TRADING LIVE FOR MANDELA WEEK

By DIANA HORNBY AND NOSIPHO MNGOMEZULU

Trading Live for Man-dela Day is the an-nual Rhodes Univer-

sity institutional event that takes place in the month of July as part of the interna-tional Mandela Day events. In line with the central ob-jectives of the Nelson Man-dela Centre of Memory, this project provides staff, stu-dents at Rhodes, commu-nity partners working with the Community Engage-ment office, and residents of Grahamstown with an opportunity ”to take action to help change the world for the better, and in do-ing so build a global move-ment for good.”

A Trade consists of both an offer to do something for someone else in the community while at the same time requesting a service for your own or-ganisation. It is based on the principle of reciproc-ity: demonstrating that we all have something to offer our community and something to learn or re-ceive. In essence, Trading Live is an invitation to open

Masibambisane Siluluntu Lwase Makana

ourselves up to the possi-bilities of recognition of our shared fates and the need to work together to co-cre-ate our shared futures.

In 2012, over 40 student organisations, depart-ments, and community organisations participated in the institutional com-munity engagement initia-tive. In 2013, 96 different Trades took place. In 2014, Rhodes University has partnered with the Nel-son Mandela Foundation, focusing on the following areas for service: Food Security, Literacy, Infra-structure & Shelter, Youth leadership/ Business de-velopment, Care, Holistic Wellness & Health, Arts and Information Technol-ogy, Early Childhood Edu-cation, High School Educa-tion.

Recognizing the need to deepen Trading Live for Mandela Day interven-tions, these focus areas al-low for all members of the Grahamstown community to lend support to organi-zations where they may need it most.

With over 150 teams

participating from the 18th July until the 25th of July, we are thrilled that mem-bers of the Grahamstown community came together to work on activities such as food gardening, knitting circles, language classes, literacy workshops, poetry recitals, neighbourhood cleanups, and mending children’s play areas. It was delightful to see the overwhelmingly positive response from young and old to come together to share, learn, and inspire positive change in our Grahamstown community. With Trades coming from all around the Grahams-town community, it was clear that everyone has something to teach one another and learn from one another, this asset-based and reciprocal approach to community engagement allows us to recognize the rich and diverse skills we possess in this town.

As we remember and continue the legacy of Nel-son Mandela, we recommit ourselves to the pursuit and realisation of a more just and equitable society.

Contemporary South Africa is a complex soci-ety, divided along myriad class, gender, cultural and economic stratifications. There are no quick fixes to social transformation and reshaping our community; however, Trading Live is one small way in which all residents of Grahamstown can play a vital role by participating in community support interventions.

By volunteering time, skills, and creative energy, participants can make a contribution towards re-shaping diverse spaces in our community.

We thank all the teams from schools, community based organizations, busi-nesses, and Rhodes Uni-versity staff and students for their contributions over Trading Live.

May the connections made over Trading Live in-spire long term collabora-tion as we collectively work together to reshape and remake a more just and caring Grahamstown com-munity.

Masibambisane Siluluntu Lwase Makana.

INVITATION Share | Collaborate | InspireRhodes Community Engagement would like to cordially invite all

participating teams to the Trading Live Exhibition Opening to come

and reflect on and celebrate the work undertaken over Trading Live, as well

as share your experiences with other participants.

Exhibition Opening

13 August 2014

17:00- 19:00

Oppidan Dining Hall

(Steve Biko Building)

RSVP: Tradinglive4mandela@gmail.com or 078 426 7486 (Let us know how many people

from your team will be able to attend)

Precious Mpati teaches student, Lunga Nqokoqo, how to knit on the 22nd of July at Kingswood College, Grahamstown, South Africa. Many of the students struggled to learn the skill, however with concentration and help from instructors many soon improved. Photo: Jamie Tucker

FOOD SECURITY

One good turn deserves anotherBy HEATHER CAMERON

On Wednesday, 23 July, volunteers from Rhodes Uni-

versity Housekeeping and Catering staff travelled to various places around town to deliver 50 food parcels as part of Trading Live Week.

