Some awesome news for February 2012 – we’ve just moved our Nyanga branch from the Nyanga Library to the Zolani Centre. Check the pics below for a taste of our new space… we’ve already been busy decorating and are excited to announce that we’re upping the number of young people we’re working with in Nyanga from 60 to 90.
Tutoring is hopefully kicking off next week, but we need your help! We’re in urgent need of desks or tables to help us seat young people during their classes.
The space is ours to use in the afternoons but is used for other purposes outside of our hours, so we’re looking for some stackable/foldable trestle tables or desks which can be put away outside of class times.
Can you help? If you’ve got any tables/desks you could donate please get in touch with Asanda on asanda@ikamvayouth.org or drop him a line on 07988 54277. Please pass this along to any contacts/networks you think might be relevant – your help is hugely appreciated!
Makhaza branch had an opportunity to pilot a project with Education with Borders (EwB) who aims to provide improved educational opportunities and facilities in disadvantaged regions of the world. EwB focussed on our Grade 8s as the program helps lower grade learners understand basic maths principles.
The Education without Boarders (EwB) program highlights the simplicity of mathematics and emphasises the critical importance of foundational skills while acknowledging the complicated challenges and circumstances of life, which many of IkamvaYouth learners are coping with. This is has been fantastic program that promises to make a profound difference not only in learners’ maths results but also in other areas such as boosting their confidence in their existing abilities. This allows learners to approach new learning experiences with a much more confident focus on learning. And that makes them much easier to tutor.
The two dedicated tutors who gave all their tutoring time to the EwB programme, Nicholas Mei and Braam Daniels say from their experience that while they are essentially tutoring maths they noticed a huge improvement in the confidence and attitude of the learners toward their school work. The environment and culture of IkamvaYouth and the EWB programme creates a holistic approach which rather than just “teaching” learners it enables them to become aware of their inner ability to teach and learn for themselves. So while the focus has been on maths, the deeper things the learners have learned have manifested in all academic areas as it provides these learners with everything they need.
To determine the impact of the program, the class average of maths results achieved by the learners during the year was compared to the average maths result achieved by the entire grade of the two dominant local schools (i.e. Chris Hani High and Harry Gwala High). The comparison is shown below in Figure 1.
Figure 1
Figure 1: Comparison of the average EWB Grade 8 learner result to the local schools’ average grade result.
Figure 1 shows that not only did the EwB program learners consistently outperform their local schools but they also showed a greater overall improvement in their maths mark when comparing the 1st and 3rd term results. The EWB class’s school maths average improved by 19.6% while the local school only showed a 4.75% improvement.
The EwB programme has played a huge role in helping learners improve academically, not only in mathematics, but it has also trained the learners to be able to approach any kind of question without them struggling. It has helped them gain confidence in approaching maths questions and most of all it has taught them on how to work as a group.
So while sharpening basic math foundation skills with the EwB content and challenging the learners as cooperative groups with basic algebra problems, in a consequence-free learning. The program has already begun to be implemented with the next group of grade 8s in 2012, as well as implementing an English language component and looking to expand to other branched.
Well done to our learners for these amazing results and to EwB
ewb_program_report_iymakhaza_dec2011.pdfewb_program_report_iymakhaza_dec2011.pdf
In November 2011 Masiphumelele Library in partnership with Edunova and IkamvaYouth became the recipients of an EIFL-PLIP grant.
EIFL (Electronic Information For Libraries) is an international organisation that is making a marked impact on the library world. With their slogan ‘Knowledge without Boundaries’ they are committed to developing a global network of libraries and their partners. The PLIP (Public Library Innovation Programme) grant supports innovative solutions to address socio-economic problems in developing countries.
Thanks to the grant, the Masiphumelele Library’s existing substandard computer facility will go through a dramatic transformation and will be updated with computers, projectors, printers and scanners. This new computer centre will be one of a kind in Masiphumelele and will offer an exciting space for youth to engage with technology and develop their computer skills.
The grant is not only concerned with hardware and the facility itself. EIFL is part of a global library initiative that aims to upscale the role that libraries can play in community development. To make a lasting impact in a sustainable way, EIFL promotes that libraries and their partners must advocate for themselves, to gain recognition as key players in the field of international development.
The new library at Kranj is offering innovative solutions using technology, to address societal problems
It is this that led Susan Alexander (Masiphumelele Librarian) and myself to Slovenia for a conference on Advocacy and Impact Assessment. Over the course of 4 days we under went training through the practical application of advocacy and communication strategy.
