November 2015

November has been yet another good period in our successful year. This month we have seen a number of projects in which the ICDM's dedicated youth have been involved. We thankful to Oliver from Bremerhaven who ran in a marathon in Germany to gain sponsorship for the ICDM.  We also made a very good connection with the organisation, Sail Africa through our neighbour Tim from Inchanga.   Mondli attended the Wältwet Conference in Cape Town. We are also happy to share with you that our Number Nine New Beginners’ Team is also growing through the programs we run there, including the weekend support group with Hlengiwe. In addition we are happy to say that the ICDM have begun to invite even more international volunteers to support our work.

Oliver, through the support from the Bremen Track and Field, had the opportunity to run the Comrades Marathon and while he was in Durban he decided to visit Isithumba where he was introduced to the ICDM. He fell in love with the organization and resolved to support our good work. Back in Germany he ran a marathon held in Bremerhaven in mid-November in support of the ICDM.  We are very happy to see that our international partnerships grow through the word of mouth and that our work is being acknowledged.

Through a meeting called by eThekwini Municipality's Sport and Recreation Department, we have been very lucky to meet with the Sail Africa Team, a youth development foundation. During the month of November we were given an opportunity to take our Number Nine and Isithumba youth to the Durban port where Sail Africa runs its sailing lessons for youngsters. Because the team from Sail Africa understand the complexity of our work they decided to help the ICDM team with the Bike Program and we are very happy to be in such a productive partnership. When the Number Nine Team members reported back on their visits to Sail Africa they said that they were astonished to see the activities taking place at the Durban port and that this was an eye-opening experience for them. They promised to take up the chance offered by Sail Africa to learn how to sail, to engage in team work and to enable personal development.

The Number Nine's New Beginners Team have proven that they can take the sports centre forward through their dedication to the programs offered by the ICDM.  In early November they had a meeting with the councillors’ office where they presented a report about the challenges that they have faced in getting the sports centre to become what it is now. They are highly determined and they are willing to help to develop their community. The support groups have also helped this group to understand each other better as the youth engage on different matters on every Tuesday of the week.

There have been a number of other activities happening at the ICDM.  Although it is now the school holidays the kids are still coming to the centre and doing sports. Our trainers are also busy running different activities which help the organization to grow. We are also planning and running programs that deal with climate change and as soon as we have more concrete details of them we will share them with you.

Our hard working Mondli Buthelezi had a chance to go to Cape Town, where he attended a conference on partnerships between various German and South African organizations. Such networking is very critical for the growth of our organization. Mondli was given a chance to engage with other organization leaders on a number of issues facing the Civil Society Organization in South Africa and in Germany.

We are looking forward to hosting our short term international volunteers. They will all contribute towards growing our organization internationally.  We are currently looking for support for provision of a replacement car to enable us to run our activities and would like to hear from anyone who is able to help us with this matter.

Remember:

We are ICDM, we are the future!

October 2015

The month of October has been a very important month in the life of the ICDM. We have witnessed a number of events to which were very beneficial to us and to others. We continued with our mission of trying to get the Number Nine Sports Centre to work and to run programs.  We started support groups together with Hlengiwe, a social worker from Kwamkhizwane, welcomed Kristin to her new home (ICDM), ran sports events and hosted the German 2015 group of volunteers.

After seeing such an amazing venue like the Inkosi Msinga Sports Centre being vandalised on a daily basis the ICDM took it as its responsibility to get it back running.   There are challenges that make this problematic and so the ICDM, through its Number Nine New Beginning team, is conducting research that will help identify as to what makes people involved in destroying such a building.

We are very happy with the youths’ dedication in attending the trainings on a Monday to Friday basis and we can now happy to say that we have a team that is willing to do something positive concerning this Centre.

The support groups are aimed at giving the leaders a chance to engage with the one another on issues that affect the everyday life of their own area.   Attendance has been really good and all discussions have been really beneficial. We have discussed topics such as substance abuse and teenage pregnancy, just to mention a few. One of the practical difficulties we have is that we have no chairs at the sports centre.  Such support groups really help to get the youth feeling that they are the driving force of their own lives and therefore are the people who should lead their own communities. We look forward to support in continuing with these groups so we can really see positive outcomes from them. 