The food parcels, which were all prepared and do-nated by the Rhodes staff, arrived at the Assumption Development Centre in Joza on Wednesday after-noon along with bags of blankets and sheets which were also part of the do-nation. Much to the ex-citement of those present, a SABC television crew drove in from Port Eliza-beth to cover some of the day’s Trading Live events.

Trading Live first began in 2012 as community en-gagement events held in the spirit of Mandela Day whereby the community

comes together to trade skills and interests. This year saw a week full of Trading Live events held across the town and co-ordinated by the Rhodes Community Engagement Office.

Bongiwe Poti, house-keeper of Thomas Pringle House, volunteered her help for the day. “I want to do something nice and give back. That’s why I joined in,” she said.

Local members from the Siyakhula Women’s Knit and Crochet Group were on hand to receive the parcels. The TV crew was evidently a surprise as some of the la-dies were caught off guard and rushed to straighten up before the camera started filming.

The Rhodes staff lined up along the left side of the room, bearing the dona-tions, while the Siyakhula ladies grouped themselves

on the right, ready to re-ceive the food and blankets. The women unexpectedly broke out into an energetic rendition of Besuka Bam-landela as the hand over began. The Rhodes staff soon joined in and suddenly the room was full of ululat-ing, singing and dancing, and the SABC camera rolled as the women received the donations.

Both groups exchanged words of thanks once the parcels and bags of blan-kets had been handed out.

Once the SABC crew had left and the Rhodes staff members were on their way to another venue, the ladies of Siyakhula, who earlier that day had taught learners at Kingswood and Mary Waters how to knit, sat down smiling to con-tinue their knitting work with their food parcels and blankets placed carefully at their feet.

By JESAME GELDENHUYS

The Trading Live pro-gramme ran through the 18th -25th of July and was filled with a range of inno-vative and educational ac-tivities and services based on the mutual exchange of skills and knowledge. A slight mishap in the event I was covering led me to a 67 minute serendipitous encounter at St. Augustine Parish that showed me a living and continuous Nel-son Mandela legacy that was not only celebrated last week.

St. Augustine Parish is an Anglican church lo-cated in Joza with a com-munity project that lives out the 67 minute legacy almost every day of the week. Started up in 2005, the project involves a food drive at the parish with a support system of volun-teers and activities for the children in the local com-munity.

The project runs weekly every Monday, Wednes-

Everyday a Mandela Day

day and Friday and caters lunch for the children in the area, as well as provid-ing a range of fun games and help with homework after school.

“We are six ladies here that volunteer. We cook, play and help the children with their work. Any kids that want to come are wel-come,” says Nomangesi Nombombo, one of the volunteers of the project who has been part of the initiative since the begin-ning.

The project was first initiated by a previous student from Rhodes Uni-versity and has since been carried on by the parish and other Rhodes stu-dents.

“We’re also very excited to be starting our gardens out in the back soon,” says Nombombo. At the mo-ment all the food is do-nated by the church with some of the congress and volunteers also giving when they can. “Some-

By KERSTIN HALL

Wild garlic for constipa-tion, spekboom for cuts and insect bites, laven-der for headaches, basil for healthy skin. Kuyasa School grows them all in their well-tended herb garden, alongside lines of dark green spinach and bright red tomatoes. The school for the mentally handicapped plans to ex-tend their garden in a pro-ject to ensure food secu-rity.

As part of the Trading Live initiative, Environ-mental Sciences Honours students, as well as mem-bers of the Nelson Man-dela Dining Hall of Rhodes University helped Kuyasa students to lay the foun-dations for terraces that will hold a variety of plants in the future.

“We want to make Elis-ma’s dream come true,” explained Naledi Mpanza, the Community Engage-ment Representative of Nelson Mandela Dining Hall.

Elisma (who asked to be known only by her first name) is a teacher at Kuyasa and heads the gar-dening project.

