Life officially begins!!!!!!
On the 25/11/2015 we held a preparation session for the Ikamvanites in Joza branch. Due to the common trend of students committing suicides upon discovering they’ve failed, we saw the need to equip them in advance so that they know failure is not the end but the chance to begin knowing where one went wrong in the first place.
We were blessed with the presence of two wonderful social workers who engaged with the students. The session was truly inspiring and uplifting, everyone participated in the discussion. One learner had this to say about the experience “Today was helpful and an addition concerning things I had no knowledge of.” Sibulele Moyakhe.
We plan on expanding on this collaborative effort with social development by providing all our learners the necessary support, across all grades (10-12) during the entire course of the coming year.
Thank You Social Development in Grahamstown
Someone once said, nothing great was ever achieved from a comfort zone and this proved to be true when over 300 learners woke up early on cold winter mornings to attend IkamvaYouth’s 2015 Winter School.
The morning of 29th June was filled with excitement and anticipation when 320 learners and tutors from Makhaza and Nyanga branch journeyed to the University of the Western for their two week Winter School. An entourage of 6 buses arrived at 08:30 and the Winter School kicked off with an opening and welcoming, which was done by Busiswa Dayimani and Nokukhanya Mchunu, Makhaza and Nyanga Branch Coordinators.
The lecture hall was filled to capacity by energetic bright sparks who were ready to take on their academics and to channel all the energies in the room, the learners broke into song to officially start the day. The excitement generated, inspired some talented learners to perform some acts and Aaron Mzayiya, a grade 11 learner, performed a poem for the crowd, while another group of grade 10 learners sang their hearts out for the audience. The highlight of the morning, was being joined by Neptal Khoza from Capitec (Marketing and Corporate Affairs) as our guest speaker. He delivered a talk about the importance of having a vision for your life and the significance of having people that share the same vision in your life. These are a few words from the speech given by Neptal, “Having a vision alone is not enough, what you need to do is work on a plan, a framework, of what it is that you need to do in order to achieve that. That will include the time that you need to put into studying, the time you need to attend programmes such as IkamvaYouth, the time that you need to get as much information from various sources that will help you become what you want to be.”
The first week was filled with intensive tutoring, the days began with an assembly at 08:30, where the timetable for the day was shared and tutoring commenced from 9am to 4pm. On each day tutors were given flexibility in terms of changing the timetable to accommodate the demand from the learners. In every room you spot serious faces, confused faces, determined faces and ones so engaged in the learning process.
During the lunch hour every day the tutors and staff assembled for a feedback session, which allowed the identification of problem areas that needed attention for the smooth rolling out of the programme for the remaining days. In this way the impact made was greater as focus was shifted to the subjects that learners required maximum support in.
The second week kicked off amazingly, with most matric learners joining in the fun at UWC. The timetable changed slightly as workshops were included in the afternoon schedule. Many of the learners were filled with excitement and were in awe by some of the interesting facts shared about social media, leopards and financial skills amongst many. We would like to thank Capitec for hosting a financial skills workshop with our grade 11 learners. The Cape leopard Trust, Mxit Reach, R-Labs, Robotics, Sunstep and many other individuals who shared their insight in their various areas of expertise with our eager learners.
Last but not least a huge thank you to our tutors who were incredible in the management of learners and tutoring sessions, their dedication to the mission and goal is recommendable.
(Tutors)
We admire the time, the effort, the dedication and passion that was shown by the learners, volunteers, guests, workshop facilitators, caterers and everyone who was involved to ensure that Winter School was a success.
What an exciting event to experience!
The Year Beyond programme has just had its very first successful winter school for 300 learners run by a group of 36 highly motivated volunteers. Winter school is a way of introducing our young learners 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.
Our winter schools were held at Phoenix, Manyano, ID Mkhize, and Oval North High Schools. We were hosted with warmth and the learners thoroughly enjoyed the experience. With the learners having never been to an established winter school programme, the experience unlocked their eyes and minds to a new sphere of possibilities.
Winter Schools are not like the daily routine of a normal school day, instead it’s about intensive tutoring and different workshops focussed on equipping the students with a sense of independence as well as ensuring that they leave with the confidence and understanding in mind, knowing that it starts with self. The activities and workshops were aligned with the intention of developing our learner’s leadership skills, level of awareness, valuing self and importantly raising awareness of the social issues affecting youth and the preventative actions that are available to them.
Tutoring
The core component of Year Beyond winter school is the academic content. Learners received 2 hour intensive tutoring sessions with a variety of tutoring resources including; past papers, mock exams and Answer Series study guides, English (Fundza) and Math (Olico) Fundamentals.
