“These trips made realise how broad the study of nature is”
Afika Mabali, Grade 9
Makhaza has the incredible fortune of having some amazing workshop partners who take our learners all over the province. One such person is Dr. Carl Palmer who throughout his long history in association with Makhaza opened up spaces on various trips around the province, along with students from the ACCESS (Applied Centre for Climatic &Earth Systems Science) programmes.
Two trips this term saw 10 students make their way to the Fossil Park near Langebaan, a place of well-preserved remains of fossil fauna that date to circa 5.2 million years ago and include bones of over 200 different animal species. This trip was a time for our leaner representatives to bond, Luxhase, our Grade 8 rep said “I really enjoyed myself. It was so much fun, I didn’t know much about the history of Fossil Park but trust me now I can tell a lot about it. I am still surprised about the existence of bones on earth. I wouldn’t mind to going there again!”, while Siphokazi, one of Grade 9 reps said “I was so excited about the trip, the most fascinating part for me was the existence of bones for so many years. I cannot believe it, 5 million years ago but we can still see them and identify what they are! Another thing I enjoyed was the beach, even though the winter has started in Cape Town, I never get a chance to go to the beach. Thank You Carl!!”
The second trip was for 10 of the best attending and most improved grade 8 & 9s who met bright and early at the cable car for a long walk up Table Mountain. Phiwe Maliti one of the grade 8 learner said, “The Table mountain trip was fun, I climbed the mountain for the first time in my entire life. Even though it was hard to climb I eventually reached the top! “
Noluntu Marenene said, “I enjoyed the climbing of the mountain. I learnt that when you climb the mountain, the body temperature increases. Also I didn’t know that there are animals that live in Table Mountain such as snakes. The most exciting part was finally reaching the top, it was a great accomplishment. I would love to go there again. Thanks so much!!”
Big Thanks to Dr Carl Palmer and the ACCESS program for their continued support for our Makhaza branch
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.
Makhaza students were abuzz last week with excitment and creativity when they got the chance to create a music video for the Adobe Youth Voices Aspire Awards. (VOTE TODAY!) This program is designed to provide youth in underserved communities with the critical skills they need to become active and engaged members of their communities and the world at large. By engaging these young people in exciting and meaningful new ways it provides a platform for them to communicate their concerns, aspirations, and vision using modern communications skills in telling stories that make a real impact.
Shelley Smith, a UCT masters student who facilitated the project for us and has this to say:
“It has truly been such a joy and inspiration to work with the group of IkamvaYouth participants involved in the Adobe Youth Aspire Awards project. I feel honoured to have had the opportunity to get to know such intelligent, creative, innovative, and passionate people; From them I have learned so much and am inspired to do so much more. The participants were given the task of creating a multimedia project which addressed critical issues and provided solutions for positive change. They chose to produce a music video combining mixed beats, acting, rap, poetry and song all student-created, filmed, and edited. The participants were given a very short amount of time to develop and execute the project and they did so with positively soaring colours.
What was beautiful to witness was the profound importance of the project to the participants and the pride they took in their work, not just because it was a fun music video, but because of the message they were communicating to their peers and to the world through a medium that showcased their individual talents and gifts. Their video addressed the crucial importance of education and how, no matter what obstacles one faces or peer pressure one encounters, he or she must keep working hard, believe in himself, never give up on his dreams; As the video states, this is the way to ‘drive poverty away.’ The video highlight Ikamva Youth as a vessel that strengthens them both academically and emotionally and is a necessity for them if they are to succeed in achieving their goals.
My role in the project was to guide the participants in the whole process and keep a structure in place; structure for the actual music video as well as timing structure of the steps needed to create, shoot, and edit the project to meet Adobe’s deadline. Given my background in broadcast journalism, I also ran a videography and editing workshop with the three IkamvaYouth members who served as the ‘camera crew’ and the main editor. I was blown away at how quickly the ‘media team’ picked up on the tips and skills I had to share with them and how eager they were to learn and get into the meat of the work – Made my job as teacher very easy! 🙂
Aside from the brilliant talent the members brought to the table, their teamwork, respect for one another, and communal effort to make the video the best it could be was truly amazing. I’ve so loved the time spent with each of them; many laughs, many jokes, many memories to be treasured. I cannot wait to see where these all-stars go and hope to continue working with Ikamva in the months to come. Great job everyone! 🙂 “
Check out the video here!
Big up Shelley, We love you!
Lovelife is South Africa’s largest HIV-prevention initiative and works tirelessly to promote the health and social well-being of youths all over the country. In addition to HIV awareness and prevention programs, Lovelife works to develop the potential in young people through youth leadership and self motivation.
On the 24th of April 2012, Lovelife honoured Nyanganites with another exciting, interactive discussion session on common issues facing township youths. The discussion focused primarily on gangsterism and teenage pregnancy. The Lovelife team, headed by Andisiwe Wenanikicked off the session with a high energy ice-breaker, which set the tone for the animated discussion that was to follow.
Gangsterism is a major issue Ikamvanites face in their schools and communities and the learners were very candid in their contributions to the discussion.
Phelokazi Mpapama said:
‘’Gangs have members inside the school and if you talk about it inside the classroom, you become a target.’’
Whilst acknowledging that such challenges are real, the Lovelife team however led the learners into discovering and agreeing that they can fight back and take back some of the power that gangs have usurped in their community. The team pointed out that learners should work together to fight gangsters, since doing nothing is a way of enabling the situation
Nyanganites also had their own ideas on how the situation can be helped. Mzukisi Gwegwe had this to say
‘’The school governing body should work with the community to stand up against gangsterism.’’