Kuyasa plants for the futureWith the help of Betty

Matroos, fondly known as Auntie Betty, they ensure that the plants remain healthy. Matroos is the sister of a very popular traditional healer in the community and she is an expert in the field of herb-al remedies.

Eventually it is hoped that the school’s gardens will be able to provide the kitchens with sufficient food for the students.

Umthathi Training Pro-ject supplies Kuyasa with seeds, but the school is in urgent need of topsoil to help their plants grow.

Elisma also teaches craft and cooking classes at Kuyasa. Her goal is to find the students’ strengths to enable them to get jobs once they leave the school.

“With their own hands, they can be self-sufficient,” she explained, while giv-ing the Rhodes students a tour, “We teach them skills that they can take home.”

Many of the Kuyasa students struggle with lit-eracy or information re-tention, but possess other abilities that make them exceptional; some are

By YOULENDREE APPASAMY

“To plant a seed, watch it grow, to tend it and then harvest it, offered a sim-ple but enduring satisfac-tion. The sense of being the custodian of this small patch of earth offered a small taste of freedom.” Nelson Mandela

Gardening was the focus for Grahamstown Hospice and Jameson Residence’s 67 minutes for Nelson Mandela.

The Hospice’s children support group joined in planting vegetables in the garden. “Adding some-thing green to your meal goes a long way,” said

Hospice nurtures seedlings

The ladies from Siyakhula came together at ADC to knit for an order of beanies and scarves. Photo: Heather Cameron

times we bring things from our house like cabbage and carrots. We all help,” says Nombombo.

The project has since become a part of the local community, giving children in the area a different and stimulating environment. Nasiphi Makana, student at Archie Mbolekwa says “We bring our homework and the ladies here help us. They are very nice to us.

My older cousin said she came here when she was younger as well. We all re-ally like it because it’s fun. We get to play games like Netball and Bingo with our friends.”

“These are all very good kids. We enjoy it so much,” explains Nombombo.

Nombombo along with other volunteers of the St. Augustine project, are part of a living Mandela legacy that shares and learns with each other continu-ously- making every day a Mandela day.

A group photo of the regulars.Photo: Jesame Geldenhuys

Children play games after school. Photo: Jesame Geldenhuys

Playing games in the St Augustine Parish. Photo: Jesame Geldenhuys

Taking a break to pose for a photo. Photo: Jesame Geldenhuys

brilliant artists and oth-ers are mathematicians she explained. However, because of their learn-ing difficulties, they are unable to cope in a regu-lar school. After leaving Kuyasa, most find it ex-tremely difficult to obtain employment.

Elisma demonstrates to the students how they can use existing resourc-es to fulfill their needs. “We make use of what we have; we try not to buy things.”

Their craft projects are an example of this re-sourcefulness. They are made primarily from recy-cled materials.

There are papier-mâché bowls and lampshades, colourful beaded clothes and delicate woven mats.

These products, along with some of the produce from the garden, will be sold at a market day in November.

Both the Honours stu-dents and the members of Nelson Mandela Dining Hall have vouched to help Kuyasa in the future. It is hoped that this will grow into a beautiful, fruitful re-lationship.

The Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit, a sub division of ISER from Rhodes University repair a jungle gym at the Luzuko Methodist Pre School. Photo: Carla Fuller

Trish Gillies, Clinical Man-ager of Grahamstown Hospice. The event saw chillies, spinach, onions and carrots being planted in the small Hospice veg-gie patch.

The gardening pro-gramme, run by the Gra-hamstown Hospice, works alongside other support and therapy measures for patients. “I personally love gardening and find the act therapeutic. With the younger kids espe-cially, you find they don’t see plants grow anymore,” said Gillies.

“This [gardening] is a life-long skill that children

and adults take away and they can make their en-vironments look green wherever they are,” said Gillies. Nomat Shode, auxiliary social worker, believes this skill is even more important for the children to learn. “Most of the children in the support group live with their gran-nies and by learning to garden, they can help out their elderly family.”

