Makhaza Winter School

Today was the first day of winter school, the day all the learners, tutors and volunteers were waiting for! You could see the excitement on the faces of everyone that arrived at Upper Campus on Monday. This week the learners are based in the Arts Block on Upper Campus at UCT. We have a lot of international volunteers helping us this year from all over the world – Hong Kong, India, Canada, the Netherlands, China, as well as many ex matrics from 2012 coming back as first time tutors.

One of our grade 8 learners said, “ I loved coming to UCT with my friends this morning – we had a great time in the bus. Seeing these amazing buildings and the campus motivates me to get great marks and get a degree in Science from UCT – I’m se excited for winter school!”

Thi week we have various workshops happening, one of the very contentious ones were when students were divided into two groups and were asked to debate for/against on topics like HIV Testing, legalisation of drugs and life imprisonment. I was surprised to hear some of the issues that learners brought up, showing the knowledge and reasoning skills they posses.

Other workshops this week are centred around various subjects – Science and Technology, Media and Journalism, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Helath and Life Skills and Creative Expression. On Monday I was in the Entrepreneurship workshop that was held by Justin, an Entrepreneur and a manager of a Consulting company. He said, “I am very excited about lecturing to these students today. I had a similar childhood and did not come from a wealthy family. A lot of these students may end up being future entrepreneurs like me. Its just a push, confidence and awareness they need.”

Capitec bank provided a morning workshop where learners were exposed to the skills that the employers look for in applicants and career guidance was provided with resume writing and interview skills. Andrea Sanke is running history workshop for the 2 weeks which is was very interesting to the learners. This week she was lecturing on the different government styles in different parts of the world. She told the students about the importance of knowing about history, different cultures and how they have shaped the world we live in. One of the learners said, “I feel that I know so much more about Africa now and the struggle some countries went through including South Africa to be what it is today.” This week Reel Lives are also providing workshops – they are using media to support education, empowerment and social change. Learners got the opportunity to watch videos that were made by other Ikamvanites.