In the Business Day this week (7 June 2011), economist Peter Montalto finds inspiration in the aspirations of Ikamvanites. Montalto refers to his experience of visiting the Nyanga branch of IkamvaYouth a couple weeks ago and the impact this has had on his perspectives of South Africa and how important it is that we foster aspiration in our impoverished communities.
He writes,
In Nyanga, Ikamva Youth is working in the heart of the community in a local library. An army of enthusiastic volunteers, many of whom went through the project themselves, and a close connection with local universities provide the drive behind the project, and the energy comes from the leaders. Visiting the project, I saw young people hungry to learn, help each other and take advantage of the services Ikamva offers them. Most interesting, though, was that at its heart the work Ikamva is doing and the difference it makes is very simple — it is about providing a spark of hope, a path of opportunity and role models to look up to, all triggering aspiration.
The most basic tragedy of the townships is not even high unemployment (about 60% in Nyanga) or the conditions — it is a lack of aspiration. The encouraging thing, which Ikamva Youth has shown, is that though role models and simply providing information (and implicit incentives) about what options are available for youngsters and what they can achieve in life by putting the effort in at school, this aspiration can be ignited, grades can be improved and lives can be enriched. Once aspiration has been sparked, a basic entrepreneurial spirit in those who live in the townships causes a multiplier effect and youngsters then want to work hard, giving up time after school to be part of the programme, and so have a larger part in driving their own destiny. Much of Ikamva’s work relies on volunteers, who have been through the programme and then want to return to give something back.
I met Phillip and Thobela, two young people who had grown up in the township, been through the charity’s programme at school, got good enough grades to go to university, and now volunteer with the charity and are going on to great things. As an economist, I was delighted to find a common understanding with Phillip, who is passionate about econometrics. He is doing well at university and looking to go on to, for want of a better word, a “normal job” using his interest in statistics for the government or a company. Thobela, who now sits on Ikamva’s board, is passionate about chemistry. Getting into a good university allowed him to go on a study exchange to the US, and he now wants to become an academic teaching what he loves, a bug he has caught from his experience with the charity. Creating role models can become a virtuous cycle.
From my visit, I learnt many things. The issue of “untapped potential” is a much broader concept for SA than I first imagined. Government policy must be geared to providing the incentives and structure for personal aspiration of youngsters through mentoring and additional support in schools.
For the full article, visit http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=145012
The Social Entrepreneurship class of 2010 (SECP2010) recently graduated from the Gordan Institute of Business Sciences (GIBS) and among the graduates was IkamvaYouth’s Gauteng Coordinator Andrew Barrett.
What’s more, Andrew’s Action Learning Project (ALP) about “Scaling IkamvaYouth” was awarded best ALP for 2010. An executive summary of this report is listed here and if you are interested you can download it at the bottom of this article.
Andrew Barrett congratulated by Prof. Nick Binedell for best ALP on GIBS SECP 2010.
Executive Summary:
IkamvaYouth is remarkable not just in what it does but also in how it does it and central to the success of the IkamvaYouth model (so far) is the grassroots democratic emphasis that provides all IkamvaYouth stakeholders (i.e. the learners, coordinators and volunteers) with the tools to actively influence and shape their organisation.
This introductory report focuses on the challenge of scaling IkamvaYouth to achieve maximum impact while honouring the values that IkamvaYouth believes in.
In looking for solutions to this challenge there are a number of interesting examples in the theoretical literature of alternatives to a traditional (hierarchical) top-down approach and of particular interest is the fascinating Brazilian for-profit company, Semco. The democratic workplace environment espoused by Semco and the impressive results it achieves provide practical pointers of a possible way to locate power and control in the IkamvaYouth structures that will remain true to its grassroots origins.
One potential solution to the IkamvaYouth scaling challenge is to franchise the IkamvaYouth model in a way similar to that done by Habitat for Humanity and in so doing ensure that power and control remain vested at the local branch level with autonomous structures pursuing the key IkamvaYouth objectives in a way that maintains IkamvaYouth’s impressive results within a pre-defined IkamvaYouth framework.
It also appears that pursuing a non-hierarchical approach means that a type of servant leadership is inevitable and, further, that a value-based democratic organisational structure seems to offer a highly attractive option that fits this bill. It seems certain that considerations of this kind would have multiple implications for the structuring of the organisation but perhaps the most fundamental movement required is a mind-shift away from the mainstream traditional hierarchical worldview in exchange for an approach that better reflects the integrity of IkamvaYouth as a truly grassroots organisation not only in name but in structure as well.
