We wanted to do to these cooking classes with the Ikamva Youth students in Nyanga and found that we had a few things to contemplate before we got started.
Our background as students from Copenhagen is in global nutrition and health. The question we posed ourselves was: How do you teach about health and nutrition when you come from different cultures and different realities?
Health, what is considered healthy and what the health needs of different people are, is certainly determined by different contexts. We knew that we could not waltz into Nyanga and tell students how to change their diets and dictate to them what ‘healthy’ is, since the term varies according toa number of determinants such as household income, which affect what people can afford to eat.
We therefore saw the cooking classes as an opportunity to explore and expose students to different cultures through food. In doing so we hoped to inspire students to broaden their awareness of food culture and ideas around health, while simultaneously encouraging them to stay open minded and try cuisines that seemed foreign to them.
In South Africa different types of foods and meals are associated with different groups of people, and certain foods are often considered the diets of some cultures and not others. By exposing students to different foods and cultural ideas we hoped to invite them to cross these cultural stereotypes and boundaries.
We had to work through many ideas at this stage, posing questions such as: Is our line of thinking relevant? Should we expose students to foods and ingredients that they can not buy in their immediate environment and ingredients that they can not afford?
Finally, we decided that it was worthwhile. Exposure to the unfamiliar can assist us in becoming critical thinkers and developing empathy towards other cultures. Most importantly it also allows us to rethink and be critical of cultural stereotypes and fixed definitions of things.
The next big question on our figurative plates was how we were going to fund this exercise. Jesper came up with the brilliant plan to do a fundraising charity event. A Yoga and Lunch charity event in Arderne Gardens, Claremont to be precise. After much planning and spreading the word, we were all set to host the event with the 16 Nyanga students.
The event took place on 17 March 2013 and we were overwhelmed by the support we received! Since we were teaching a yoga class, on the menu for the day was Indian food. We used ingredients such as asafetida (a spice) and ghee (clarified butter), which is at the heart of Indian cooking, in all the dishes me made. The food we prepared was inspired by an Indian woman, Sandhya, who has been making food for Western yoga students for many years in the south of India in Mysore, Karnataka.
The food was delicious and all the participants wanted the recipes and another homemade chapati to take home. The chapati ‘team‘ outdid themselves everyone asked for a second helping of chapati.
IMMENSE GRATITUDE
In the end we raised R6000 to put towards our cooking classes and we are overly delighted and blown away by the support that we have received.
A huge thank you to all the amazing people who supported our Yoga & Lunch fundraising event! Thank you to IkamvaYouth for the opportunity to work with the students, and thank you to the incredible students.
Thank you all a thousand times over :))
Jesper and Sharline
This last weekend Nyanganites got together for a highly successful Strategic Planning Weekend, SPW. Learners, volunteers and staff put their heads together and mapped out the year plan for 2013.
Nyanga learners showed that they are youngsters with a vision for their branch and are more than capable of taking their future into their own hands. Together, they outlined the challenges they currently face at the branch, and then came up with solutions to those challenges. The volunteers also brought their best to the session, guiding the learners and assisting them in expressing themselves and working on the different issues that came up during the weekend.
On the last day of the SPW, Nyanganites elected their 2013 branch committee, with some Nyanganites self-nominating and motivating why they wanted to be part of certain portfolios. It was highly gratifying to see the learners and volunteers confidently speaking out and outlining their own strong points.
Find the full report on the following link: spw_report_2013.pdf
This past weekend, Nyanga learners participated in an important workshop on fire awareness and safety. The workshop was conducted by the City of Cape Town’s fire and rescue services, represented by Ms Nombeko Kopele. The learners gathered in their usual tutoring venue at Zolani Centre and learnt interesting and important realities about fire.
The workshop is very relevant to the learners because fire is a real part of many of their lives as some have had their homes destroyed by it. The workshop covered useful practices to engage in when working with fire, including how to handle live flame, such as candles and some lamps; first aid when someone has been subjected to burns and the reporting protocol when there is a fire. The learners got to see pictures of fires in a variety of settings, such as veld and mountain fires, fires in informal settlements and other kinds of buildings, and visually learnt about the kind of devastation fire can cause.
Ms Kopele divided the learners into different groups and the grade 11 and 12 session doubled up as a career guidance workshop, as she spoke to them about fire fighting as a career path that is open to them post Matric. The learners had many questions about the subject choices they should make in order to work in this field and also the benefits of being a fire-fighter. Ms Kopele was up to the task and answered all the questions posed to her. At the end of the workshop were 90 Ikamvanites well informed about fire safety and protocols.
A very special thank you to the City of Cape Town for delivering this important workshop to the Nyanganites.
On Saturday 9 March, IkamvaYouth in partnership with Capitec presented a fire safety awareness workshop hosted by Mrs Nombeko Kopele (Public Education Officer) from the fire and rescue services in Ottery, Cape Town. In December 2012, close to a 1000 shacks burnt down in Khayelitsha with countless people being displaced and with winter approaching, a time when the risks of fires increase, it was an opportune time to educate our learners about the dangers that fires pose, but also give them tips on how to avoid these fires.
The presentation were in two parts, first with the grade 10, 11 and 12s and then with the grade 8 and 9s. The reason for this split was because different aspects were discussed with the different age groups. Although the main focus of the workshop was fire safety awareness, it also allowed the presenter to speak to the older kids about the different careers within fire and rescue. This was very exciting for the ikamvanites because they found out that the training to become a fire fighter or paramedic is only 6 months and that it was really physical. They had a lot of questions to ask and the presenter was very knowledgeable and answered all their questions. Lwazi Fanana, a grade 11 learner, said afterwards that he might consider a career in the fire and rescue field. Another learner Sipho Nqgayimbana, grade 12, asked about the different careers within the fire and rescue fields and the presenter said that careers vary from administration, management, medical to paramedical and firefighting, etc., and that there are lots of skills shortages in this career field and with that a lot of opportunities for young people to join.
