This is your September 2018 Alumni Newsletter, sit tight, we have some awesome news for you!
As we celebrate Heritage Day with our loved ones, let’s take time to acknowledge and appreciate all the beautiful, diverse cultures in our communities, with a spirit of tolerance.
“Our rich and varied cultural heritage has a profound power to help build our nation. “ – Nelson Mandela
Alumni Events
At the end of August, and throughout the month of September 2018, the Alumni were kept busy with various engaging and interactive events and activities:-
Alumni Workshops
Two Alumni workshops were held at the Afrika Tikkun centre at Mfuleni, Western Cape and at a venue in Pretoria, Gauteng respectively, in order to clarify and unpack the purpose of the programme, assess what has been done thus far and define the objectives of this programme. It was established that the Alumni Programme differs from the other Afrika Tikkun programmes in that it targets people who have graduated from these programmes. The workshops were also used to develop a structure for the Alumni programme that is democratic and participatory.
Career Development Programme Review Workshop – 4 September 2018
Afrika Tikkun is in the process of evaluating and innovating its career development and placement (CDP) programme that currently provides ICT training, career guidance, job-readiness training, as well as specialised training in the retail, hospitality and IT (coding) sectors. In addition, the CDP programme sources job placement opportunities for those trained that includes entry-level jobs, Learnerships, internships and work experience placement opportunities with our partners.
As key stakeholders in the Afrika Tikkun CDP, 20 Alumni, who are graduates of the CDP programme, were invited to participate in this evaluation and ideation workshop.
The workshop was facilitated by Youth Lab in order to illicit and consolidate the insights and experiences of the programme by our Alumni. One of the key outcomes of the workshop was to gain a deeper understanding of the needs and aspirations that our young people have for the future of the programme to ensure that the programme meets its core mandate of youth career development and employment.
Awesome Opportunities for Alumni
Global Citizen Festival SA 2018 – Take action and stand the chance to win FREE tickets!
We are so excited to finally reveal that we have partnered with Global Citizen to give our Alumni more opportunities to take positive advocacy actions in their communities, help end extreme poverty on local and global issues, and stand a chance to attend the historic Mandela 100 Global Citizen Festival. The festival will take place in Johannesburg on 2 December, 2018, with Beyoncé, JAY-Z, Cassper Nyovest, Tiwa Savage, and many more amazing artists; read about the full line-up here.
We will be facilitating various activities and opportunities at the Afrika Tikkun Centres between now and the end of November 2018 that will give you an opportunity to work towards winning your tickets to this once-in-a lifetime Global Citizen event! Look out for the upcoming SMSs giving you all the details.
For information on 2018/ 2019 SA Government scholarships to apply for, click here…
What should we call our Alumni?
Click here to vote for your favourite Alumni programme name from those nominated at the Alumni launch earlier this year. Results will be announced in November 2018.
Look out for those Global Citizen activities SMSs and other fantastic updates, competitions and workshops planned for our Alumni in the next newsletter!
If you have any queries or ideas regarding the Alumni programme please email: vuyelwam@afrikatikkun.org
Afrika Tikkun’s Spelling Bee Championship develops academic excellence, a spirit of competition and a sense of achievement in its children and young people. It teaches spelling, language, grammar, comprehension and even history.
It instils pride and self- confidence. Be a part of growing our next generation of achievers and champions, and encouraging a culture of learning in South African townships. Support the Afrika Tikkun Spelling Bee Championship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8BMPc3-C4g“Five extremely worthy finalists from each of the 4 age categories have earned the right to compete at the final stage of the Afrika Tikkun Spelling Bee Championship.
Remember these children outlasted dozens of competitors to make it to this stage.
One of these bright minds in each age category will win the title of Afrika Tikkun Spelling Bee Champion together with a range of donated prizes. Donate a email prize
Make their dreams come true!
Adopt the contestant you think is going to take the title of champion. Follow, share, like and donate. The Spelling Bee finalist with the most likes, shares and donations wins a prize for their Centre! All proceeds go to Afrika Tikkun and support the development of the 2500 children and young people benefitting from the Cradle to Career 360° programme during their school years.
Every Friday at 4pm our young people will live stream practice spelling sessions. Tune in on facebook (www.facebook/afrikatikkun) and give your finalists spelling tips and practice words to spell. Watch Ntando Mbikwana do a practice session at our Mfuleni Centre.