Click here: for the full report.
“IKAMVAYOUTH is like a home, a place where I go whenever I need help with anything. It gave me excellent opportunities to perform with well-known artists,” said Khayelitsha rapper Snarks Ou.
IkamvaYouth is a dynamic volunteer youth NGO established in 2003 that helps disadvantaged young people in Makhaza, Khayelitsha.
“The idea is that the youth can work towards pulling themselves out of poverty and into university and employment through peer-to-peer learning and support” said volunteer Joy Olivier.
The programme boasts a matric pass rate of 87-100 percent since 2005, with more than 70 percent of pupils accessing tertiary education over the past three years. Their success has led to the model’s replication in five townships in three provinces, and numerous accolades include the Mail & Guardian / Southern Africa Trust Drivers of change award last year.
But on Freedom Day the IkamvaYouth Centre was petrol-bombed and destroyed. Thobela Bixa, an IkamvaYouth board member and an ex-pupil of the organisation, who is doing his MA in chemistry at UCT said: “We are trying to free people from poverty and yet on Freedom Day our office was burnt. This means that people do not understand what Freedom Day stands for, and they do not understand that we’re trying to balance disparities and redress injustice.”
Joy said all their computers had melted, and all equipment, records and resources were reduced to ashes. Digital cameras for their photography project were destroyed, as were new smartphones they were using for a UCT/Nokia project to make documentaries.
“All the paintings by our creative learners in a project with Alex Krentz were burnt,” said Joy. “And we’re going to have to somehow replace our digicams, film equipment, computers, art materials and so much more. Essentially everything has gone.”
Artists such as Snarks Ou have hugely benefitted from being a bolunteer on the creative arm of IkamvaYouth on the media, image and expression programmes. “It is such bad news and I appeal to readers to help us start again because there are many children here in Makhaza who still need to benefit from this important organisation.” Realising that their dreams “is now going to be inmpossible unless we revive IkamvaYouth”.
“I need it, we need it, you ned it, because we are all in this together, wishing for a brighter future. IkamvaYouth gives hope to our community youth’s future.”
The rapper said IkamvaYouth was a place where people could go to any time of the day and work on their projects, rehearse and type their CVs. “It’s a place where no one pays to use the resources or for anyone’s help because we are all volunteers. It was a place that, importantly, kept children off the streets. I have been to Durban to perform my music because of this organisation. I have been doing big shows in Cape Town and that didn’t just happen because they liked me or something, but because I was dedicated and have been a learner with IkamvaYouth from the start,” said Snarks, who has written a song dedicated to IkamvaYouth.
“The song will be a bonus track on my album to be released later this year and will also be available as a free download on the IkamvaYouth website, he said.
Snarks said he was influenced by the hood and dope rappers. Born in the Eastern Cape, he was raised by a single grandmother. It was here that his love for rap music developed and by the age of 12 he had penned his first lyrics on cardboard boxes. His first hit song, Iyelenqe, was produced by Pzho. He has since worked with Mashonisa from BackYard Records, a talented producer in Khayelitsha. He has opened for both Backyard Crew and Teargas and has performed in and around Cape Town in sessions, clubs and music events, sharing the stage with rappers including Driemanskap, Rattex and Backyard Crew. He has also performed with DJ Fletcher, Digital Analog and members of Freshlyground.
An unsigned artist, Snarks is now looking to take his career to the next level, “but without the back-up of IkamvaYouth, or being signed up, this feels impossible”.
The rapper will do free mix tapes and will post music to his Facebook page. “Make sure you download that free music. And when my album comes out make sure you buy it! Help me reach my dream!”
Suzy Bell is a writer, poet and columnist runs Red Eye Creative where she and a small team create and curate contemporary cultural projects celebrating Africa in Cape Town.
* IkamvaYouth is urgently calling for donations of digital cameras, film equipment, computers, office furniture or monetary donations to help fund the rebuilding. See www.ikamvayouth.org or call Winile Mabhoko at 0798854372, or email winile@ikamvayouth.org.
Following a land dispute and service delivery protests in Makhaza, IkamvaYouth’s head office in Makhaza was petrol bombed. Although there were ikamvanites in the office when the attack first began, they managed to escape and thankfully nobody was hurt. We’re now seeking support to help us refurbish the office and replace all we’ve lost.
