November 2018

The month of November has been a month we all at ICDM have been longing for. Although we have not been issuing newsletters in the recent months we can rest assure you that a lot has been happening at the isithumba community development movement. In November we hosted a number of events and international visitors which we pride ourselves of. We have during the time of hosting our international guests decided to build a kiosk, plant grass on the site, started a garden where we can plant crops. In all the activities we made sure to involve our children. Before we share with you the details of the aforementioned events and activities we want to thank you for the continued support and encouragement to which without we could not be able to do our work with such pride.

The ICDM attended an event organized by the provincial sports and recreation department where our children participated in activities such as the fun walk, netball and volleyball. The ICDM is very proud of it competitive Netball and Volleyball teams. Our youth did very well that we managed to come on a second place in Netball and third place in volleyball which is certainly good if one considers the level of competition on a provincial level. Events like these help our children to feel encouraged  and realise that they can make it to be better sportsmen and women in the foreseeable future. This particular event, we as ICDM through one of our directors Mr Bleh Mnyandu from Mkhizwane village we attended it jointly with children from isithumba and his Village through hard work of our managers Mr Mazwi Msomi and Ndoda Msomi in mobilising the children and ensuring their safety, also preparing them well before such an event.

Finally the Irish youth arrived in Durban on the 5^th of November and traditionally we welcome them from the Kingshaka international Airport where we all sing Irish and Zulu songs before what one can call a life changing experience for both the Irish and the Zulu children. This year’s event was arguably bigger and better compared to last year’s camp however the experience was as impactful. On this year’s camp we focused on building the kiosk, regardless of how warm the African sun can heat, the Irish and Zulu volunteers worked together in ensuring that the blocks, sand and other related resources were brought to the building area, good experiences driving at the back of a pick up truck to collect the sand, with theKiosk we intend to sell ICDM merchandise, coffee and cool drinks to our visitors and the monies generated from such activity will go directly to the ICDM’s charitable work, we also started a vegetable  garden, the vegetable garden will help us educate our youth about what can be planted in their area and also sell crops to the local communities, we also aim at providing the accommodation side of the centre with organic food freshly produced from the isithumba soil. The garden work would have not been possible without the hard work of our French volunteers who were with us during the same period as the Irish group. It is amazing how the garden project progresses with the hard work our children put in, in taking care of the garden.

One needs to note power of such work where people from different cultures can work together and achieve so much in less than three weeks, apart from the vegetable garden the three cultures illustrated that there is just so much we as a human race can learn from our diversity from laughing at each other's English accents and achievieving good work together.

The ICDM is also very happy with it working relations with it site co-organizations. All the activities we do are inline with the site development plans of the site, planting grass and making the site attractive is very good for tourist and local youth attraction. This is a site where a lot of team building activities can be done hence landscaping and more activities are essential. In addition the ICDM together with Mboneni Ngcobo a professional mountain biker we have started to have organized tours on trails

ICDM appreciated the support we receive from our stakeholders, however as we are a non-profit organisation out existence and the maintenance of our programs depends on the kindness of your sponsorship and donations. Should you like to make any donations to help out programmes, please visit our webpage  for more information:

http://isithumbacdm.wixsite.com/icdm

The work we do can also be followed on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Isithumba-community-development-movement-162308743839256/

ICDM We are the future!!