Slindile Msweli from Runway addressing the learners
Waking up in the morning and looking forward to going to the workplace, are one of the key characteristics of a person who has chosen the correct career path in which they can flourish. These are the kind of discussions that took place within our Umlazi Branch on Saturday.
Our grade 10, 11 & 12s had the opportunity to take part in a workshop which covered all the topics that one would have to consider when choosing a desired career path. The learners put pen to paper and thought about what their personal visions and goals are, an exercise they were quite receptive to.
Learners writing down their top 3 goals
Passionate about the development and encouragement of young people from previously disadvantaged backgrounds, the workshop facilitator, Slindile Msweli from Runway, shared information on the kinds of careers that are available to them as well as the various ways in which they can pursue them.
In addition to this, she stressed that learners have a huge part to play when it comes to career selection – this involves researching what they want to study as well as ‘matching’ it to their individual passions, future aspirations as well as their desire to have a job.
Thembeka Thusi, a grade 10 learner, said that she did not know how important her career choice is and how much influence she has on it even in her current Grade. Thembeka also mentioned that she was grateful to learn about using the internet and social media responsibly as it could affect her career opportunities in future.
Another grade 11 learner, Menzi Jaca, said that his dream is to be a doctor and he knew that his subjects had to be pure maths and physical science. Now understands that the reason why he has to work hard to pass in school is so that he can get the required points to gain entry into his course at university.
In closing the workshop, our Umlazi Ikamvanites got to understand that under-preparation for university and lack of insight when choosing the right career path, resulted in a lot of dropouts and also an increased national rate of unemployment.
Umlazi Branch Coordinator and Branch Assistant handing over a thank you gift to Slindile Msweli
We at IkamvaYouth are grateful to be one of the key instruments within our respective township communities, that ensure and promote the individual preparation of our learners for university through our various programmes that in turn make a great mark on the country as a whole. We look forward to working with RUNWAY in the near future.
Learners have good reason to celebrate having achieved an 83% matric pass rate.
Kwazulu-Natal saw an increase in its matric pass rate from 60.7% last year to 66.4% in 2016. This Province also managed to produce the second-largest number of bachelor passes, had the largest number of candidates sitting for the 2016 final exams and had the highest participation rate of African learners in Mathematics. Despite the increase in their pass rate, Kwazulu-Natal remains in the bottom 3 provinces with the lowest pass rates along with Limpopo and the Eastern Cape (all three making up 54.5% of the 2016 NSC candidates), reflecting the various socio-economic issues that plague the three most rural provinces in South Africa.
Ikamvanites in Kwazulu-Natal managed to achieve an amazing 83%, surpassing the Provincial rate by almost 17%.
IkamvaYouth has two branches in the Province; in Chesterville (at the Vuyani Nkosi Memorial Youth Centre) and in Umlazi (at the AA Library). Chesterville Ikamvanites saw an 88% pass rate this year with 76% achieving either Bachelor or Diploma passes, ensuring eligibility for tertiary study. Umlazi Ikamvanites also achieved far above the provincial pass rate, hitting 77%. 53% of these learners achieved Bachelor or Diploma passes. Together, the branches had a matric cohort of 64 learners. These Ikamvanites managed to achieve a total of 41 subject distinctions; a really impressive achievement.
Nomathemba Ndwandwe started at IkamvaYouth in 2014 as a grade 10 learner. She says, “I’m so excited and proud of myself. I achieved a Bachelor’s Degree with 2 distinctions. My parents are really proud of me. I am the first in my family to pass Matric”.
Thabisile Mfeka joined IkamvaYouth in 2013 as a grade 9 learner. She says “it has been surreal and I still can’t believe that I’ve made it this far. I appreciate all the support that I’ve received from IkamvaYouth. I doubt that I would’ve made it without IkamvaYouth. I thank all the tutors, staff and sponsors for making all of this possible. I was lucky enough to be part of something as wonderful as IkamvaYouth.”
Watch this interview with Matriculant Thabisile Mfeka to find out what she will be up to this year
Tanyaradzwa Chiyambiro is the Chesterville branch’s top achiever, having joined in 2013. “I am currently feeling relief and am very happy since I received my results; hopefully Wits University will approve my application to study Biomedical Engineering which is what I really really want to do. IkamvaYouth has been amazing; a combination of learning and fun. Being a part of this organisation has been awesome and I’ve learnt the importance of helping others and giving back.”
IkamvaYouth’s tutoring programme is available to learners from grades 9 -12, three times a week and for two weeks during the winter holidays. The tutoring programme is made possible thanks to the hearts and smarts of the amazing volunteer tutors; most of whom are university students and many of whom are ex-learners from the programme. The organisation operates in KZN thanks to very supportive partners, including Coca-Cola Beverages South Africa, Anglo-American Chairman’s Fund, Durban University of Technology, Zoe – Life, and CAFSA, in addition to the municipality, through the Department of Arts & Culture, which provides access to branch venues free of charge, and the schools and other tertiary institutions in the region.
“We are so proud of our learners, volunteers, and colleagues for this amazing achievement. Thanks to our generous sponsors and supporters; we are so appreciative for their ongoing support,” said Joy Olivier, co-founder and director of IkamvaYouth.
