The 1st of December marked world AIDS day, but it was also a day where we honoured our achievers for the hard work they have done during the year. The prize giving was well attended by learners, their families, partners and supporters and IY staff and they bore witness to the great work and sacrifice the learners made and how these sacrifices were converted into achievement. Most of the prizes that were given out were for academic achievement, but we also had prizes for attendance, learners need to be present 75% of the year, and in Makhaza more than 50% of our Ikamvanites had an average attendance of over 90%. This is a great feat as we have tutoring 5 days a week and this dedication just shows how special this programme is to the learners.
Other certificates included the most improved learner per grade, outstanding leadership, learner of the year voted by learners as well as tutors and the most committed learner per grade. 11 learners walked away with computers donated by Capitec, 18 learners received a prize of a day trip with Carl Palmer and others received stationary packs. Our tutors also received certificates and were thanked for their efforts and the time they spent tutoring. The Khan Academy and Marion Walton from UCT also handed out certificates and prizes for the projects they ran during the year.
We would like to thank all our partners and supporters, especially Capitec, Numeric, The University of Cape Town, Sinakho high school, Education Without Borders, Carl Palmer, Marion Walton, Andrew Einhorn, Ikapadata , Reel Lives, the Nazeema Isaacs library and staff.
The big number of parents that attended, showed the willingness and dedication these parents have for their children’s education.
At the meeting a number of issues were discussed with some of the more important issues being the role IkamvaYouth plays, attendance, the IY mission and vision, the benefits of being part of IY, report collection and tertiary placements for 2012 grade 12s. The parents also spoke about their experiences of the program, the concerns they have and how all the different projects and tutoring plays a role in shaping the lives of their children. The parents were excited about what their children are doing at Ikamva Youth and also looked forward to reaping the rewards and sharing in the successes of their children.
Also part of the meeting was the tutors who had opportunity to voice their opinions, concerns and successes they had while tutoring this year. One thing that stood out was the willingness of everyone present to make this program a success. One parent noted that this is one of the very few organisations that add value to her child as well as her life. She said that education is key in fighting poverty and finding a way out of township life and thanked IkamvaYouth for accepting her child in the programme. A grade 12 parent noted that money is one of the biggest stumbling blocks that keep their children from going to university and through IkamvaYouth’s involvement and our endeavors in helping students get bursaries, paying the application and registration fees, we are helping to make their dreams a reality.
The success of our programme is directly linked to the involvement of parents and through the interaction at the meeting we realised that the future of this beautiful country is looking bright. There is a willingness of people everywhere to make a difference and once a vision is shared it becomes a reality. Success breeds success and this saying was proved at the meeting. If everyone plays their role, no matter how small and insignificant they might think it is, change is possible.
Each Ikamvanite shared their unique understanding of the vision and then collaboratively mapped the way forward, brainstorming the ways in which the different branches will implement it.
After re-visiting the vision, the group launched a discussion on the targets for 2013 and the IY budget, at both branch and provincial level. The targets set for our current Matrics lie between an 80% and 100% pass rate for all our branches across the country and our average spend per leaner continues to show that we can make a difference in the lives of the young people we work with, at very low cost. As testimony to this, 12 of our Matrics from the Makhaza branch have been pre-accepted into different courses at the University of Cape Town and this can be linked directly to the influence of the IY program and model.
The relatively low spend per learner partly motivates our vision to expand and replicate the existing IkamvaYouth model. Not only is our model tried and tested for 9 years, but it is cost effective and therefore accessible for everyone who wants to take part in building an even better South Africa.
Our day ended with the IkamvaYouth staff exchanging gifts. It was a fun but meaningful time, where we realised once again that IkamvaYouth is not just an NGO, but a family that really cares.
It is our second Monday at the Hearth and Soul Farm here in Stanford, Capetown, and the NSPW continues. Ikamvanites are over the hill with joy and the IY partners are amazed and curious to know more. We have representatives from Capitec, Tsiba, Sozo Foundation, Learning Trust, IkamvaYouth board and other supporting individuals. The day started with a super fantastic exercise from Ilana, and then Mignon got us engaged with the understanding of the IkamvaYouth Vision and model. We had a team task that left everyone very excited. Ikamvanites and partners were divided into five groups of eight each, and were provided with materials to build a stage were all members of the group could stand and make a presentation. Having learnt the role of teamwork, and the great value of bringing together resources and ‘expertise’, all participants worked together to build one stage, and were not keen to work separately. The stage was finished in time, and all of the over 40 participants were on stage, singing melodiously mentioning all they had learnt in the week. The lessons learnt from the task, is how to work as a team and how each of our contributions are vital to reaching our goal. After that we had a wonderful lunch from our great chef and then hard-core stuff started with the strategy ideas being brought up in the room. We were aiming for the sky, and none of us felt like they were being left behind to this amazing journey that is about to start. The results of this strategy session left everyone eager to start working the following day and committed to reaching the 2030 goal.
Great Ideas are born from nothing.
NSPW has been a whirlwind experience for this new Ikamvanite. Ten days ago I was in a job interview, and today I’m a part of the team that is shooting for a 100% pass rate for 100% of South Africa’s 2030 matric cohort. But that’s not the crazy part.
The crazy part is that I believe we can do it.
To get there, we’ll have to make some fundamental shifts in the way we understand
Ikamva. Over the next 17 years, we need to go from organisation to organism.
We need to infect South Africa with our belief, our energy, and our hope. After all,
whether you think you can, or whether you think you can’t – you’re right.
But to get to 2030 we first need to get through 2013. We spent the afternoon of
NSPW day 6 laying out Ikamva’s strategic priorities for 2013, figuring out how to
grow faster, do better, and learn more. Underlying all the key priorities we identified
were common themes of building stronger relationships, communicating better, and
sharing ownership of our success.
But even amidst all the excitement, we didn’t lose sight of the fact that we have
branches to run and admin to do. We need to keep proving that what we are already
doing really, really works. That means maintaining and improving our results at every
branch, every year, starting with 2013.
And 2030? Watch this space.
It is often said that there is a time for everything under the heavens. This is day number 4 at the IkamvaYouth National Strategic Planning Workshop. It has been a rollercoaster four days. At the heart of it all has been the dynamic; driven and extremely passionate Ilana…our trainer and coach. Today the focus was on coaching skills. The emphasis was on coaching being a very liberating tool when applied correctly. That people should learn to listen with their whole self; body; mind and heart. This is especially true for our learners who need to have their voices liberated. The coaching lessons are geared towards equipping us with the necessary skills to help our learners to open up and deal with their issues; when they need to.
The one on one sessions with group members gave us an opportunity to practise and also recognise areas that we need to work on. We need to make a conscious and concerted effort to be able to apply what we have learnt. This includes working on our body language; tone of voice and doing away with any preconceived ideas that we might have about particular situations affecting our learners.
The most important lesson we took away today is that when dealing with our learners we have to suspend our pasts; our current situations and be completely present…for them. We need to make sure that we do not put them in a situation where we project our views and feelings onto them; forcing them to see the world through the windows of our shattered souls; knowingly or unknowingly. What they need is for us to create the emotional as well as the physical spaces they need to be the best that they can be. They need us to create platforms where they can write their own life stories. There is no greater gift that we can give them; except; maybe; for the free hugs that were offered by the Ikamvanites this morning.
Lloyd Lungu