My name is Unathi and I am a tutor at the Makhaza branch of Ikamva and part of the winter school, I tutor many different subjects but especially accounting, business and economics. I’m currently studying at UWC.
Here is what my week has been like:
Tuesday:
My expectations from the two weeks period and how will it affect my future?
i expect students to bring questions, challenge the tutors on their different streams and make sure
they go home with a lot learned on that particular day.
I expect commitment from both management, tutors and well yes the students.
TUTORING- I spent time with a grade 12 learner tutoring one on one for economics, it ends productive.
Wednesday-
More tutoring, engagement with the students which are in my stream. the learners are challenging in terms of school work and in bringing questions for the next day.
WORKSHOPS- on the workshop I hear about stuff that I’ve never really knew, from the Jewish centre.
my experience- me well i knew little about the history of Germany and i never knew that the laws they had during Hitlers’ period of being president, some how were related with few laws the South African Apartheid Government made. GRATEFULL TO IKAMVA FOR THE WORKSHOP AND THE JEWISH CENTRE.
Thursday-
I’ve engaged with a learner who is doing his matric, I’ve noticed that we need a more time on his commercial studies i.e economics and business.
WORKSHOPS- in a group with the learners, we hear about LUCCA LEADERSHIP. The 1st hour of the session learners were not really engaging with the facilitators, but they got a break after that they were engaging- asking questions and answering when they are asked questions, after the workshop we get a chance to talk about what caused them not to engage, well they tell me they are too shy to speak english. We conclude that they need to practice their english all the time.
Now it’s Friday morning, tutoring is happening for all the grades in Maths, Science, History, Geography, Accounting, Business and Economics. The grade 11 science students have gone to UCT to participate in Science experiments, looking forward to the afternoon workshops!
There are many other streams and workshops happening which other tutors are involved in, you’ll get to hear about them from the others.
Unathi Smile x
The much-anticipated 2010 Annual Report is out!
A huge thanks to volunteers Lynne Stuart for the very beautiful design and layout, and to Julia de Kadt for proofreading.
The Report is a multi-media feast, with links to blog posts and youtube clips throughout. Take some time out to learn more about IkamvaYouth and the ikamvanites’ remarkable stories of 2010, share the links you like and enjoy!
I am one of the volunteering tutors for IkamvaYouth in Maths and Science at the Makhaza branch and ever since I started helping out, which was about feb 2011, I have been enjoying every moment of it, absolutely have no regrets about nothing. One of the many reasons I devote a lot of my free time to helping these HighSchool children with their studies is because I was once a student in a disadvantaged school myself and I know what it’s like to have your dreams faded out by lack of study material or enough qualified teachers for science subjects, at the same time not affording Saturday classes and extra lessons. This can really make a student’s life difficult, and so I have decided to help the disadvantaged youth in any way I can academically and ikamvayouth is a good way of achieving that. I believe that without the youth, there is no tomorrow, and without educated youth there is no better tomorrow than today. We should all invest in their futures, not only for their sake but for the sake of humanity as well. I am also glad to have gone to my first SPW where me and other tutors had lots of fun collaborating with the most committed students in coming up with ideas to improve IY, during which I was given the opportunity to help out in other parts like the BranchComm, serving as the head of Operation Fikelela and also helping out with the administration of the ikamvayouth computer lab, along with some brilliant IY students who have a big interest in IT. There’s nothing better than somebody to look at you and say you’ve change their lives, and it’s just a privilege to teach these kids.
The party is on! The much anticipated Winter School is nearly here. Applications are in, speakers are organised and a variety of amazing activities have been coordinated by the IkamvaYouth team and our wonderful volunteers. There are 5 winter schools taking place around South Africa – 3 in Western Cape, Gauteng, and KZN.
It all begins on the 27th June and will run until 16th July. These events bring together all the Ikamvanites; learners, volunteers, staff members, parents. 440 learners from some of South Africa’s most disadvantaged areas are spending their holidays developing their skills, identities and aspirations at the career oriented winter schools. We are lucky enough to have the support of many volunteers; tutors, speakers, and workshop facilitators, to help these events run smoothly (we hope!)
Ikamvanites get a talk at the 2010 Winter School
It is a way of introducing young learners from the townships to a wider world of opportunity through; targeted career advice and mentoring activities, supplementary tutoring, excursions and workshops, and through career speakers offering advice and support to enable the learners to access tertiary education and employment. IkamvaYouth’s volunteers are university students (many of them former IkamvaYouth learners), international volunteers, retirees, and subject specific professionals. In addition we are blessed with the support of University of Western Cape (UWC), TsiBA, Durban Uninversity of Technology (DUT), Masiphumelele Library and Siyakhula Centre. All these institutions have generously offered their facilities and time free of charge.
IkamvaYouth is responding to South Africa’s educational crisis. South Africa’s educational system is ranked 97th out of 100 educational systems worldwide. In addition to this abysmal ranking, there is the pervasive problem of unequal access to education, particularly higher education; Only 10% South African youth access tertiary education, of which only a fraction come from townships (SAIRR, 2009), Matric pass rate of 59.9% Black learners compared to 99.6% for White learners in 2008 (WCED, 2008). IkamvaYouth addresses these inequalities and will redress this.
