This past week, Gr 11s at the Nyanga branch enjoyed a refreshing gala event at Zolani Centre. In a bid to foster group cohesion, friendship and greater support, as the learners get into Matric next year, the Nyanga team threw a brunch for the Gr 11 learners. The learners were paired up with fellow learners and tasked to get to know each other better during the course of the brunch. It was a fun morning, filled with laughter, jokes, music, food and a general festive mood.
Siphelele, Nyanga Branch Assistant, exhorted the learners to support one another with their work across friendship groups. The Gr 11s are looking forward to finishing 2013 stronger than they started, and get into Matric in 2014 a more cohesive group than ever before.
At the end of the dinner, the learners had a lot to say.
‘I want to say thank you, Shu and Siphe for making this effort for us. We enjoyed ourselves and also got to talk to each other, which was good’. (Yanga Kamteni, Gr 11)
‘It was nice to have something like this, because we see that Ikamva is not only about books but also having fun and becoming friends’ ( Banathi Buso, Gr 11)
A big thank you to the Matric class of 2014 for showing up and enjoying the event, and to our tutors Onelisa Qwaka and Bomi Popi who assisted on the day.
This September holiday, Nyanganites have been privileged to participate in a history workshop conducted by Andrea Sanke at Zolani Centre. The workshop, aptly titled ‘Our history, our world’ has taken the group of 12 through more than 50years of world history in just 6 days. From North America, to Eastern Europe and South Africa, the workshop has covered such topics as the World Wars, the War on Terror, and Julius Malema. The learners have enjoyed learning about different historical figures and events, researching people and asking questions. The workshop will culminate in an in-class presentation where each learner presents on their chosen historical figure.
Workshop facilitator, Andrea said that the workshop will impart research, English and presentation skills to the learners, in addition to learning a bit more about the world around them.
Thank you Andrea for taking the time to enrich the minds of Nyanganites!
We are entering an exciting stage of our development as we enter the 10th year of delivering tutoring and mentoring services to South Africa’s youth. We developed Vision 2030 at the end of 2012, which is to see the one million learners who start Grade 1 in 2018 matriculating and accessing employment by 2030. For this to happen we need to work together.
We issued a call for potential community partners in July 2013. Applications came from all over South Africa and we have had the pleasure of meeting a number of these organisations and individuals. The selflessness that we have seen, the extra jobs people are taking just to pay tutors transport costs, to buy learning resources and to build extra tutoring rooms, has truly inspired us. The realisation that there are so many people who are unshakably committed to a better future for South Africa’s youth has led us to widen and deepen our call for partners. We want to involve as many people as we can in the collaboration project so that these superheroes are recognised for, and supported in the work that they do.
At the beginning of this year IkamvaYouth was proud to have supported over 3,000 students through grades 8-12. The majority of whom have gone on to study at universities and colleges, and secure themselves competitive job placements. This group of inspirational students, along with the volunteers and staff that have tutored and mentored them, are part of the ever-growing Ikamvanite family.
The IkamvaYouth model offers a solution to the education challenges facing South Africa. Bill Clinton once said “Nearly every problem has been solved by someone, somewhere. The challenge of the 21st century is to find out what works and scale it up.” We have a solution and through collaboration and collective learning we hope to scale this solution by enabling other actors to replicate these results.
We have spent 10 years making mistakes, learning from them and developing a high-impact tutoring and mentoring model based on these lessons. What has been produced is a model that can be easily replicated while allowing for adjustment to specific contexts. The key principles and success is based on starting early, maintaining commitment, tutoring not teaching, and assisting with post-school placements.
This sounds too simple to be true, but IkamvaYouth has proven that a solution to the education crisis does not have to be a complicated and costly project but can be a simple beneficiary-led programme driven by a passionate community. There are hundreds of organisations across the country working for the same ends, so why not work together?
We are now calling to everyone to scour the Western Cape for those movers and shakers, those individuals and organisations that inspire you, those who are going above and beyond to deliver education programmes for South Africa’s youth. We want to meet them, share with them, enable them and support them in the implementation of tutoring programmes that by 2030 will have supported every learner to reach Grade 12.
It is time for this family to get bigger! There are various levels of involvement from online access to resources to formal partnership.
Please contact zoe@ikamvayouth.org or call 0744767965 for more details about working together.
ENKE LEADERSHIP CAMP CONTRIBUTORS: SIBONGISENI JONAS ZIZO MDINGI SINENJONGO NGXAMELENI NCEBAKAZI NGCABA ZIZIPHO NGXOLA SINOVUYO QABA Attending the Enke Forum Class of 2013 was a great experience! It was incredibly fun and worth the long journey from Masiphumelele to Wellington. On our first day we had to introduce ourselves to the other trailblazers who hailed from various provinces within our country. One of the memorable things about the camp was that every games and/or activity held a lesson which was incredible. We learned lifelong lessons about leadership skills and gained increased knowledge, compared to what we knew about the subject before. We now have the task of applying the knowledge which was imparted. Even more, we have an opportunity to impact our communities and as the youth, we are eager to change the world in order to be a better place. On 7 July, the CEO of MXIT gave a profound speech and one of our Masinites, Sibongiseni Jonas thanked him on behalf of all the learners.We were each given an opportunity to choose a project which will uplift our community. The Enke leadership made us realise that the future lies in our hands and we can change the world. In order to bring about change, we need to think positively about ourselves and allow nothing to stand in our way. Coupled with strength and courage, we shall succeed in our projects and carry on our leadership skills. Various towns and countries were represented and this added to the diversity of the camp. It was compulsory to speak English and this also improved our language proficiency. Another highlight was when we watched a video of a girl and her boyfriend. The couple was in love and in a trusting relationship. The girl cheated on her boyfriend and she wanted to shift the blame. The moral of the story was, “Love someone as if it is the last day of your life.” Despite the story relating to a romantic relationship, it also showed us how we should treat each other. Lastly, it is important that we relate one of the lessons on leadership that we were taught at the Enke Forum. We did a visualising exercise in which we had to project where we thought we would be 15 years from now; the need for respect and how to break free from our comfort zone. A wonderful, life changing experience that we shall never forget!
Tsiba Report
EDUCATION AND LIBERATION When we arrived at the June 16th Celebrations, it felt like we had stepped back into 1976 Sharpeville riots. This is true; when one considers that you are standing next to Antoinette Sithole, Hector Peterson’s sister. We find out that Hector Peterson’s traditional Xhosa name was Zolani. She told us about the day her brother was shot .She encouraged us to live a fulfilling life and to get educated because “…without education you are nothing.”
Antoinette also told us about the incorrect manner in which the nation is celebrating Youth Day/June 16. “It’s as if people are celebrating my brother’s death. It was inspiring as she explained that one’s background does not determine your future when it comes to education, especially with endless financial possibilities, like bursaries which are available. An interesting part of our day was when parents and children conversed in a quiz. One of the questions which was posed was, how do you feel about education in this democratic era?
MANDELA DAY On the 13th of July, we celebrated Mandela Day. As part of the Tsiba Project, we had to choose a practical project which we would assist for 67 Minutes. As Masiphumelele representatives, we chose to clean the Muizenberg beach. We wrote a message to Madiba, wishing him a speedy recovery. Our facilitators arrives and took pictures of what we had done, after which we returned to Tsiba. We were then addressed by a speaker who told us about how his grandmother taught him to achieve the seemingly impossible. For example, in the old days, women were not allowed to become lawyers. He notably also informed us that, without energy, a human being cannot function. We had a brilliant day!
Lloyd Lungu