Colleagues from Estonia, Croatia, Macedonia, Kazakhstan in a discussion session
The people we met were inspiring and the skills we developed have empowered Masiphumelele Library and IkamvaYouth to embark on increased advocacy activities for the causes for which we work.
The first step is to get the centre up and running. The computers and desks are being fitted in the next 2 weeks and our facilitator, Nyasha Sithole, is undergoing intensive training, supported by Edunova. Once established, the centre opens up a range of exciting opportunities and possibilities for Ikamvanites and the wider library community.
First and foremost the centre will give all Ikamvanites direct access to a computer literacy programme. In addition the centre will engage young people in career guidance activities and assist and empower learners and the unemployed to access the workplace.
This is an exciting development for the Masiphumelele Library and IkamvaYouth is proud to be a key partner in establishing the library as a centre for community empowerment.
Keep and eye on news about the centre and the projects that will take place.
The Makhaza Branch on IkamvaYouth has started the year sprinting! This year we have grown staggeringly to over 200 people with 170 learners and over 30 tutors, extending tutoring times to every day of the week including weekends!
Already the new year has begun with some exciting projects, Khan Academy is in full swing with two Grade 9 groups participating, as well as the programme being extended to grades 10 and 11. Education Without Borders ‘Yes We Can’ maths project has also begun with the new group of grade 8s. We expect the same incredible successes as last year. English programmes have also been implemented at the younger grade levels, as well as regular tutoring and mentoring for the older grades.
Matrics have begun their year with sessions identifying where they would like to be shadowing tutors in their classes later in the year as well as which institutions they’d like to come chat with them about their options. Last year’s matrics are also in the process of being places in various institutions and making sure no one is left behind this year.
Last Saturday we had our first parents meeting of 2012 with an amazing turnout, the hall was packed to capacity where there was a distinct feeling of excitement and hope for the year to come. Of all the students who made it in 4 were turned away, and waiting lists are at an all time high.
Meeting the parents
We also have two new interns helping us out with tutoring, admin work and setting up databases for the new students. Claire Fisher and Tumisang Madigele are both currently attending the Stanford University study abroad program in Cape Town for their winter term and volunteering at IkamvaYouth.
“Hi! My name is Claire Fisher, and I am from San Francisco, California in the United States. I am a third year student at Stanford University studying political science with concentrations in political theory and American politics.
I am also very passionate about education reform, but my academic and experiential background pertains mostly to education in the United States. I am taking a class here on schooling and education policy in South Africa, so hopefully that will give me a better understanding of the context. I am excited to work at IkamvaYouth to learn more about education in a hands-on way, and I love tutoring, especially in algebra, English, and history! I am already impressed by IkamvaYouth’s incredible reputation, success rates, and mobilization of its students to return to the organization. I also am a huge fan of Khan Academy and am inspired by its ability to use technology to broaden access to quality lesson plans, and so the fact that Ikamvanites use it is amazing.
I wanted to come to Cape Town because of its urban cityscape and beautiful mountains, and I find the cultural complexity of the city due to its historical legacy both challenging and fascinating.
Thanks for having me, IkamvaYouth!”
And Tumisang says, “Hi, my name is Tumisang Madigele and I am from Botswana. I am doing my third year in International Relations at Stanford University. I am interested in working within African communities, especially with organizations whose goal is to empower youth. I am excited to be tutoring kids and helping out at Ikamva. It’s great to work with motivated youth!”
Tumisang and Claire
We are also calling for more tutors this year. Tutoring schedules are as follows:
Grade 8&9 – Monday and Wednesday 3:30pm-5:30pm, and Saturday 9-1pm
Grade 10-12 – Tuesday and Thursday 3:30pm-5:30pm, and Saturday 9-1pm
If you are interested please email Liesel:
liesel@ikamvayouth.org
079 885 4372
Good luck all our Makhaza Ikamvanites!
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!!!!
Let’s be frank, Black Tuesday came and went for the majority of IkamvaYouth without much fanfare as the secrecy bill passed through parliament. A few Ikamvanites wore black, tweeted or re-tweeted on a selection of the events of the day but – by in large – the day was much like any other with immediate concerns such as passing exams and more mundane everyday issues taking priority.