[youtube]O_QcQZ2d3Co[/youtube]
Big up thanks to Bonny Astor and Anna Telford for making this film to help IkamvaYouth!
Fire in Masiphumelele destroys more than 1000 homes, including those of 7 Ikamvanites
In the early hours of the morning on 2nd May, Masiphumelele was ravaged by the angry snapping of fire. The fire is said to have started toward the west of the township and swept quickly and ferociously into more than a 1000 homes. Shacks were predominantly affected but there are houses too that are standing as hollow shells of the homes they once were.
7 Ikamvanite learners were amongst the victims. ‘Everything is destroyed’ said grade 10 learner Linda, as she stood in line to receive her ‘kit’ to rebuild what her and her family had lost. Whilst the ‘kit’ is something, it consists of a meagre portion of wood and corrugated iron.
A couple of the learners are not entitled to a rebuilding kit as their homes did not have formal numbers. When asked what she needed, Tandazwa Nocanda, a grade 12 said ‘I don’t know where to start… everything’. Her brother is searching for materials to start building their new shack today.
Tandazwa was alone when the fire began, her brother was visiting the Eastern Cape; ‘I didn’t know what to do, I was so scared, I was terrified’. When her friend woke her at midnight on Sunday, she quickly changed into the clothes that are now her only possessions and fled the flames. She wasn’t able to grab anything.
It is horrendous that these young people who are so eager to change their futures have been affected so heavily by this accident. Their school books, study materials, and uniforms all went up in flames. Today, school was closed as so many learners had nothing. Tomorrow, they will attend school and they hope to receive school uniforms and books to help them continue to study for the imminent exams that commence in 3 weeks.
The most pressing needs are the provision of clothing, school uniforms (shoes in particular), blankets, sheets, towels, mattresses, kitchen/cooking equipment; pots, pans, cutlery, monetary donations for the re-building of houses. Avile Mabhengu, a grade 11 learner, is sleeping on his friend’s floor and wearing his best friend’s shoes that are a size too small. There is a real need for any donations people can contribute; be it money or in-kind.
Any donations for the Masiphumelele community can be delivered to The Pink House opposite the Community Hall, or the Living Hope building on Kommejtie Road. The IkamvaYouth Man Club (a group of boys in grade 10-12 would like to get together and go and help paint shacks in the community. If there is any help with paint, paintbrushes, wood seal, etc this would be great. Any monetary or in-kind donations for our learners specifically, or for more information, please contact zoe@ikamvayouth.org to arrange collection or make a payment to the IkamvaYouth Masi bank account (details below).
Beneficiary name:IKAMVAYOUTH MASI
Bank name:STANDARD BANK
Beneficiary account number:70507295
Branch code:00051001
Branch name:CAPE TOWN
Photos by Solomzi Mtagwane (Grade 12 learner)
IkamvaYouth lost equipment, materials and resources worth hundreds of thousands of rands when a petrol bomb was thrown into its office on Freedom Day.
Everything is gone. Smart phones from our Nokia project; computers recently donated for our programming course; the PCs used by our branch coordinator and administrator; all our Answer Series study guides which were to be handed out to ikamvanites this Saturday; film and photography equipment (some of which belonged to volunteers); all our office furniture; photographs; files and records.
We’re calling for support via time or money:
– If you’re available to help with the cleanup, please contact zukile@ikamvayouth.org / 0789929269.
– If you’re a qualified counsellor and can volunteer to counsel affected ikamvanites, please contact joy@ikamvayouth.org.
– Please donate funds to help us begin trying to replace all we’ve lost (please use FREEDOM as the reference) ** see below for bank details if you want to do a transfer from the US or the UK.
– If you have office furniture, equipment or computers to donate, please contact winile@ikamvayouth.org
– If you have toys, furniture, books or equipment that the Zimele pre-school (our neighbour that was also affected) could use, please contact Monica on 0823103829.
Thanks everyone. The future is in our hands.
** To make a bank transfer in the US, please use the following account:
Account holder: Susan Godlonton
Bank: TCF Bank
Account Number: 6883542078
Type of Account: Checking
Branch: South University Branch, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Routing number: 272471548
** To make a bank transfer in the UK, please use the following account:
Account holder: Sally Bloy
Bank: Barclays
Account Number: 00539589
Sort no: 20-65-20
[youtube]-bJcHVO1_Bo[/youtube]
Lloyd Lungu