Kristin comes to the ICDM as a volunteer from Germany. She is going to be dealing with the administration of the organisation and networking with all our German stakeholders. We welcomed her with a netball and soccer tournament. Kristin participated in the netball matches and did very well for someone that never played the sport.

The ICDM is part of the South Africa host organizations for the German Weltwearts volunteers.  It is a tradition that all volunteers get a chance to visit one another's projects as encouraged by the IGR department of EThekwini Municipality. So we hosted the groups of volunteers who enjoyed a tour around Isithumba followed by sporting activities later on the day.

We are hoping that in our next newsletter we will be telling you good news about the installation of the solar system at our centre. For regular updates please don't hesitate to visit our friendly Facebook page Isithumba community development movement.

We are ICDM, we are the future!

September 2015

This month of September went really fast.  We completed the ‘Lead through Youth’ program, welcomed Siphelele Sibisi and confirmed that our volunteer Kirstin will join us in the month of October. We are very happy to be welcoming our new volunteer Kirstin, we believe that she will play a critical role in developing the administration part of our organization.

We have also appointed leaders to lead the ICDM in the following positions: the Facility and Equipment Manager, Programs Manager, Administrator and the Communications and Liaison Officer.  The appointment of all the different section managers have proven to be helpful in the everyday functioning of the ICDM programs.

After finishing the Vuleka ‘Lead  through Youth’ program, we have placed Siphelele to train the youths to become trainers at the Inkosi Msinga Sports Centre.   Siphelele has already introduced basketball and will be introducing soccer training to the trainees soon.  This will ensure us that the ICDM has a strong team running programs in Number Nine and its surroundings.

                                       

Apart from the smooth running of the organization during this month we have been really happy to have hosted the DCP/ nGale photographers. They visited the ICDM for a two day project and we await some photos from them so we can put them up in our offices and for other purposes. We used this opportunity to also give the Number Nine youth a chance to design this two day program and be an active part of such activities.     

                                                                                                      

                      

In addition we are still finalizing documents with regards to the Adsolar project. Visit our Facebook page for more Information at http://isithumbacdm.wixsite.com/icdm.

We are ICDM, we are the future.

January 2015

After the school holidays and all the festivities the ICDM also went back to doing its work and started communicating with all its stakeholders as it intends to expand working relations with all. In January the ICDM has managed to set out the direction for the year of “20fit in”.  The ICDM’s programs resumed on the 13^th of January and the kids came to join in with us more as the schools reopened.  We are looking at intensifying the programs with the assurance that each code gets the special attention it needs to help it to develop. Also some of our previous year’s volunteers and other internationals have visited our programs throughout January.

We are very thankful to our previous volunteer Axel for donating clothes to our BMX riders. It is an absolute blessing to have all previous volunteers feeling so attached to our project because it shows the impact it has to the lives of the many individuals who have spent their time in assisting us towards achieving our objectives.

The project is growing by day as we see eager trainers willing to work under different conditions because we, at times, are faced with less equipment and more financial difficulties. This is a sign of how willing everyone involved is in supporting the ideal of a sport active community.

We have not been able to resume the school programs as yet, because of these financial challenges, but it is a priority in our plan for 2015 that the program will return in an improved format to enable many more kids to take part.

At ICDM we are willing to work with all local leadership in pursuing our mission. In this way we are able to run a legitimate program with the valuable support of our stakeholders.

We recently hosted a delegation from the city of Bremen; environmental specialists who were here to investigate the possibilities of partnering environmental educational programs in the area. The delegation were from the UMWELT BILDUNG in Bremen, Germany.

Recent heavy rains almost destroyed our beloved BMX park. We will take off the weeds and get it back to normal with the help of all our hardworking staff and the Isithumba youth. We will all put the sand back to where it belongs and get the kids rolling again soon. We are also looking for possible support in fixing the bikes with the donation of parts such as tubes and brakes.

We are looking at installing a trampoline as one of our features on the site. This is an idea for which we still have to raise funds and we are hoping we will realize it very soon as it would be beneficial to the life of our project by giving the kids experience of another sport.

For more updates, visit our friendly website:  http://isithumbacdm.wix.com/icdm