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.
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!
The IkmavaYouth Open Day was held on the 22nd of January and was a great chance for new Ikamvanites to meet, understand, and be inspired by IkamvaYouth. The staff were there to welcome them and older Ikamvanites were there to assist learners in their applications. Some of our tutors were also on hand to offer assistance and to get to know the new Ikamvanites. We also have some new tutors this year, so this served as an introduction for them; Alex and Jordan from California and Masibhumelele from Masi.
After the initial lamentations about the length and impossibility of the form, they settled down and it was clear that it became an enjoyable and rewarding process for many. The Ikamvanites then got to see the documentary about IkamvaYouth ‘Flying Colours’, which demonstrated the worth of working hard and highlighted IkamvaYouth’s core value of commitment. The learners came out of the cinema room with inspired smiles…and hopefully inspired minds!
This new motivation was also thanks to Simphiwe, our art genius who attained a place at Michaelis Art school, starting this week. He delivered a speech to the eager Ikamvanites explaining the importance of hardwork and following your dreams!
Many of the new, fresh faced applicants are the friends, siblings or cousins of current Ikamvanites which demonstrates the value of IkamvaYouth for these young people. We hope the new Ikamvanites will look up to the ‘oldies’ and in turn they will set a great example.
Interviews were held the following Saturday and ‘Last Chance Interviews’ took place on Monday 1st February. We have now selected all the Ikamvanites for this year, so our totals are; Grade 12 = 20; Grade 11 =17, Grade10 =14, Grade 9 = 8, Grade 8 =15. We are beginning 2011 with 74 learners. This includes a group of 6 students who will participate in a pilot English feeder programme, that will develop basic English skills so these learners can access the mainstream tutoring sessions by the end of the term.
We are excited to get going with some hardcore learning! We received many applications, and have even started a waiting list for next term. We hope that the Ikamvanites that we selected prove us right in their determination and commitment. Lets GO!
![Nyanganites taking 2011 by storm!]()
On the 22 January 2011 Nyanga Branch hosted its 2011 Open Day which was attended by more than 200 learners fom schools around Nyanga East
The Open Day was attended by tutors,learners and parents who participated during the day by sharing their experiences of last year so that the new leaners can know more about Ikamva youth, the Open Day was a day of learning more about Ikamva Youth and its programmes and also find out what the learners need
We are glad to announce that on the 29 January 2011 we registered 87 leraners and during the past week we had more coming in with their application forms and now we are looking at a total of 106 learners who have registered with Ikamva Youth (Nyanga)
We now looking at 14 Grade 9’s, 28 Grade 10’s,38 Grade 11’s and 26 Grade 12’s
From these numbers above we are proud to announce that we have a brand new Grade 9 class and the first ever Grade 12 class in the Nyanga Branch, and we look forward to seeing them all entering Tertiary next year
With this said, the Nyanga Branch will be starting officially its Saturday tutoring session tomorrow, 5 February 2011 at 9am until 12 we look forward to hosting this day
We also invite students and any Tertiary Institution that can assist us with tutoring to contact me or apply online, browse the GET INVOLVED page and enter your details and we will amke sure we get back to you as soon as possible
Let me extend a warm appreciation to all those who have assisted us during the Open Day and Registration Day, and lets keep it up guys the real work has begun!
More than 350 learners accompanied by their parents, volunteers, NGO representatives and friends of IkamvaYouth from Ivory Park, Ebony Park, Rabie Ridge, Kaalfontein and surrounding areas filled the IkamvaYouth Centre hall to its capacity and listened attentively to increase their chances of being selected to become Ikamvanites in 2011.
The sad reality is that of the 300+ learners who have expressed an interest in joining the Ivory Park branch we only have the capacity to admit 120 learners in 2011.
Those who don’t make it are encouraged to join the Thandulwazi Academic Support programme hosted by the St Stithians Foundation on the St Stithians College school grounds. We will be happy to assist with additional information in this regard.
Of course, if government and corporates have keen ears and interest to impact where it matters the most, this is an opportunity to invest financial resources to IkamvaYouth to increase its capacity to take more learners and be part of this life-changing opportunity. IkamvaYouth literally changes the lives and future prospects of our learners but also of the as-yet-unnamed learners to come who will benefit from successful ikamvanites returning to pass on their knowledge gained.
Lloyd Lungu