The event brought a smile to everyone’s faces and before leaving, the children and Jameson Res-idence volunteers prom-ised to make the event a regular thing.

2

INFRASTRUCTURE & SHELTER

Kuyasa plants for the future

Hospice nurtures seedlings

brilliant artists and oth-ers are mathematicians she explained. However, because of their learn-ing difficulties, they are unable to cope in a regu-lar school. After leaving Kuyasa, most find it ex-tremely difficult to obtain employment.

Elisma demonstrates to the students how they can use existing resourc-es to fulfill their needs. “We make use of what we have; we try not to buy things.”

Their craft projects are an example of this re-sourcefulness. They are made primarily from recy-cled materials.

There are papier-mâché bowls and lampshades, colourful beaded clothes and delicate woven mats.

These products, along with some of the produce from the garden, will be sold at a market day in November.

Both the Honours stu-dents and the members of Nelson Mandela Dining Hall have vouched to help Kuyasa in the future. It is hoped that this will grow into a beautiful, fruitful re-lationship.

The Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit, a sub division of ISER from Rhodes University repair a jungle gym at the Luzuko Methodist Pre School. Photo: Carla Fuller

Professor Rebecca Surender paints a tire at the Luzuko Methodist Pre School. Photo: Carla Ruller

The children lend a helping hand at the Luzuko Methodist Pre School. Photo: Carla Fuller

Kanyiso Ntinkina hammers a nail in the jungle gum at the Luzuko Methodist Pre School. Photo: Carla Fuller

The children sing a song for the Rhodes University staff from the Neil Aggett Labour Studies Unit at the Luzuko Methodist Pre School. Photo: Carla Fuller

Luzuko Methodist Pre School - 25 July 2014

Sinawo Papani (9) stands beside the pile of rubbish gathered from the clean up by the neighbourhood residents outside the Jabez Health Centre. Photo: Sitha Kentane

Bonyolo Dyongmani (3) tries to reach for a piece of rubbish on the fence surrounding the field outside the Jabez Health Centre. Photo: Sitha Kentane

Two boys walking by lend a helping hand in the cleaning of the field outside the Jabez Health Centre. Photo: Sitha Kentane

Chairperson of the Board at the Jabez Health Centre, Anthony Groats, stands looking out at the neighbourhood after the rubbish clean up outside the centre. Photo: Sitha Kentane

Jabez Health Centre - 25 July 2014

The neighbourhood residents come together to clean up the rubbish on the field outside the Jabez Health Centre. Photo: Sitha Kentane

and adults take away and they can make their en-vironments look green wherever they are,” said Gillies. Nomat Shode, auxiliary social worker, believes this skill is even more important for the children to learn. “Most of the children in the support group live with their gran-nies and by learning to garden, they can help out their elderly family.”

The event brought a smile to everyone’s faces and before leaving, the children and Jameson Res-idence volunteers prom-ised to make the event a regular thing.

3

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

By DANI KREUSCH

A group of boys from Little Flower Pre-school and Daycare

Centre, aged between two and three, gathered ea-gerly around a volunteer as he showed them how to mould their play-dough. Supervisor Lungelwa Mt-walo pointed to the ani-mal taking shape, calling the attention of the other children and volunteers busy with the craft morn-ing. “It’s a snake,” came the excited chorus before each table went back to its work.

The morning craft ses-sion, part of the 2014 Trading Live initiative, saw volunteers from around Grahamstown teaming up with the children from Little Flower to make ani-mals, shapes and even their names out of differ-ent coloured play-dough.

The older children were helped to make popup hats and paper chains, both which were displayed proudly on the playground once the activity was done.

While they were waiting for volunteers to help cut out their hats, the children practised their shapes and other artistic skills on pa-per.