Workshops
In addition to the academic emphasis, the winter school provided an opportunity for a number of workshops around themes relating to general life-skills, HIV/Aids awareness, filmmaking and personal presentation skills. Learners were also exposed to information helpful to choosing subjects when they start grade 10.
The varied workshops included; Peers in Sexual Health running workshops about teenage pregnancy / STIs/ HIV information and training through experiential games and role plays; UCT Health Faculty who ran TB awareness and movie screening for health awareness; a workshop from Live Magazine on how to build a newsletter and magazine, while Rae Human and partners gave a presentation from the Film and Publication Board covering topics like cyber safety, the film industry and the Board as national regulator that were geared towards enlightening learners to the dangers of the media landscape. Students filmed their own short documentary through crash courses in sound, lighting and directing. UCT Humanities Faculty ran subject choice workshops and requirements to access post school institutions, and many learners went on an excursion to the Jewish Museum which aimed to create an understanding, gain knowledge and an appreciation of religious and cultural diversity within our society, and to respect the dignity, rights and values of people from different religions and cultures.
Combination of Schools
As the old adage goes; two hands are better than one and combining two schools per cluster was the winning idea. Manyano high school combined with Intlanganiso high school at Manyano and Tafelsig combined with Oval North at Oval North High. Additionally, Phoenix combined with Heideveld at Phoenix and ID Mkhize combined with Leiden high at ID Mkhize high school. At this point it’s where we could see the excitement on learners’ face when they were introduced to their peers from different schools. Peer to peer support was the tool that was used by tutors to ensure learners supported one another, but also in building a culture of hard work and being responsible to and for each other.
A huge thanks to all the workshop facilitators, tutors and learners – Your passion, commitment, excitement and leadership shown over this time has started to set a precedent in the schools, instilling a culture of hard work and belief in the possibility of a bright and beautiful future!
IkamvaYouth joined various stakeholders on the 26th of February 2015 in a Community Engagement meeting organised by the University of Johannesburg’s Community Engagement Department.
The stakeholders meeting, attended in representation to IkamvaYouth by Clemence Msindo (Ivory Park Branch Coordinator) tackled various issues that affect education and developments as well as strategic objectives to counter attack these barriers. In attendance to meeting were representatives of civil organisations that support education around the Gauteng region, School principals and UJ student reps and officials who were all afforded a chance to present about their works.
IkamvaYouth was given a chance to present its works, successes and challenges. The presentation which included showcasing of the Funeka video left all delegates eager to know more about, and join hands with IkamvaYouth. Invitations were extended by at least three principals for IkamvaYouth to open branches close to their schools and were however encouraged to use the IkamvaYouth model on their own and with help from volunteers they manage to source out.
The UJ Community Engagement Manager Mrs Ernestine Meyer-Adams expressed concern over our works and shortage of volunteers and promised to do all she can to drive a concrete partnership with IkamvaYouth where we see UJ recruiting and transporting volunteers from all three UJ campuses around Johannesburg to nearby IkamvaYouth branches on every Saturday sessions. Efforts had been made for UJ to provide volunteer tutors at their expense in 2014 but later failed to mature due to challenges in lack of follow-ups due to staff turnout.
The Ivory park branch has submitted a partnership proposal as per request by UJ’s Community Engagement Department officials, Mrs Ernestine Meyer Adams and Community Engagement Liaison Specialist Mrs Rachel Monki Sebigi. We give much thanks to Dr Welcome Kubeka of the University of Johannesburg for his long time volunteering delivering study skills sessions with the Ivory Park and Ebony Park branches and for initiating IkamvaYouth’s involvement in UJ programmes.
“It takes a village to raise a child… IkamvaYouth has been a second parent to my child, guiding and mentoring him to become disciplined and improve his marks. ”, said Mrs Khumalo, a parent for Mbuso Khumalo, a grade 11 learner who won a school bag for Best attendance Male learner award on the Ivory Park Open day prize giving event.
Parents poured in on the 7th of March 2015 to find out the truth behind the IkamvaYouth programmes their children are committed to at the Ivory Park branch. The meeting which was dominated by presentations, questions, testimonies and discussions between parents and IkamvaYouth staff provided a vision and reason for parents to actively participate through support to their children to be disciplined and focus as well as improving attendance to keep their spot at IkamvaYouth as there is much benefit through it. 85 parents attended the meeting marking the highest parents meeting attendance since 2014 when the branch had many challenges. Most of the attendants were parents of the newly enrolled learners as they were eager to learn more about IkamvaYouth.
