Funding from major corporate companies is always welcomed by organizations such as ours, as it means we can continue serving the communities we work in, in the best way we can. It is however so humbling and indeed encouraging when the employees of that company demonstrate a genuine interest and willingness to participate actively in their company’s social investment initiatives. ABI, is such a company, as demonstrated in the past few weeks.
On the 28th of June, ABI hosted a media launch, formally opening the doors of the new branch in Umlazi, which began operations in April this year. We were invited as honored guests at the event, which was quite exciting as we got to meet with various members of the mangement team, and had an opportunity to learn a little more about this amazing company.
ABI’s involvement in our winter school cannot go unnoticed. The day after the launch, ABI employees joined learners for their sports day, eagerly participating in all the events and getting to know the learners. ABI also got involved in our careers day, aimed at introducing learners to various career possibilities. The CSI team have been amazing, providing refreshments at these events, sponsoring t-shirts and water bottles for all the learners, as well as providing sound and sports equipment for the sports day.
As Tumi (Corporate Affairs Manager at ABI), said in her speech at the launch, “ABI does not just talk the talk, they indeed walk the walk”. ABI’s involvement in these few weeks is testimony to that. IkamvaYouth kzn is indeed privileged and honored to be partnering with not just a major company, but a team of individuals dedicated to the upliftmet of others!
Samkelo Nkosi speaking at the Careers Day
The ABI truck that provided entertainment and refreshments throught the day on Sports Day.
Winter school snuck up on us this year, and not in an unassuming king of way, kind of when a loud bang goes off next to you when you least expecting it kind of way Yes… just like that!
160 learners, 40 tutors, 3 busses and loads of enthusiasm, excitement and passion charged their way down the N2 to UCT Middle Campus for 10 days of learning, discovering and fun.
It’s hard to believe what we work so hard to plan for months before all ends seemingly faster than when it began! And with SO many amazing workshops, challenging tutoring times and passion from all the volunteers and learners it’s hard to give an overview of what happened this year, but I’ll try!
– Grade 11 and 12 chemistry workshops in the UCT Chemistry Labs – facilitated by Thobela Bixa, check out his incredible achievement here
– Tutoring for all the grades working through past exam papers and Answer Series books. With over 40 volunteers we achieved a ratio today of 1:4 learners per tutor! Talk about an intense time!
– PSH (Peers in Sexual Health) ran self-awareness workshops, while Sunstep got involved making alarms and facilitating other experiments with physics students.
– Rose, a volunteer from Stanford is working this week on a photography workshop, while other students got involved in deep debate.
– Andreas and his team from ERM, and Matthew from Cape Leopard Trust made sure the students got to grips with our environment, learning about how to make their immediate environment more sustainable, going for walks in Tokai forest finding a few wild animals along the way..
– Capitec ran some financial literacy training workshops, have a read about how they went here
– Nadia ran a very creative workshop where learners molded their own pots from clay (a little messy, a LOT of fun)
– Nkuli and the guys from Live Magazine were back this year for some photo shoot action, as well as creating content for their YouTube channel
– South African Astronomical Observatory ran workshops about what’s happening in our solar system, while the week ended off with Joy from UCT Wellness Centre putting our students through their dramatic paces presenting various health issues
Not to forget while this is all happening the Grade 11 & 12 students all ran through Operation Fikelela, a computer literacy program, while tutors set projects, homework and feedback sessions for all the grades.
Tuesday (26 June) in the first week also marked the one-year anniversary of the passing of Mphumzi Klaas, our friend, our confidant and a huge part of the Makhaza branch. We began the very emotional day with a very moving memorial service with a few people speaking, a video being show and most poignantly the choir singing moving the room to fresh tears as if one year ago was yesterday. And while the Ikamvanites once again balance grieving and all the madness that winter school brings, they did this instead of with incredible sadness and heavy hearts, but with a spirit of tenacity and perseverance they threw themselves into tutoring and workshops, with a renewed commitment to making this the best winter school possible, to show that through adversity and sadness, good can come, that people when united can make the impossible happen.
WOW! With so much happening, the biggest winter school IY has ever had finished with bang, and almost as fast as it arrived it was all over, classrooms packed up and cleaned, busses full to bursting on a day with some of the biggest downpour Cape Town has seen this winter, I can only begin to think of all the fun and excitement we can expect next year! Only after a loooooooooooong rest though…
A huge Huge HUUUUUGE thanks to ALL the workshop facilitators, tutors and learners – Your passion, commitment, excitement and leadership shown over these two weeks make this one of the best winter schools ever! Also to Lolita, Deidre and all that UCT for availing the space to us, BIG UP!!!
Five International interns are at IkamvaYouth centres (Ebony Park and Ivory Park) in Gauteng for the next six weeks. Four of the interns are from India and one is from The Czech Republic and they have already begun to actively interact with the Ikamvanites in Gauteng. The Ikamvanites are excited to learn about the interns’ different cultures and it became evident after the Saturday tutoring session that the learners all wanted to be around our new visitors.
The interns are currently involved in helping to organise Winter School, cataloguing books in the library, tutoring and mentoring the learners.
IY partnered with an organisation called AIESEC which made the arrival and participation of these interns possible. AIESEC is the world’s largest youth-run led organisation. It is focused on providing a platform for youth leadership development. AIESEC offers young people the opportunity to participate in international internships, experience and participate in a global learning programme.
Our new interns are moving around with the motto, “Each one – teach one,” and they believe that this is a good platform for them to empower youths in South Africa.
12 Makhazanites, 9 Masinites and 4 Nyanganites have been enrolled with the Young South African Innovator Challenge organised by HIP2BE2, 3M and the Western Cape Education Department.
This Challenge will see learners competing for the title of Innovator of the Year and the opportunity to develop and market their innovation with the help of 3M.
Please have a read through the attached article.
“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
Lloyd Lungu