Located in Extension Seven, Little Flower Pre-school and Daycare Cen-tre is one of the organi-

Crafty Kids How to: Make a popup hat from a paper plateStep One: Fold the paper plate in half.Step Two: Draw half a heart shape on either side of the fold, keeping within the inner circle of the plate. Step Three: Cut along the inner circle of the plate and the line of the heart, keep-ing one part of the bottom of the heart still stuck to the plate. Step Four: Col-our in the heart and decorate the plate as you de-sire. Step Five: Care-fully fold the heart outward and place the hat on your head to enjoy.

sations in Grahamstown that thrives on community support. Since its opening in early 2003 the school has grown to provide meals, care and funda-mental bases of learning to around fifty children ranging in age from one to four and a half.

Little Flower follows a set daily routine, that Mt-walo believes assists the children in learning and preparing them for the routine and structure of Grade R and above. “You see that they’re happy to sit there and do activi-ties now because they are used to it,” Mtwalo ex-plained. “Every month we have a new theme and we use that theme for the activities that are put into the daily routine. July is shapes, colours and Madi-ba Month.”

Rhodes Community En-gagement has a dedicated group of students, led by Mapula Maponya, who vis-it Little Flower every week from Monday to Thursday. “The students coming is so great,” Mtwalo said. “They bring new activities for the children so they don’t just colour every day and so they don’t get bored.

They work with our monthly themes and give us new ideas to teach the children and the chil-dren love it. They love it

and the children also get to learn new things, like English, from the students who come here.” Mtwalo believes that the partner-ship between the school and the student volun-teers has been one of the factors that has led to the school being able to grow from strength to strength over the years.

Melinda Botha, warden of The Grand residence, said that the volunteers got as much as they gave out. “We had a phenom-enal time. I’m definitely going to come here again; it was wonderful.”

Maponya agreed that the experience was always a wonderful one, and that thinking up and doing dif-ferent activities with the children was always more rewarding than challeng-ing. “This is my firstborn,” Mtwalo said of Maponya. “She does so much and brings so much happiness to the children.”

The children were also scheduled to spend 67 minutes cleaning litter from the empty plot next to the school for Nelson Mandela Day. “They know all about Tata Madiba and that we must do good things for others because he wanted us to,” Mtwalo said, before leading the children in a goodbye song to see the volunteers off.

The children and teachers of the Little Flower Day Care stand together with volunteers at the conclusion of the Trading Live event. The volunteers and children spent the morning creating artwork doing crafts, and playing games together. Photo: Jamie Tucker

Volunteer, Zandile Ndzenza helps Anganathi to draw at the Little Flower Day Care. The volunteers helped the children to write their names and to create artwork. Photo: Jamie Tucker

By EMILY CORKE

Walking in on what seems like an everyday busi-ness meeting at Umthathi Training Project on Xhora Street, was more surpris-ing than I could have im-agined.

The meeting between Ruth Nombewu, manager of the Centre for Social Development (CSD) at Rhodes University and Umthathi was aimed at finding a way to help young teachers in rural ar-eas set up their own play schools. The long-term goal is the hope that chil-dren may have better ac-cess to education before they reach the first grade in primary school.

“The children can’t go to crèche in rural areas and this puts a huge amount of pressure on the grade one teachers who have to start from the begin-ning with some children,” said Umthathi’s Lakhanya Tatathembani, “Education must improve from pre-school level.”

Umthathi is a training project based in Exten-sion seven in Joza, whose mission is to improve the quality of life of people in the Eastern Cape by pro-viding skills and knowl-edge about healthy liv-ing. It is through their interactions with commu-nity members that the or-ganisation discovered the

Helping teachers, teachneed for teachers who are trained to open crèches in areas where there is little access to education.

“We understand that people want to open up their own preschools, but there is no point if they do not have the right train-ing, which is why we got involved,” said Nombewu.

At the moment there is no funding for the ini-tiative, as neither CSD nor Umthathi have the funds to allocate to this kind of programme. However, Umthathi’s Lumka Nkan-yana was confident that there were already people willing to fund the training of teachers.

Tatathembani said that Umthathi will continue to facilitate any relationship between potential teach-ers and the CSD, acting as an information provider for people living in rural communities without in-ternet connection. “We will help them in anyway that we can while promoting a healthy lifestyle; which is what we are mandated to do,” said Tatathembani.