For the younger grades, the focus were more on fire prevention tips, what to do in case of a fire or burn injuries and who to contact when you see a fire. The session with them were more interactive and the ikamvanites were able to simulate scenarios, like rolling on the ground when you catch fire, and were shown charts of what to do. All the ikamvanites were told where their closest fire station is and were told to call 107 or 0215901900 in case of a fire or any other emergency. Everyone had a lot of questions for Mrs Kopele and as with the other group; she was able to answer every question.
We would like to thank the City of Cape Town and in particular Mrs Nombeko Kopele and Mr Abdusalaam Allie, Capitec and everyone that assisted with this workshop.
Hi Ikamvanites!
We are two students from Metropol University College in Copenhagen, Denmark, studying a degree in Global Nutrition and Health. Currently we are based in the beautiful Mother City soaking up the summer sun and doing an internship at IkamvaYouth (IY).
For our internship our idea was to teach a series of cooking classes to a group of 15 students at the Nyanga branch to promote health, educational skills and cultural awareness. To our delight IY liked the idea and said that we could join their team for 3 months. How lucky are we?!
Our aim is to explore ideas around culture and food. Some of the questions we asked ourselves were – What is culture? What constitutes as a ‘meal’ in different cultures? Is it meat and potatoes with some veg on the side or is it an open sandwich with a root vegetable topping or some hering? What utensils do different cultures use to eat a meal with – hands, forks, chopsticks, spoons? How is food presented and how does it stimulate the tastebuds visually? Most importantly – how can we push our own boundaries and develop tastes for new and unfamiliar foods?
The idea is to expose students to unfamiliar ingredients as well as showcase how plant-based foods can be used to prepare a variety of imaginative and tasty dishes. On the one hand we are using ingredients that are not always easily available and on the other hand we want to explore how students can enjoy and introduce fresh and healthy, yet affordable foods into their daily diet.
However, at the heart of any cooking classes should be fun and laughter, and this is exactly what we got up to this weekend for our first proper cooking class.
On the menu was fast-food. We made Danish smørrebrød which is a traditional open sandwich, enjoyed by the Danes at lunchtime. We also got our hands stuck into whipping up and rolling some Japanese inspired veggie sushi.
Between the two countries, Denmark and Japan, Denmark came out on top and the students loved the Danish rye bread and toppings. The sushi however received mixed reviews. Some people were close to vomitting, no jokes 🙂 Oh the DRAMA! It was awesome!
Let’s face it – learning to aquire the taste for the fishy sea vegetable, nori, can take a bit longer than just one afternoon. And then there is the wasabi – the green stuff!! Love it or hate, we had great fun and were all pros at eating with chopsticks by the end of the class.
Check out the pics below! The students simply inspired us with their commitment to the task at hand!
One more thing peeps…
We are planning a Yoga & Lunch Charity Event in the Park and YOU are invited!
We are hoping to raise R5000. All proceeds will go towards the IY cooking classes.
Like us on facebook: Yoga & Lunch Charity Event in the Park and read the ‘ABOUT’ section for more info OR email us at yogaluncheoncharityevent@gmail.com.
AND please show your support and join us for some socialising and feasting on 17 March 2013. The lunch will be prepared by the students. Our first catering event!!
P.S. Any donations are always welcome and would be much appreciated!
Bye for now 🙂
Jepser & Sharline
The weekend consisted of planning for 2013 as well as an election to choose the new branch committee as well as choosing the different heads of the different portfolios. Present were more than 30 learners from different grades and tutors and they all had a chance to discuss the decision making, planning and electing the branch committee.
The Main goal of our SPW was to elect a branch committee (in charge of roles and portfolios) and for new volunteers (grade12 from last year returning) to take ownership of programme and become part of the management team. It was also a great weekend for the leaner reps and tutors to get to know each other better.
On Saturday we discussed the year program and we also had a look back at what happened in 2012. The morning started off with an introduction and the group explaining what their expectations of the weekend will be, we then discussed what happened in 2012 and then we ended with looking at what IkamvaYouth is doing well, what challenges we are facing, what IkamvaYouth is offering learners and the community and what we can do to improve the programme. We had a lot of first time branch committee members, but the rest of the group made them all feel included and welcome.
On Sunday the election took place and everyone had a chance to vote for the different nominees. The nomination and election process were very democratic and the nominees had to explain to the group why they were best suited for the different portfolios. The different portfolios were Tutoring, Volunteer Coordination, Career Guidance, Media, Image and Expression, Computer Literacy, Health and Life Skills and Alumni.
The different portfolio members also had to discuss their portfolios and present a plan of action for the group and will need to present this plan of action to all the Ikamvanites at Makhaza. They had to present their goals, when the goals should be reached and by whom. Emihle, a grade 8 learner and newly appointed portfolio member said that the weekend was a dream come true and that she enjoyed the interaction and discussions that took place and that she is really happy and proud for being chosen as part of the health and life skills portfolio.
Mandisi Gladile, a tutor says, “the weekend was really informative and made me realise the value IkamvaYouth adds not only to the learners but also the community and I feel really inspired for the things that we have planned for 2013.”
strategic_planning_week_2013.pdf
Lloyd Lungu