There was high participation and energy within the parents making the meeting effective with some strategic planning to improve branch operations. The parents agreed to support IkamvaYouth by keeping in touch with IkamvaYouth staff reporting and inquiring about every challenges and successes they notice with our learners. Agreement was reached as well that the parents would report anything with regards to learner attendance which will lessen learner administration workload on IkamvaYouth staff.
Issues of indemnity we also discussed and parents were informed about the importance of signing indemnity forms ahead of special events and travel for leaners initiated by IkamvaYouth. Great support was promised with parents agreeing to monitor and enforce the learners to attend winter school fully and also encouraging grade 12 learners to attend the best of the time they get outside the SSIP programme. Parents encouraged IkamvaYouth staff to compile a list of all learners who attend IkamvaYouth programmes and have the list kept at schools or pasted on school staffrooms for educators to release the learners for IkamvaYouth programmes where school afternoon classes bind learners’ attendance.
Dr Welcome Kubaka from University of Johannesburg blessed the meeting with some words of motivation to parents testifying that he grew up in Tembisa Township from a very poor background and still used every opportunity he got to rise up to prominence. The next parents meeting was scheduled for the sixth of June 2015 with follow up matters being discussed regarding set goals and targets. Great thanks to parents for their support over IkamvaYouth programmes and response to IkamvaYouth meetings which propels us to greater achievements through their input to successfully operate.
Simplice Kamen-Payong, one of our longest serving volunteer tutors shared a touching testimony to parents of how he changed his profession to teaching. Kamen Completed his Masters in Business and Financial Management with UJ and is curently doing a Diploma in Teaching. According to Kameni, he got touched by the poor educational conditions in Ivory Park Township and with the love he received from Ikamvanites, he felt he could do better teaching kids to enlighten their futures.
It’s not often that our volunteer tutors get the opportunity to attend skills workshops that have been arranged exclusively for them. The Shell Volunteer Day, on the 4th of March 2015, was therefore a much appreciated occasion, where employees from the company took time out from their day, to spend with our Ikamvanites, sharing vital skills for entering the job market. This event was organized and made possible by the Charities Aid Foundation Southern Africa (CAF SA). During the workshop, facilitated by Nandi Ngubeni from CAF SA, Ikamvanites gained important knowledge about how to write CVs and cover letters, how to conduct oneself in an interview, and basic professionalism tips such as telephone etiquette.
Here’s what some of them had to say about the experience:
“Thank you very much for a great educational fun filled morning guys. I really enjoyed being around you, learning about you and what you do and hearing different views of the world at work really enjoyed the company and the advice of my team Prudence ,Snazo, and Shakira had lots of fun. I learnt a lot as well and got some tips too. I received good feedback and constructive criticism which will help me when I write my cover letter and CV. I loved the mock interview the most as it kept me on my toes and I got to expand the knowledge I already know. Thank you for taking time out of your busy days to come I received a great deal of motivation.”
~Nokukhanya Ngcobo
“Firstly, I would like to appreciate Shell for the workshop we benefited a lot,we have learnt the tips of how to apply using emails, Sunday Times, employment agencies and how to write a cv and cover letter. And what is expected of us when we go to an interview. They also did mock-interviews with us practically, and learnt that when I am at the interview, I must get straight to the point, and to be myself.”
~Gciniwe Zulu
“I would like to send a special Thank You to the CAF and SHELL people for uniting and spending some quality time with us. I appreciated each and every moment, we had fun with those 30 second cards, i learned a lot especially on how to to a Cover Letter, (An Enormous THANK YOU to the kind and beautiful lady who was helping me with it). Thanks to the IKAMVA YOUTH for having me, Thanks to the lady who organised and Thanks to everyone who made yesterday special.”
~Sfundo Mthembu
“To the CAF and SHELL thank you very much 4 such amazing thing u did for me, I never thought of the importance of a covering letter before. Today I have a better understanding of the important of covering letter and a CV. Guys what you did for me is good, keep it up and pass it to other because a lot of people lose their dream jobs because of the covering letter. To you all of the people from CAF and SHELL I THANK YOU N I SALUTE YOU”
~Gugu Shabalala
It wasn’t just important skills that were shared on this day, Shell also donated some much needed stationery and learning materials to the Chesterville branch! I would like to take this opportunity to thank CAF SA and Shell for the generous support. It really is through partnerships with dedicated, like-minded organisations and companies that we can make Vision 2030 a reality.
Lloyd Lungu