On the early morning of Saturday, 20th September 2014, Makhaza branch held its third parents meeting for the year. Parents arrived early in great numbers. Despite the parents’ Saturday commitments, nothing could be more important than their children’s academic performance. The turn out of the parents was encouraging and the effort the parents took to attend the meeting is highly appreciated.
The meeting was run by Busiswa Dayimani the Branch Assistant. The Agenda which included attendance, report collection, speaking of english among others was welcomed by the parents. They showed interest in all the matters being discussed by asking questions and adding their suggestions. Zukile Keswa, Branch Coordinator, praised the parents for their involvement in monitoring the learners and working with us with regards to the schools and being a notable support system for the learners.
The parents were greatly pleased with the introduction of speaking English at all times in IY. A parent of a grade 9 learner said “I have been noticing change in my son he even speaks the language at home. He has been selected to represent his school in Pretoria and I am confident he will do well as he can relate with others in English.”
Parents took turns in praising the work that IY does and giving the staff approval to continue and vowing their support for the success of IY.
Forward with Education………..!
“On the third Saturday of September each year (20 September 2014), volunteers around the world take part in the world’s biggest coastal cleanup, known as International Coastal Cleanup Day. The event has been held internationally each year for over 20 years, when people head to the beaches and begin removing debris and rubbish from shorelines, waterways and oceans”.
This year was no different, as the Western Cape Ikamvanites took to the Helderberg Marine protected area coast to clean the 4 km of beach which is the least disturbed part of the northern shore of False Bay. The Nyanga Ikamvanites came out in numbers and were more than excited to participate in such a great initiative of keeping our coasts clean.
“On the third Saturday of September each year (20 September 2014), volunteers around the world take part in the world’s biggest coastal clean-up, known as International Coastal Clean-up Day. The event has been held internationally each year for over 20 years, when people head to the beaches and begin removing debris and rubbish from shorelines, waterways and oceans”.
This year was no different, as the Western Cape Ikamvanites took to the Helderberg Marine protected area coast to clean the 4 km of beach which is the least disturbed part of the northern shore of False Bay. The Western Cape Ikamvanites came out in numbers and were more than excited to participate in such a great initiative of keeping our coasts clean.
Sesethu Soboyisi says “If the current generation doesn’t take care of the earth, what kind of earth will the next generation inherit?”
“The Clean-up was fun, it took us outside of our usual areas of residence and had us doing something good for Mother Nature” says Bubele Fokazi
This great day was made possible by various partners, thanks to the ERM team for inviting Ikamva to the coastal clean-up day.
Thank you very much to Arne Purves for the beautiful pictures, as found on this blog.
Varsity College continues to demonstrate the willingness and wilfulness to partner with IY in our vision for young people’s education in South Africa. Hosting Ikamvanites for the Cell C girl child day in May was only the start. Toward the end of our Winter School in July, the college donated boxes of files, folders, notes and thesauruses for Ikamvanites to use. WC and Joza Matrics benefitted from the use of the thesauruses during their matric camp and now WC branches have added to their libraries, which received 7 thesauruses each. The learners have also received folders in which to store notes, timetables and stationery, and notes on different subjects that have previously been used by Varsity College students.
Thank you Varsity College for your generous donation!
On the 9th of August 2014, IY Nyanga attended a Women’s Day event organised by Ilitha labantu in Gugulethu. Nyanga branch com’s head of Health and Life skills, Onelisa Qwaka attended the event on behalf of the branch.
The theme of the event was ‘Young women emancipating themselves from abusive relationships.’ The day was a mix of activities, including group discussions, presentations, and individual opinion sharing. The ladies got a platform to outline the challenges women face in the different environments, such as school, work, home and on the street. A number of issues came up, including teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, crime and gangsterism and child abuse.
After outlining the different issues affecting women, the women did mini workshops to find solutions for the challenges. Key lessons garnered from this exercise were that women abuse is everyone’s problem and communities should unite in fighting it. The group also identified certain tools that can be used to fight abuse and some were as follows: introspection, reporting abuse, educating women about their rights and trusting one’s instincts.
Nyanga representative, Onelisa Qwaka had the following to say, after the event: ‘ It was successful indeed, and we left the hall feeling empowered, happy and seeing room for improvement in their lives.’
A very special thank you to Ilitha labantu f Young women emancipating themselves…
or inviting IkamvaYouth to this important workshop.
IY JOINS THE COMMUNITY IN SAYING NO TO WOMEN ABUSE!
Following the success of the matric camp in 2013, the WC team ran the second annual matric camp following directly on after the two weeks of winter school in July. This year saw 85 matrics from the Western Cape branches as well as from the Eastern Cape get together for a week getaway at the Rotary Glencairn camp site, for 5 days of intensive tutoring, academic workshops and exam practice.
The first day saw all the learners arriving at the site and participating energetic team-building exercises to help break the ice as learners started interacting more freely across the branches, working collectively to earn points for their various teams. True to ikamvanite culture, tutoring started in earnest from day one and the learners spent the rest of the afternoon working through past exam papers and Answer Series guides.
Throughout the camp learners have all managed to take part in a variety of activities aimed at preparing them for their final exams and tertiary studies. From intensive tutoring and exam practice to workshops around how to study effectively and evening self study times.
While the camp is a serious study boot camp, with tutoring happening from early in the morning until late into the night, the learners found the time to energise themselves through the terrible weather with an impromptu talent show where learners mixed things up between branches for an evening of singing, dancing, stand up comedy and drama. I’m convinced the next MC Solaar is in this group!
Sixolisiwe sibebosi , a volunteer said the following: ‘The matric camp was very productive to me. Firstly everything was well prepared, the kids were hungry to learn something and that gave me a lot of courage and it motivated me to make sure that I give all and make a change. IkamvaYouth changed my life and I also passed my matric because of IkamvaYouth and matric camp so it was a minor thing for me tor do, I wish I could do more.’
Bonke Sibunzana, a learner from Masi said the following, ‘what I liked about matric camp was how committed the tutors were. They encouraged us to use the tutoring time wisely. I also like how united we were as ikamvanites. We showed love and support for each other ‘, while Nobulali Swaartbooi from Nyanga said ‘Matric camp was a great experience. It was great learning with people from different schools and coming together with all our different ideas.’
This strongly echoes IY’s value of peer-to-peer sharing and IY is excited to witness the fruit of the Matric camp as the learners write their mock exams in September and final exams in November.
A very special thank you to Pick’n Pay Fish Hoek, for generously supplying camp catering, and ensuring that all our learners, volunteers and staff are well fed every day of the camp; Rotary for their beautiful camp sites and ERM for the donation of solar lamps for all our matric learners. This gives out learners going into their final exams the opportunity to study at home in the evenings, thanks ERM!
Good luck for the final exams IY 2014 Matric Class!
Lloyd Lungu