We can safely assume that this scene was repeated throughout township and rural communities across the country and perhaps Steven Friedman has identified one of the key reasons here. Unfortunately, this lack of interest does not mean there will be no serious repercussions for township and rural communities and therefore Ikamvanites (as Friedman points out). There are also major areas of concern in Pierre De Vos’s account of the technical aspects of the Bill and the powers it gives to government to guard and classify information. Given too that Desmond Tutu refers to the Bill as an “insult to all South Africans” and Jay Naidoo issues warnings against “a dangerous and paranoid direction for our country” it is only wise to reflect on the issues ourselves and how they relate to our own positions.
We’ve said it often that IkamvaYouth strives not only to achieve great impact in what we do, but also strives to be very deliberate in the way we do it. As you know, IkamvaYouth operates as a grassroots organisational democracy underpinned by a set of core IkamvaYouth values that seek inclusive decision-making, collective ownership and consensus wherever possible. IkamvaYouth flips the traditional hierarchical top-down approach on its head with branch representatives (including beneficiaries) hiring/firing branch coordinators and branch coordinators hiring/firing regional coordinators (effectively their bosses in both instances). The IkamvaYouth board, in addition to its legal and fiduciary duties, acts primarily as custodian of the IkamvaYouth values (much like a constitutional court) and at all levels, stakeholders are invited to offer input to meetings when decisions will impact directly on their circumstances.
The upshot of working in this way means that a branch of IkamvaYouth does not just work within a particular community but, more accurately, the branch ends up creating a community and it’s a community anchored in and centred around IkamvaYouth’s organisational values. For this to work though, and for any democratic community to work, we have to have access to as much information as possible or we will make poor decisions and/or disengage from the process. What’s more, as Parker Palmer helpfully points out, democracy is fundamentally a matter of the human heart and the great democratic journey is a continual alignment and re-alignment of our individual and collective hearts with the core democratic values. This is the only way we’re able to find the “courage to create a politics worthy of the human spirit”.
In the IkamvaYouth context, ready access to relevant information for informed and engaged decision-making means a transparency on budgetary issues and sensitive topics like salaries. Everyone at IkamvaYouth knows what everyone else is earning and conflicts are discussed openly and honestly trusting the process that collective wisdom guided by the IkamvaYouth values will continue to move us in the direction we wish to go. Like any good democracy, IkamvaYouth is invariably a little messy on occasion and sometimes meetings can be tense. We are also often less efficient than the authoritarian alternative (except with regards to social impact) but the upside in terms of collective buy-in, pride and ownership is significant and the gains are immeasurable in helping to create community.
The problem with the Information Bill (or at least one of the problems) is that it introduces a new barrier to creating the kind of community we long for in South Africa (and we’ve got more than enough barriers already). It makes it harder for us to be engaged active citizens even assuming that there may be some highly-specific pieces of information justifiably held by the state. The members of parliament who voted for the Bill showed little sign that they held every aspect of the Bill up against the light of the values enshrined in the constitution or gave serious thought to the constitutional principal of transparent governance. They also showed little appreciation of the life-lesson that we can’t be in real community when we keep too many secrets regardless of how honourable our intentions at the outset. In short, it feels like our democratic hearts are unaligned and it is instructive that both Pierre De Vos and Jay Naidoo (above) invoke the issue of “trust” as core to what’s at stake.
Experience has taught us that a necessary condition for each of us to remain active, responsible, democratic IkamvaYouth Citizens is for us to have access to as much information as possible in making properly informed and constructive decisions. It is a vital component of our desire to remain rooted in our values and in authentic community with each other. Similarly then, for us to be active, responsible, democratic citizens sharing our lives together in this country the same must surely apply. We need access to as much information as possible to remain an engaged citizenry and to check how the country’s democratic heart aligns with our treasured democratic values. Democracy is not a passive past-time and we’re going to have to work continuously and exceptionally hard to keep it but since it’s a matter of the heart it will bring us great meaning, sometimes pain and often life.
As Ikamvanites, we have an opportunity to be an example to the rest of the country of a functioning democratic grassroots community in our own small way. We can’t work on healing our hearts and aligning our values without also working on healing the social and economic injustices of the past which is why the ‘what’ we do and social impact remains so important but it is ultimately also the ‘way’ that we do things that will determine whether we remain active and engaged and in authentic community with each other and our country.
Highly Recommended Reading: Healing the Heart of Democracy: Creating a Politics Worthy of the Human Spirit by Parker Palmer. Good democratic soul-food.
Lloyd Lungu