Thandazo Mkhize, Chesterville’s Branch Coordinator, says she is very proud and excited about the Class of 2016’s achievements. “These learners have been very consistent throughout the year and their results have proven that hard work really pays. I would like to really appreciate all those who were involved in making sure that the learners do their best, we would not have made it here without the help of the Almighty, and our very hardworking staff, volunteers, parents and our very reliable sponsors, thank you!”
“We are delighted to be in a fortunate position to contribute to the greatness of South African young people through our partnership with IkamvaYouth. To the class of 2016, well done. You are the reason why we will keep investing in young South Africans.” says Tshidi Ramogase, Public Affairs & Communications Director at CCBSA.
About
IkamvaYouth is a non-profit organisation, enabling disadvantaged youth to pull themselves and each other out of poverty through education. The organisation provides free after-school tutoring, career guidance, mentoring, computer literacy training and extra-curricular engagement to learners in grades 8-12. The organisation is currently operating in 16 townships in 5 provinces across South Africa. To find out more, go to www.ikamvayouth.org or call Hetile on 062 105 1707
I’m so proud to be a part of the Umlazi branch. We have tutors who arevolunteering their time to help our dedicated learners who have decided that they want better futures and are willing to start now to work towards it. The committed staff always go above and beyond their payroll. I would like to send a vote of thanks to everyone.
We are a family at Umlazi branch, from our sponser CCBSA (through representative Sam Nkosi) to the parents who helped us and donated netball and soccer kits for our Winter school sports day. Winter school was a success learners attended in their numbers, so much so that we didn’t have any kick-outs.
“Sport’s day was fantastic and let’s not forget our matric camp which was fabulous. We were so excited about everything and are now waiting to write our final exams so that we can also give back and be tutors.” Asanda Gumede
We had a matric camp this year, with World changers Academy. There we were able to learn and interact a whole lot more with our matric learners and the tutors. Our matrics did a leadership course that covered vision, leadership, team building, goal setting, relationships and healing of the past.
“IY and world changers has helped us so much in developing the skills we need to become the progressive leaders we want to be” Zekhethelo Ngcobo
“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of life we lead”-Walter Sisulu
Often as human beings we care the most about being judged and praised by what we have accumulated for ourselves; IkamvaYouth KZN tends to differ as we believe we need to be judged by the footprints we leave behind as we go forward.
It is heart-warming to see learners getting excited, feeling valued and mostly recognising the efforts and support from the team in making sure that they remain, succeed and excel in school and in life as a whole. The excitement in their faces and confidence in talking about IkamvaYouth and its benefits gives the IYKZN team courage to keep on keeping-on and positively impacting the lives of learners and the general communities we exist within.
IkamvaYouth solely exists with one big aim and that is to ‘help learners to pass, progress and achieve their dreams in life’. IYKZN is undoubtedly carrying that mission as well, to make a difference to the lives of our learners, tutors and all those who forms part of this organisation.
There is nothing that makes the IYKZN family as happy as reaching the office in the morning to find such a lovely note from one of the learners… One thing that comes first is a smile and then the thought of how just a little amount of effort can go a long way.
As we are reaching the end of term 1 of 2016, IYKZN is still carrying forward the objective of making more of a difference, more positive impact and importantly igniting the spark within our learners…
Here’s to making a difference….!!!!
IY has been really good to me, it helps us with school work and also gets us feeling better about ourselves, although sometimes it can be a pain in the neck but at the end of the day it’s really been helpful.
Winter school was totally epic and fun especially on our sports day. It was fantastic, there was this one fellow in the red team, who stood up on the ABI stage and was dancing; his name is Asanda Gumede Grade 11 learner, now soon to be in in Matric :D. He is pretty well known at IY, in fact a lot of people know him for his drama queen tendencies, laughing, making jokes those sort of things. I really enjoyed the sports day though.
Ikamva Youth helps us achieve our goals and what do I mean by that? Well let me tell you, IY helps learners especially matrics in entering university or any tertiary institution, even if you do not get accepted, no problem IY will help you no matter what. IY really helps everyone in the community to make their dreams come true through an educational foundation.
IY helps us with so many things, and I just want to give thanks to the staff, the tutors and sponsors, thank you for everything, it’s been real…
Credits to: Asanda Gumede
As can be seen in our
Annual Report 2014 was the year of growth for us: our matric class was 63% bigger than the previous year, we reached over 1,700 learners and we opened our tenth branch. But let’s not forget why we are here, for most of South Africa’s children, the only way out of poverty is through education. Ikamvanites (IkamvaYouth learners) continue to prove that anyone and everyone – irrespective of the school one attends and the socio-economic status of one’s parents can achieve his dreams and escape poverty.
Please read more in our 2014 annual report about the innovation of our model, why we need more Ikamvanites, hear from the Ikamvanites themselves and why our three largest donors of 2014 (Omidyar Network, Amalgamated Beverage Industries and Capitec Foundation) continue to support us.
It is thanks to these donors and many others that we have been able to achieve the results that we have over the last 12 years. South Africa’s future rests on the success of our children. IkamvaYouth is fundraising to reach even more of South Africa’s children in 2016 and needs your support. Please contact me if you would like to discuss supporting IkamvaYouth or find out more about us.
Lloyd Lungu