The Winter Schools are a step toward this. They offer space for youth to escape the harsh realities of township life, and while doing so they foster the ambition to succeed and build the capacity of youth to seize the opportunities available to them. The 2011 programme has taken a very career focused approach. Learners have been asked to sign up for different activity streams:
1) Leadership, health and life skills 2) Creative Expression and Arts 3) Media and Journalism 4) Technology and Engineering 5) Environmental Science, Geography and Sustainability 6) Physics and Chemistry 7) History, Social Justice and Political Science 8) Entrepreneurship and Business.
By grouping youth on the basis of their interests we hope to maximize the impact of workshops, excursions and speakers.
The schedules are jam-packed! The morning consists of small-group tutoring sessions focused on securing the literacy and numeracy fundamentals that often inhibit learners from achieving their potentials. Tutors work with learners in small groups, and provide real-time feedback in response to areas of difficulty. The afternoons are filled with a range of enriching workshops and excursions; from Wits University, to the Cheetah Outreach Park, to social entrepreneurship seminars, to satellite and engineering workshops, to pottery, to science practicals, to yoga, to writing, producing and printing a magazine. It is all here!
There is always room for more. If you want to get involved at any of our branches just contact the branch coordinators. Simple as that!
See branch venues and contact information;
Makhaza Branch, Liesel Bakker: liesel@ikamayouth.org, at TsiBA
Nyanga Branch, Nombu Dziba: nombuyiselo@ikamvayouth.org, at UWC
Masihphumelele Branch, Nicolas Commeignes: nicolasc@ikamvayouth.org, at Masiphumelele Library (masiphumelele_map_1.pdf and masiphumelele_map_2.pdf)
Ivory Park Branch, Joe Manciya: joe@ikamvayouth.org, at Siyakhula Centre
Cato Manor Branch, Khona Dlamini: khona@ikamvayouth.org, at Durban University of Technology
Name: Nisha
Where are you from? I’m from Georgia, in the United States.
How did you hear about Ikamva? Veronika and I came to South Africa with a college class in March and met with some of the learners then.
What were your favorite subjects in high school and why? I really enjoyed English, because I love reading.
Name: Veronika
Where are you from? I come from a small village in the south of the Czech Republic.
What were your favorite subjects in high school and why? I loved studying Czech history because it helped me understand my country and its people a lot better.
We’re looking forward to working with all of you for the next 5 weeks! We’re now busy planning for Winter School—its going to be awesome 🙂
In the Business Day this week (7 June 2011), economist Peter Montalto finds inspiration in the aspirations of Ikamvanites. Montalto refers to his experience of visiting the Nyanga branch of IkamvaYouth a couple weeks ago and the impact this has had on his perspectives of South Africa and how important it is that we foster aspiration in our impoverished communities.
He writes,
In Nyanga, Ikamva Youth is working in the heart of the community in a local library. An army of enthusiastic volunteers, many of whom went through the project themselves, and a close connection with local universities provide the drive behind the project, and the energy comes from the leaders. Visiting the project, I saw young people hungry to learn, help each other and take advantage of the services Ikamva offers them. Most interesting, though, was that at its heart the work Ikamva is doing and the difference it makes is very simple — it is about providing a spark of hope, a path of opportunity and role models to look up to, all triggering aspiration.
The most basic tragedy of the townships is not even high unemployment (about 60% in Nyanga) or the conditions — it is a lack of aspiration. The encouraging thing, which Ikamva Youth has shown, is that though role models and simply providing information (and implicit incentives) about what options are available for youngsters and what they can achieve in life by putting the effort in at school, this aspiration can be ignited, grades can be improved and lives can be enriched. Once aspiration has been sparked, a basic entrepreneurial spirit in those who live in the townships causes a multiplier effect and youngsters then want to work hard, giving up time after school to be part of the programme, and so have a larger part in driving their own destiny. Much of Ikamva’s work relies on volunteers, who have been through the programme and then want to return to give something back.
I met Phillip and Thobela, two young people who had grown up in the township, been through the charity’s programme at school, got good enough grades to go to university, and now volunteer with the charity and are going on to great things. As an economist, I was delighted to find a common understanding with Phillip, who is passionate about econometrics. He is doing well at university and looking to go on to, for want of a better word, a “normal job” using his interest in statistics for the government or a company. Thobela, who now sits on Ikamva’s board, is passionate about chemistry. Getting into a good university allowed him to go on a study exchange to the US, and he now wants to become an academic teaching what he loves, a bug he has caught from his experience with the charity. Creating role models can become a virtuous cycle.
From my visit, I learnt many things. The issue of “untapped potential” is a much broader concept for SA than I first imagined. Government policy must be geared to providing the incentives and structure for personal aspiration of youngsters through mentoring and additional support in schools.
For the full article, visit http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=145012
Lloyd Lungu