Join us on October 20 for the Spelling Bee Finals and support your finalist!
Would you like to help Afrika Tikkun make this day possible?
Supporting excellence in educational achievement is an investment that will bring sustained change to our country and help to end child poverty.
Spelling Bee Resources
Thinking of encouraging our kids? Here are some references to help you give our young people the best advice.
Thomas Taole, pictured centre above with Msizi Yende and Simphiwe Ntombela at the recent REDHUB series where they did well, has coached sport for the last 30 years at some of the best private schools in Johannesburg. Today he develops the sport careers of township youth through Afrika Tikkun. He discusses some of the challenges and opportunities available to young people who want to develop careers as athletes and sports administrators in SA today.
“School sports in the township is dying a slow death if it isn’t dead already,” Taole declares. “But for South Africa to see the level and number of professional sports players it needs, we need to begin with ensuring the resources and facilities are present in the townships. And here, we are not talking only about facilities, but human resources as well”.
The handful of young people identified by talent scouts and taken in by the private schools is a small percentage of what South Africa could be producing if the disadvantaged communities were more appropriately resourced. A key solution to the lack of sports development is that physical education is not offered as a subject at schools.
“I work at private schools in Johannesburg simply because they are able to pay me. Township school teachers are overwhelmed, overworked and most importantly not trained to teach sport,” Thomas argues. Physical Education is 5% of Life Orientation, and it is being taught by individuals, who are not trained in physical education. They lack the technical know-how to develop athletes. “I stand for the re-institution of physical education into the curriculum, and we are working with a team at the North West University led by Professor Dorita Du Toit to campaign for the return of Physical Education to schools.
It is common for facilities to be built without the appropriate human resources put in place. Tennis courts and cricket grounds should not be built for example, without providing training in those sports at the same time. Moreover, there needs to be training on how to manage and maintain those facilities. “You find people don’t know what to do with those facilities – they use them for weddings, church and funerals and the people who are meant to be benefitting do not,” Taole explains.
Young people wanting to build sports careers as athletes or in sport administration, and who hail from townships face a significant challenge from these complications, as well as from the less obvious challenges, like the expense required to be involved in local and provincial sports. For example, three years ago, Afrika Tikkun had five girls who made the team to represent the district in netball. They were called for training at the University of Pretoria to represent the province. “They had the talent, but neither we as an organisation nor their parents had the capacity or resources to get them there in the evenings – so that is where their career ended,” he confesses.
Sugarboy Malinga teaching boxing to young people.
When a young person represents province, they stand a good chance of being scouted for scholarships to play sports at university level – which in turn is an opportunity for young people to use their talent in order to get an education. But because they were not able to get to Pretoria for their training, all this was lost to these five young women. Similarly, sports administration courses also require hidden costs like transport, accommodation etc. making this career option prohibitive for young people in townships and rural areas.
To solve this problem, Afrika Tikkun approached CATHSSETA – the SETA responsible for sports development – to offer sports administration skills development training at Afrika Tikkun centres in townships. We are in five communities and this would have enabled the SETA to train young people in sports administration on a large scale – without incurring the prohibitive costs in transport and accommodation. Internal changes at the company resulted in the project being abandoned.
Afrika Tikkun shifted its strategy, and today is building partnerships with tertiary institutions to offer bursaries, including Boston College, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) and the North-West University (NWU).
Another important consideration is that children and young people need holistic support in order to be able to play sports (not least to go far in sports). Children and young people need to be able to eat in order to exercise. To children who are hungry, sports is simply not an option. The basic needs of the child are fundamentally important, and take priority. For that reason, government should ideally be partnering with organisations that support the 360° development of the child’s nutritional, health and psycho-social needs.
This is particularly true for young people who want to pursue a career in athletics or sports. Take Khanya Sibanda, he has been with Afrika Tikkun since the age of 5. He is out of school, and is training (as best he can) to compete in the Tokyo Olympics in Track and Field (800m and 1.5km races). In order for him to succeed, he will need a professional team to support him – and it will be costly. He will need access to a gym, a physiotherapist and a personal dietician to ensure he is getting the right nutrition for optimal performance. The institutions who are there to help don’t favour underdogs like Khanya, and instead will invest all their resources into athletes training at elite institutions. Had Khanya been exposed to physical education at school he would be 50% there already, because of his natural talent – but he did not get that.
Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates Development Support starts at 15 – but, argues Taole, that is at least ten years too late – all the bad habits have already been acquired and they are not going to change at that age. Any development programme for sport needs to start at age five; and the aspiring athlete needs to put at least 10 000 hours into becoming a top performer. “As a country we are being reactionary in our response to the challenge of transformation in sports” argues Taole. “We are not solving at the grassroots level. That is why Afrika Tikkun’s model of 360° development from the age of two upwards is the best solution – expensive though it may be.”
To really make an impact on sports development, requires a co-ordinated effort from all stakeholders, which at the moment we don’t get right. “That is why you don’t see many people able to build the kind of career I have been able to build over the last thirty years, today,” Thomas explains.
But through his efforts all this is starting to change. “For the last ten years, my career has been focused on developing young people into the career of sports coaching and movement. I have trained and placed 20 young people into good entry-level coaching jobs at private schools and movement companies.” One example of someone who benefitted from Thomas’ support at Afrika Tikkun, is Thabiso Peloeng who started out on a Learnership at Afrika Tikkun. “We saw his passion and talent in coaching and sent him on further training, and sent him to London to compete in a Triathlon. He eventually became qualified to coach under-7s and today works for a company earning more than four times what he was earning with us.”
Through partnerships he is building, today Thomas is poised to direct many more young people into careers in sports and sports administration. For the organisation, this capacity begins with recruiting passionate and qualified individuals to train Afrika Tikkun’ s young people, and then equipping them with a considered physical education curriculum. Afrika Tikkun has recruited the assistance of experts like Professor Dorita Du Toit to contribute to a sports education curriculum and training materials for its young people. This will go some way towards helping the organisation to ensure that young people with talent are identified early and put on pathways for sport careers, both here and abroad.
Afrika Tikkun has also experienced some success with the City of Johannesburg in the establishment of district-level netball leagues. With the support of the City of Jo’burg, and the Johannesburg Netball Association, it established netball leagues in Region F (inner-city Johannesburg), Region E (Alexandra) and Region A (Diepsloot).
“We put these leagues in place to enable regular and weekly competition for our netball teams. In order for our young people to get into university on netball scholarships, it is very important that when scouts see them, they are competent players and good athletes – who have been competing at the right level,” Taole explains.
Through this partnership, resources are shared in such a way that it allows the community at large to benefit directly and thereby overcome its resource challenge with regard to Netball. Another example of strategic partnerships is Palesa Holdings, who saw the Netball League success in Region F, and contacted Afrika Tikkun to help. They came and offered financial management training for the sports team to enable them to manage budgets.
“We realise that what we want to achieve is ambitious, but our team has been built to a point where we can achieve this for our young people,” Taole explains with a mixture of passion, and sober preparedness for the work that lies ahead. “I am doing today what I was doing at the age of 13, and that was 38 years ago. People would dismiss me and say, “he is just a child”. It is all thanks to the help of many different people along the way who played a part into developing me, and saw my passion. Anyone who wants a career in sports needs this kind of support and this is what we want to provide on a much larger scale to our young people through Afrika Tikkun, and with the help of partners.”
“We have had many failures and disappointments along the way. There have been times when we
have not been able to find the resources we require to do the work, or when partners or stakeholders do not share the vision or the will; but we are making progress,” says Thomas. What is certain, is that the task requires an appreciation of the big picture – that it starts at grassroots; but more than that we need to appreciate the specifics.
It’s all in the details – coordination and cooperation is required across private, public and civic sectors; as well as between basic education and tertiary education – so that career pathways can be designed per individual and that the process is facilitated as smoothly as possible. We also need to ensure young people are supported 360° throughout their lives – most especially if they have the raw talent to really achieve. Expertise in this field is essential – from the educators to the curriculum, to government. Sports is a source of tremendous consumer interest and national pride. With the right investment it can be used to change the conversation we have about ourselves as a country, to excel as we have the capability to do internationally, and to grow the GDP.
To fight poverty, the world should invest in Africa’s youth – Bill Gates
The billionaire philanthropist put forward a ‘simple idea’ that investing in the health and education of Africa’s younger generation would help tackle poverty.
UNITED NATIONS – The world should help Africa invest in its people as the continent confronts a demographic boom, said billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, whose foundation released its annual report on Tuesday.