This shows that our Nyanganites are thinking and willing to engage in such issues, and this is a huge part of what IY seeks to achieve with all its learners.
On teenage pregnancy, some learners pointed out that it would be helpful for youth they had frank and honest discussions about sex at home.
Zolela Jamba said the following:
‘’Teenage pregnancy happens because children do not get enough information about sex, from their homes’’
Nyanganites were challenged to take responsibility for their sexuality by educating themselves and engaging in safe sexual practices.
Once again, a great big thank you to Lovelife for engaging and empowering ourNyanganites with such valuable information.
Makhaza and Nyanga branch assistants Zukile and Asanda attended an Effective Volunteer Management Training workshop which was held by Volunteer Centre at Claremont Library. This course is developed for managers/coordinators of volunteers to assist them in strengthening their management and support systems for their local and international volunteers. They also help organisations and their volunteers to understand their roles and responsibilities and expectations.
After these 3 days I realised that it is very important to treat volunteers well and make sure they happy. The value of the volunteers cannot be measured. Their contribution is critical to organisations operations and activities. One of the things I really enjoyed about the training is that our organisation IkamvaYouth is already doing all the things organisation should do to make sure that the volunteers are recognised. I learned the following things about tutor retention:
Training
Provide tutors with appropriate training, regular evaluation, and recognition. This means that all the tutors should get a training on how to be good tutor, what to do? And what is not needed to do.
Support and supervision
Regular opportunities for support and supervision are important and can help to identify, and even prevent demotivation which can result in volunteers leaving the organisation. This means that the branch assistance has to make sure that he/ she manages the volunteers, making sure that they get all the material they need to tutor. Also manage new tutors, by partnering them with old tutors. Also make sure that all the tutors have a group of learners to tutor. One of the things that cause tutors not to come back again is poor management. If they do not get the learners to tutor they get bored and do not come back again.
Recognition
Once tutors are working within our organisation it is essential to maintain their motivation and enthusiasm if they are to be retained. Care must be taken to treat volunteers in such a way that they will want to stay with the organisation. Developing activities that meet volunteers individual needs, provide recognition and appreciation of their work and celebrate a sense of achievement will promote self-esteem, strengthen commitment and develop a feeling of belonging and loyalty to the organisation. At IkamvaYouth we already are rewarding our tutors, such as end of year ceremonies with certificates, tutor outings and employment opportunities.
I learn a lot from the course and I’ll be bringing a lot of the lessons to our Makhaza branch, especial making sure that we retained our tutors and show how much we value them.
Ikamvanites had an amazing opportunity to be part of a Write4Life workshop at the end of March organised by FunDza Literacy Trust. The aim of the workshop is to support aspiring writers on their literary journey and provide them with useful skills to practice their craft. All the learners who participated acquired skills to translate their creative ideas into accessible and engaging pieces of work. They also had a chance to network with other keen writers and learn from the group experience. They got the opportunity to practice techniques to communicate effectively in the written form and receive good tips for writing for a critical audience.
By the end of the two day course , learners got the opportunity to produce a short story that was published on theFunDza network. Check them out here or on Mxit at (Tradepost > Mxit Reach > Mobi-Books > FunDza). The learners also received a certificate of participation.
Nomie one of the participant said “Never thought that writing would be so interesting. In Makhaza branch we were asked as learners to write a short paragraph if we are interested in writing workshop. I wrote the paragraph then I was amongst of the learners who were chosen to take part in Fundaza writing workshop. In the workshop I learned how to write poems, autobiography, short stories. In my life I never wrote anything before but now I can write lots of things. The facilitators were very helpful. Now I can’t wait to share the information with Ikamvanites and help them to be great writers like me”
An example of some of the things written is:
Can I, and other poems
Poet: Zintle Nyathi
School: Harry Gwala High School, Grade 11
Can I?
Can I be who I am ?
Can I no longer follow instructions?
I want to be myself again.
Can I be intelligent, as I was?
I want to be who I was back then.
I’m tired of satisfying you.
Can I be myself again?
Can I ask you one question?
What does this mean to you?
I’m falling: you’re not helping.
I was walking, but now I’m crawling.
I’m inspiring, but you are not appreciating…
Why?
Where does this lead in future?
I’m tired of you.
Can I be who I was?
No satisfaction, but appreciation.
I’m tired of your games.
I want to be myself again.
My heart has been like a mirror
that has broken
When I pick up my pieces
I still see the cracks.
Can I be myself again?
***
If I never…
If I never grew
If I never knew
If I never do
If I never grew to see all the new experiences
If I never knew to listen to all the news
If I never did tell you that I do
If I never knew that living needs all respect due.
If I never grew to see these untold new stories
If I never did tell you that I do – where it was just doomed feeling.
If I never knew that life has all these new things.
I would never grow because I won’t do.
If I never grew I wouldn’t do because I never knew.
***
Impossible Mission
Why does it seem to be so cruel?
Why does it take time to reach the destination?
If we always say it’s impossible to achieve,
Day by day let them go by
Night by night watch the beauty of the stars
without observing the destination.
We let fear to our system of body
and let it bring fear to our imagination.
The most impossible mission – we all people surrender
Where this road is not taken
But you never gave it even a single try.
Why? Why?
Impossible mission. Impossible mission.
Let days pass by. Nights sleep not having a dream to take even one step.
Why impossible mission?
Mission is a destination to reach
But ups and downs are considered in this cruel world
you life or die but family is important.
For every story there’s success.
Behind success there’s a story.
Let impossible to possible be – strive for victory!
Big thank you to FunDza for this wonderful event, read some of the other works created here
Lloyd Lungu