Nombewu echoed Ta-tathembani in saying that the CSD would incorpo-rate healthy living in their training programmes for teachers. The ladies left the meeting with smiles on their faces, knowing that they got one step closer to helping the teachers.

The children of the Little Flower Day Care sing and dance with their teachers. The children sang and danced for the volunteers at the end of the event. Photo: Jamie Tucker

Mapula Maponya proudly wears a Trading Live t-shirt as she sticks up the children’s artwork. The teachers and volunteers proudly hung up the children’s creations to be displayed in their classroom.Photo: Jamie Tucker

Volunteers; (from right) Evelyn Ndoane, Lwandile Dwadwa, and Sinazo Williams, roll playdo with children; (from left) Someleze, Limbali, and Anda. The volunteers and children created shapes, animals and names from the messy, but fun playdo. Photo: Jamie Tucker

See the invitation to our Exhibition on the front page!

4

ARTS

By INGA SIBIYA

“Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future. Those who abuse them tear at the fabric of our society and weaken our nation.” Nel-son Mandela’s passion for children was never a se-cret. In honouring the man who fought for South Af-rica’s democracy, Rhodes University students spent the afternoon with chil-dren at the Curry Street Library on Wednesday, 23 July.

Volunteers from New House Residence enter-tained a group of chil-dren with games, videos and singing. The group of six, including students Daniella Broomberg and Ayanda Mbonani, were met by a room brimming with bright eyes and wide smiles. The children could not contain their excite-ment; fidgeting, whisper-ing and giggling their way through introductions.

The afternoons pro-gramme began with music as Yamkela Mdaka softly strummed his guitar. His voice was smooth and del-icate.

The room fell to a hush when the student ser-enaded the children. The children swayed, as they enjoyed the music.

Mdaka told tales through his music that the children

Children entertained by Rhodes students

By SARAH BENINGFIELD

On Tuesday, 22 July as a part of the Trading Live for Mandela Day initia-tive, a painting class was hosted by Lebone Cen-tre.

The Lebone Centre is part of the Aftercare Enrichment Programme (ACE), which was initiat-ed in 2005 by Kingswood College.

There are 20 children between 7 and 14 that attend the aftercare every weekday. The af-tercare programme fo-cuses on health, physical well-being, academic de-velopment, cultural en-richment and emotional well-being.

The children also par-take in activities with Kingswood College, such as computer classes and swimming lessons.

The children were ex-cited when the members of the Allan Gray Cen-tre for Leadership Ethics arrived to lead them in an art class. The room was soon set up and the children settled down to listen to their painting instructor, Pedro Taben-

Creative explosion: Painting at Lebone Centre

could identify with and relate to. Some children sang along to John Leg-end but they all outshone Mdaka with Diamonds by Rihanna; the girls singing out the lyrics verbatim.

Mbonani led the group in a game of musical chairs and fruit salad. There were children sprawled on the floor watch-ing others breakdanc-ing, bashaya ipantsula “Mandela was a good man,” 8 year old Celvin Smit, shared when talking about Nelson Mandela. “He [Mandela] stopped apart-heid,” Nokhaya Ndlomo said. Although the children didn’t know details about the country’s history they understood the sacrifice Mandela made for the lib-eration of those previously oppressed.

In order to honour him the children decided that they would be better sons and daughters for their parents.

The afternoon was con-cluded with the National Anthem. The New House students brought joy to the children at the Curry Street Library. A free gift, easily given and yet price-less; the heart of Man-dela, his compassion and fondness of children was celebrated for 67 minutes that day.

sky. He described to the children what he was plan-ning to do for the lesson: creating art through lis-tening to music. The chil-dren listened carefully to the instructions, which were also translated into Afrikaans for them by the Director of the Lebone Centre.

The children were soon provided with paint, brushes and charcoal and were encouraged to be as creative and imaginative as they could. They were also encouraged to find objects outside to incorpo-rate into their artwork.