Gates put forward a “simple idea” that investing in the health and education of Africa’s younger generation would help tackle poverty.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation released its annual “Goalkeepers” report measuring progress towards achieving the United Nation’s poverty-reducing goals in 2030, based on an assessment of 18 key indicators.
While poverty is receding globally, the demographic boom could stall that progress and it could even rise, the report warns.
“If those investments are made in the right way,” said the report, young Africans would contribute to the economy and the population growth would likely diminish, as has been the case in other countries.
A projection of poverty rates in the report showed that by 2050, more than 40% of extremely poor people in the world will live in just two countries: The Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
“The particular challenge of the population growth in Africa leads to a simple idea that the world should help Africa invest in its human capital, and that means both the health and the education of this young generation coming up in Africa,” Gates told journalists.
In its annual assessment, the foundation cited progress from Brazil on nutrition, Indonesia for family planning and Vietnam for the quality of education.
Bill and Melinda Gates will co-host an event in New York next week, on the sidelines of the gathering of world leaders at the United Nations, to highlight their campaign for investing in youth
“To date I have 42 medals and 10 trophies to my name; including ‘Best Player of the Year twice in a row, and three ‘Player of the Tournament’ awards. I have competed in soccer, netball, tennis and athletics, and it goes without saying that I was born to play. Is it fair to say I love sports?” Rosina Mohlapamaswi.
Meet 18-year-old Rosinah, who is currently in Matric. Rosinah started playing sports at the age of six when she was signed up for athletics at her school.
“It was the first time I ever won a medal and a sporting certificate – I had to feel like that again and I did”.
At the age of nine she started taking an interest in netball, and has not stopped playing since. During her high school career, she registered at Afrika Tikkun, Uthando Centre, with the hope of improving her academic and personal development.
There Rosinah was introduced to Coach Dominic Moitsi, “…Coach is also my mentor, he taught me everything I know about sports and life in general. Through his mentoring, I have met amazing people who have become like family to me”, she explained.
“Netball used to be my coping mechanism whenever I felt sad. I would just go downstairs and start playing with the children in my flat. They had no clue about the sport so I would pass around the ball and teach them the rules of the game, before I knew it, it would be dark and my mood would have improved”.
Rosinah decided long ago to pursue Sports Management at the University of Johannesburg.
“This is the only career path that will maintain my connection to my passion. I also love teaching and developing young people through sports; and so through this qualification, I will be in a position to offer mentoring and coaching to young people like myself.”
When she gets her degree, the world will be her oyster – and Rosina is dreaming big.
“I want to transform communities through sports and recreation. I believe that you have to start with the little things in order to make bigger moves and ultimately change the world
I would love to be the leading woman in sports in my community and eventually in the country, to represent my country like Caster Semenya”.
Rosinah has been recognised by Uthando Centre for her hard work and contribution to sports, her achievements include being awarded the ‘Best Centre Player’ twice and also receiving ‘Woman of the Match’ during a tournament.
She keeps all her medals and certificates to motivate her to go after her ultimate dream.
The Young Urban Women Netball Leagues aim to prepare Young Girls for Career Pathways
Cradle to Sports Career
In partnership with the City of Joburg, Afrika Tikkun has established district-level netball leagues in Region F (inner-city Johannesburg), Region E (Alexandra) and Region A (Diepsloot). “We put these leagues in place to enable regular and weekly competition for our netball teams. In order for our young people to get into university on netball scholarships, it is very important that when scouts see them, they are competent players and good athletes – who have been competing at the right level,” Taole explains.
Meet Captain of the Netball team for U-17 in Alexandra
“Netball Captain Siphesihle hopes to become a Neuro-Surgeon one day.”
My name is Siphesihle Hope Kubeka. I am 17, was born and bred in Alexandra Township and doing Grade 11 at Realogile High School. I am zealous about everything I do, especially my school work, and I’m very optimistic. With each and every obstacle I encounter, I make pretty sure that I overcome it. I am multi-talented, an excellent netball player, and enjoy debate, Spelling Bee and reading novels.
I was introduced to Afrika Tikkun by my friend Izanokuhle Zasekhaya, who always encouraged me to attend Afrika Tikkun. The day I realised that I was struggling with mathematics, is the day I decided to come to Afrika Tikkun, which I proudly declare as my home today. Ever since I joined Afrika Tikkun, my life has completely changed for the better. Today, I am a great leader because of Afrika Tikkun’s motivation and skills. I am a mentee as well as a peer educator.
