wearing and the books that where in his bag. His Accounting books got burnt and he had not written accounting then. With so much determination Masande never gave up but he worked even harder. His mom today expressed how grateful she is to God saying “even though our year ended so badly but I know there is hope for my family”.
Masande received a Diploma pass.
We as the Nyanga Branch are very eager to work even harder and make it our mandate to deliver the vision of Ikamva Youth to the community of Nyanga East. We have learnt that the struggles of the black child are never an excuse to not achieve his or her dreams.
A BIG thank you to all our tutors who have been the biggest supporters of the Nyanga Branch. The year has been very rocky and with never ending challenges but tutors made it their responsibility to make it to the Nyanga Library and help the Nyanga learners and today the Nyanga office would love to thank all of you and hope that we will continue the good work.
Vuyiseka Melani “it’s not just the tutoring that makes us keep on attending at Ikamva but the support and the love we receive from all tutors”.
2012 WE ARE TAKING OVER!!!!
It is with much excitement that we can report on the results of our 2011 IkamvaYouth Gauteng matriculants. In particular, we are especially pleased to report a 100% matric pass rate for the first time in this branch’s history. Perhaps more importantly though it pleases us to report that half of these passes are Bachelor level passes, 40% are Diploma level passes and the remaining 10% are Higher Certificate passes.
Among the many happy success stories, two stand out so far: Shelton Chadya achieved a monumental 5 distinctions (his 3rd highest mark was 64% when he joined IkamvaYouth). Tshepo Lesejane also scored a distinction in maths literacy which is particularly impressive in that his maths literacy mark when he joined IkamvaYouth was only 39%. Tshepo has effectively more than doubled his results in 2 years with IkamvaYouth.
Shelton Chadya who scored 5 distinctions in his matric exams.
True credit for these results must go to our awesome learners, volunteers and donors and the branch team for pulling this all together. The learners have put in countless hours of hard work and study, the volunteers have continuously poured their hearts and souls into assisting our learners and the donors have provided the means for this to take place. In particular we are especially grateful to ABI, Hatch and African Bank for their contributions to the programme this past year.
All that is left is for us to toast the success of the IkamvaYouth Gauteng matrics and to celebrate these achievements in the days ahead. The next task is to ensure all of these learners get access to quality post-school opportunities in the next few months while we also officially open our new Gauteng branch to assist more learners.
Busy but exciting days in store.
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.
On World Aids Day, December 1, 2011, the Cape Town Information Resource Center invited Ikamvanites to a trans-Atlantic Skype dialogue session to create awareness of HIV/Aids related issues with American teen journalists from Boston University.
The catalyst before the Skype session was the screening of Susan Walker’s film entitled “A Tale of Two Teens” (2005). Walker is Boston University’s Professor of Journalism and a documentary film producer. The documentary follows Margaret, an American teenager, as she travels to South Africa to meet Sine, a 16-year-old girl orphaned when both her parents died of AIDS. Sine lives with her grandfather in the Pholela district, Kwazulu-natal, South Africa, the unofficial epicenter of the pandemic. Through the girls’ friendship (they bond over the music of American Dave Matthews, who was born in South Africa), the film explores how AIDS has been able to ravage an entire continent, while a dangerous complacency has developed in America. It looks at the disparities in the girls’ lives, from access to education and health care to their thoughts on boys, sex, and HIV/AIDS.
Infused with a resilient spirit, A Tale of Two Teens offered an accessible and meaningful appreciation of the global AIDS crisis as well as a powerful tool for discussion, awareness and prevention to kick start the dialogue session.
Guest facilitator, Garrett Rhodes, a major in Film from Penn State University and currently a Peace Corps Response Volunteer working with PEPFAR based at the Western Cape Dept. of Health in Cape Town, excelled at engaging both trans-Atlantic teen audiences in the Q&A sessions with his experience as a Life Orientation Coach and HIV/Aids Peer Group Educator.
Phumza Kibi, explained to the American teens that Ikamva Lisezandleni Zethu means “The Future is in our Hands” in Xhosa and the IkamvaYouth non-profit organisation focuses on the empowerment of youth through education, e-literacy training and career guidance.
After the program, Professor Susan Walker wrote about this initiative: “We are all just amazed at what we can do with the new technology and efforts of dedicated educators. Students were blown away by this experience and I would love to consider this, again, maybe next year during World AIDS Day.”
Results:
By highlighting World Aids Day and in support of the U.S. Mission to South Africa goals in partnering with the South African Government, this IRC program focused on HIV/Aids Education and awareness is moving forward towards an Aids-Free generation of South Africans. The dialogue session was a fun and creative way to carry the message home and to foster mutual understanding among global youth audiences.
Text is taken from Susan Dymond’s report of the event.
To view the Youtube clip of the conversation click here
On the 3rd of December 2011 the Nyanga Branch celebrated Prize Giving and Year End with our learners, tutors, parents, partners and colleagues from KZN, Makhaza and the Gauteng Branch.
Nombuyiselo, Branch Coordinator, openend the event with a speech about her experiences with IkamvaYouth, in particular the Nyanga Branch, and mentioned different people who have assisted the Nyanga Branch to be where it is today, regardless of the challenges it has faced.
After that, our Director Joy spoke about IkamvaYouth, how it was founded and her experience with the Nyanga Branch, where she also motivated the learners of the Nyanga Branch and encouraged the grade 12s to become volunteer tutors next year.
The speeches where followed by giving Awards and Prizes to different kids: Most improved learners, learners with the highest attendance, Learner of the Year and Tutor of the Year. This was accompanied by prizes from Capitec and support from the Nyanga Library.
Yonelisa and Modjadji (from Gauteng-Branch) entertained us with self-written poems and we finished this nice event with some music and refreshments!
Thanks a lot to everyone who helped to make the day a success! And: Learners and Tutors, you guys worked so hard; we are proud of you!!!
Lloyd Lungu