The next 40 minutes were spent in relative si-lence as the group of chil-dren experimented with the paint and bit their lips in concentration while lis-tening to music. What made the experience par-ticularly special was the clear excitement radiat-ing from the children and their engagement with the painting.

Pedro Tabensky is cur-rently the Director of the Allan Gray Centre for Leadership Ethics at Rho-des University.

However, he is a trained painter and have also worked in Philoso-phy before taking up his current position. He vol-unteered to take the art class and said, “I think creativity is very impor-tant and is undervalued in South Africa. I was encouraging the children to be creative and to look into the emotive side of painting”.

The afternoon ended with the children gather-ing outside and serenad-ing their art teachers with a song to say thank you.

The Lebone Centre was also grateful for the les-son. “It is a nice activity for the children, nice to have people at the cen-tre because it creates awareness of what we do here,” said Amy Webster, the social worker at Leb-one.

It is this kind of aware-ness that makes the Trading Live initiative successful, as it encour-ages people from all spheres to get involved in community engage-ment.

Yamkela Mdaka playing his guitar and singing to the children at Currie Street Library. Mdaka sang well known songs, including ones sung by Adele and John Legend. Photo: Amanda Horsfield

One of many expressions on a child’s face at Currie Street Library. The event included video showings about Nelson Mandela and live music. Photo: Amanda Horsfield

By LEAH SOLOMON

On Wednesday, 23 July, marimba lessons were held at The Grahamstown Area Distress Relief As-sociation (GADRA) – Ad-vice and Community Work centre as part of Trading Live for Mandela Week. This initiative allows for Rhodes students and staff to share their skills and in return learn new skills taught to them.

Lessons were taught by Mthuthuzeli Ngqoba who is a computer instructor for the blind as well as the teacher and head of the marimba band for the blind. He spends every Wednesday afternoon at GADRA teaching marimba to students from Kuyasa School for the Mentally Handicapped. He explains the importance of mu-sic and playing a music instrument, “If you play every day it helps you maintain self-discipline and to concentrate. It mentally prepares you,” said Ngqoba. “Music is my culture. It keeps me strong and happy,” he said, and that he wanted to share his love for ma-

Marimba lessons for Mandela Day

rimba with the youth. The Rhodes students to

be taught by Ngqoba were Sergi Human, a 2nd year Bcom student and Student Leader with Community Engagement, Rosanna McLean, a 2nd year BA stu-dent and Shenal Perera, a 2nd year industrial design student from Monash Uni-versity in Australia.

“It is still a way to give back to the community, to show our willingness and eagerness to learn some-thing new,” said Human.

In relation to this, McLean explained the im-portance of events such as this and Trading Live as a whole. “Being in university we are constantly being pumped with academic knowledge but forget that we can actually learn out-side of that setting. We can learn as many valu-able lessons from school children as we would in lectures,” she said. “I also like that it is reciprocal, it is an important facet.”

Enjoyment could be seen by all those involved, ending with a well-learnt and well-performed by the marimba players.

Sergi Human, a second year Bcom student, learning to play the marimba at GADRA Advice and Community Work. Photo: Ashleigh Morris

Rhodes community engagement volunteers and members of GADRA Advice and Community Work playing the marimbas. Photo: Ashleigh Morris

Thank you to everyone who participated in

Trading Live!

5

LITERACY

By MEGAN WHITTINGTON

Grade three students of St Mary's Primary bustled with excite-

ment as student volun-teers entered the school hall to host a reading club. The volunteers consisted of Orla Murphy, Mikhaela Köhlo and Mapula Ma-ponya; who were armed with a bag full of books. The aim of the workshop was to help the learners engage with English and Afrikaans texts in a way that would make them feel comfortable.

The children were given constant reassurance from both their mentors and peers, teaching them valuable lessons beyond reading and writing. "Today's literacy workshop was mostly about making reading look fun for the kids and improving their skills," said Mikhaela Köhlo.

