Our Masiphumelele students have been invited to participate to the eMzantsi Carnival. The theme, this year, is focused on sustainable development. All of the costumes have been made from recycled materials. Youth will parade with 800 other young people from all over the South Peninsula Communities. It will be a time to celebrate our cultural diversities.
Save the 3rd of December to watch and encourage the Youth at the Parade on the Kommetjie Road. All information for time, location on their website: http://www.emzantsi.org.za/
The Nyanganites experienced a day not to be forgotten, after hearing about the facts of drug abuse and a talk from Delcia, a recovered addict who spoke about her addiction and how she got help and stopped using. The learners have shared how badly drugs have messed up their families and communities.
Nyanga is notorious for its drug abuse and alcohol abuse and we are faced with learners dropping out of school due to this problem. We have learners who have brothers and sisters highly addicted to drugs and this workshop helped us as staff and tutors to understand better what help we can give to the learners affected by drug abuse.
A big Thank You goes to Call The Rain for running the workshop for us. Call The Rain is an organisation that specialises in storytelling. In their workshops, people share personal stories. The hope is that people will hear the message in the story and consider changing. Call the Rain is clear that they can never make the change for others; that is peoples’ own decision.
Thanks to Sabrina for making sure our Life Skills workshops are going well.
I am from Switzerland, studying Social Work back home and for my studies I have to complete two internships. The first I’ve done in Switzerland and the second one I decided to go abroad. I wanted to live somewhere for a couple of months, experience another culture, experience how Social Work works in other countries. Through people I met during previous travels, I heard about IkamvaYouth. Its now been 3 months that I have been interning here and I am enjoying my stay!
The experience is different from what I expected, but not in a bad way at all. Just different. First of all, it’s great to work in this environment. There is a big gap between my culture and the culture here in the Townships. But for me it works well. I have to accept the world turns in a different way here.
In the beginning when I arrived I was busy doing some admin stuff. There was a lot to catch up on and I played the role of “assistant Administrator” since this was the need for the Branch. I made sure I support fully and assist where needed.
Initially my idea was to do some life skills with the kids. So to start this I prepared a workshop for exam preparation. Because the (final) exams were just in front of the door. So on a Saturday we had 3 hours time to work with the kids for this purpose. We (the tutors and me) tried to implement time tables so they can plan their days, especially their study time. As we also taught them skills and what is important for studying. In the end we did some exercises to find out which type of learner they are. Doing this workshop was a really interesting experience for me planning a “workshop” from the idea to the accomplishment. I got feedbacks from some learners and tutors and I think, it was a successful day.
When I came here I didn’t know that I will tutor as well. So I’m struggling a little bit haven’t practiced many of the subjects for a while. But, if there is something to help in more familiar subjects, I absolutely enjoy it. So it’s half time for me now and I’m glad about the decision to come here and enjoy IkamvaYouth and looking forward to the next three months!
The Masiphumelele Library was a flutter with excitement on Saturday afternoon when it was announced that a very special visitor was coming to see the library and to converse with the organizations working in the library.
Welcome Camilla Parker-Bowles, The Duchess of Cornwall, wife to Prince Charles!
She arrived at 1pm, and was barely visible through the hoard of paparazzi and officials. However, when she did emerge from the crowd, she chose to sit at the table with several hard-working Ikamvanites! With heads down studying diligently for their pending matric examinations the Duchess was obviously impressed with their commitment.
Phindi Buhlungu, Vuyelwa Adonisi, Khanya Gutyana, and Anathi Bekiswa were the lucky ones who had a good chat with Camilla. They spoke about the IkamvaYouth programme, how their exams were going, how often they come to the library, why they come and what they want to do in the future. They were all impressed with her and said she was very friendly and they were proud to speak to her about IkamvaYouth.
We waved the Duchess goodbye but not before we managed to sneak a copy of Flying Colours to her! I am sure it will be viewed by the entire royal family – The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles and Camilla all snuggled up on the sofa on a Sunday evening!
Whether or not it does get viewed and whether or not she will remember the learners she spoke to, her visit highlights the importance of the Masiphumelele Library and recognises Susan Alexander’s, Thando, and Veronica’s hard work in making the library a vibrant centre of community activity. IkamvaYouth is proud to partner with the library. A big thank you to the Library Team!
UCT master’s student Thobela Bixa has won the prestigious Telluride Sidgwick-Miller Scholarship for 2011/2012, an award that will allow him to further his career at the University of Michigan in the US. Based in the Department of Chemistry, Bixa is conducting research on asymmetric synthesis, which involves the use of what’s known as chiral catalysts to synthesise biologically active compounds that are potential drug leads. “The two projects (from UCT and UM) will give me a broader experience, understanding, and knowledge of asymmetric synthesis, a current hot topic in the field of organic chemistry research,” commented Bixa on the scholarship. In picture, Bixa appears with his UCT supervisor, Prof Roger Hunter.
From UCT’s News In Brief
Over the next few weeks 20 students from Makhaza will be embarking on a pilot programme by the Khan academy. This academy is on a mission to provide free world-class education to anyone anywhere.
The Khan Academy, an educational NGO created in 2006 by Bangladeshi-American educator Salman Khan, uses over 2600 videos covering anything from basic mathematics, history, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics and computer science.
Championed and managed by Andrew Einhorn, a Potter scholar at UCT the Makhaza lab has had a complete overall, kindly co-funded by the Potter Foundation, the US Embassy and WIT.
Students can make use of the extensive video library, practice exercises, and assessments from any computer with access to the web. They can start at 1+1 and work their way into calculus or jump right into whatever topic needs some brushing up. Each problem can be broken down step-by-step through watching a related video
At Makhaza we are piloting this innovative system with the grade 9’s and 10’s involving the math part of the system. We are doing this because of the low basic numeracy skills of township learners. Our learners will cover the basics and ensure that they have the grounding they need to tackle grade-level mathematics.
Huge thanks for Andrew Einhorn, the Potter Foundation, US Embassy, and WIT for making this happen!!
Here are a few pictures of the lab upgrade in action..
Lloyd Lungu