Afrika Tikkun brought the best out in me because today I am also the best netball player (if I have to say so myself). When I came to Afrika Tikkun I did not know how to play netball but now I know
how to play all the positions now. My best position is Goal Keeper (GK). My centre taught me discipline, consistency and dedication which are the main reasons we won the Netball Match on Talent Day.
My netball role model is Joane Harten who is one of the top netball players in UK. I can simply say that she inspires me in every way. I was so overwhelmed by our victory on Talent Day. Not to say that I underestimated our opponents, but I always knew that we were going to succeed. The greatest feeling was when we ran for our trophy at the stadium, being recognised and then walking away with our trophy held high. Now, together with the team, we are looking forward to proudly collecting all the trophies. With the support I receive from Afrika Tikkun I believe and trust that I will go far.
Legacy of Sandi, Blooms and Grows at Afrika Tikkun
The Garden to Kindergarten programme that kicked off Friday, 31 August at Afrika Tikkun’s Centre in Orange Farm celebrates the life of Sandi Jacobson. In memory of their dear sister, Steve Jacobson and his sister Val Mardon have begun the Garden to Kindergarten Programme and Campaign at Afrika Tikkun. It embraces Sandi’s primary passions: growing vegetables and growing young minds and bodies. The programme will improve the lives and prospects of very young South Africans by teaching them organic gardening.
Sandi Jacobson, aka Millie Khumalo, was born in Durban, South Africa in 1957. There was never much that was conventional about Sandi. At 18, she was living in a village called Sekonyela in the Maluti Mountains of Lesotho, working with the local community. It was there that she developed skills in, and a passion for growing vegetables.
Her pacifist philosophy was fundamentally challenged in the 1980’s when a number of her close friends were executed by SADF commandos. She joined Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military arm of the ANC and operated in exile till mid-1991.
Apart from vegetable-growing and her core convictions on social justice, her other passion was children. She spent five years working in early childhood development. At the age of forty, she finally decided to do something for herself and bought a small organic veggie farm with her husband, Winston and a friend, Steve. Devastatingly, her joy of working with the soil again was short-lived when she was murdered on 31 October 1997.
“The aim is to teach children about the principles of organic gardening,” explains the Project Coordinator Tim Abaa, “including the values of equality and the fair distribution of resources. But of course the learning applications from gardening spans across the entire curriculum.”
Ultimately, the vision is to stir up a passion for agriculture as a career path. “Most youngsters do not like farming and agriculture as a career option – they see it as something that doesn’t pay well, but there are many career paths in farming. You can be a statistician, a dietician, a scientist. When you look in our communities, most people are unemployed and rely on grants. How do we help them to save their little money by planting vegetable gardens of their own?”
The Garden to Kindergarten programme will see learners aged two to six years in Early Childhood Development (ECD) classes at Arekopaneng Centre in Orange Farm get involved in the garden. They will learn about the importance of the environment, the lifecycle of plants, how that same fresh produce is part of their daily sustenance and about healthy eating in general.
The programme is three-pronged. It educates the Grade Rs, their parents and their teachers. At school, teachers are taught how to interate organic gardening into the curriculum. At home, parents can cultivate gardens with their children so that as they grow up children can develop lifelong abilities in the garden.
Tim Abaa continues, “we want the children to be warriors in the war on poverty. They should be able to look after their community, their families and themselves. With productive communities, the country’s economy will grow. People must create employment on their own, and we want to give them the skills to do that from an early age.” No mere vegetable garden – this programme gives families the skills to be authors of their own life, “Garden to Kindergarten is setting this foundation for them at a time when climate change and economic inequality is making innovation in the agricultural sector more important than ever before.”
The Jacobson family and Afrika Tikkun have launched the Garden to Kindergarten programme at the Arekopaneng Centre of Excellence in Orange Farm, and aim to raise funds to continue the programme indefinitely and roll it out at Afrika Tikkun’s other four Centres of Excellence in Joburg and Cape Town.
The official launch of the programme will be held at the Arekopaneng Orange Farm Centre on Thursday, 8 November 2018 with a harvest lunch and tour of the garden with ECD learners and the Jacobson family.