The workshop began with some ice-breakers and group reading in order to get the children to feel relaxed and open to the experience. Once comfort-able, the volunteers tested the learners' literacy skills on a higher level by in-troducing writing games. Children were asked to write a word down, for

Reading fun for children and volunteers at St Mary's Primaryexample, their favourite animal. They would then show the words to their friends who would need to read the word and then act it out. Games such as these allowed the children to practice literacy and have fun doing it. The hits of the day were definitely the alphabet word chains, which were hand crafted by the children them-selves.

This workshop included one of many that were organised by Trading Live and the Rhode's Univer-sity Community Engage-ment Centre in celebration of Mandela Day. This year, Trading Live for Mandela Day extended over a full week, with a variety of volunteer-based projects being arranged by com-munity members.

The volunteers of the reading club seemed to enjoy the day just as much - if not more so- than the children and were happy to be involved. "We're lucky to be here [at Rho-de's University] and we need to contribute. Sixty-seven minutes is a good start but we should all be doing things like this for more than just one day," said Köhlo.

Some of the books that were read to children. Photo: Megan Whittington

A volunteer reading a picture book. Photo: Megan Whittington

The paper chains that were made. Photo: Megan Whittington

Showing the children the pictures in the story. Photo: Megan Whittington

By DAVE MANN

I arrived early, as I usually do and the grade 11 pu-pils from T E M Mrwetyana Secondary School arrived late, but I wasn’t both-ered. It gave me more time to pour over the old newspapers, letters, and stunning printing presses which have helped shape my career interest.

Located up Anglo African Street, the relatively small front room of The Eastern Star Gallery was quiet be-fore the pupils arrived for their tour of the gallery as part of the Trading Live for Mandela initiatives.

Rows of shelves lined the walls, all filled with individual metal letters waiting to be grouped with other letters to form a word or sentence. After this, they are placed back-wards in a wooden frame, punctuated, rolled with ink, and pressed, before finding themselves on a page.

A lengthy and arduous process, but completely fascinating to me.

“They’re called sorts,” said curator of the gallery, Richard Burmeister. “Back when this was the pre-dominant method of print-ing, there was always a risk of running out of sorts before you finished your page and that’s where the saying ‘He’s out of sorts’ comes from.”

Joining Burmeister was administrator in the Na-tional English Literature Museum, Basil Mills, who lead the tour after the pu-pils arrived.

Different mediums at the Eastern Star Gallery

Mills started off by em-phasising the importance of journalism and of the print medium, to the coun-try and its former leaders such as the late Nelson Mandela.

Hearing how historical figures such as Thomas Pringle came to South Africa and started one of the first printing presses to highlight the atrocities of slavery and racism in South Africa, enthralled many of the pupils.

TEM Mrwetyana pupil, Luphelo Belu who hopes to become a journalist one day said, “I knew peo-ple like Madiba used the newspapers to help our country, but I didn’t know [print media] was as old as this and took so long to make. It’s so interesting.”

After a tour of the gal-lery and demonstrations of some of the old steam powered printing presses and manual ink presses by Burmesiter, we were treat-ed to a traditional African story involving a snake by Mills. Mills then ended off the story with a real snake he had kept securely hid-den in one of the corners of the gallery.

Needless to say, the gal-lery emptied fairly quickly and the pupils left with new found knowledge about print journalism in South Africa, as well as an added adrenaline rush. To see young pupils take an interest in something that was phased out well before myself, or any of them were born was a re-freshing experience.

“They are so used to computers and Word doc-uments that this form of printing is incomprehensi-ble to many of them,” said

Burmeister, “It’s great to see the shock or the ‘wow factor’ on their faces. I hope its sparks their inter-est to find out more.”

Richard Burmeister, curator of the Eastern Star museum, shows Grade 11 learners of TEM Mrwetyana Secondary School how the printing press works. Photo: Carol Kagezi

Basil Mills, Senior Technician and Education Officer at the National English Literacy Museum gives grade 11 learners of TEM Mrwetyana a quick history lesson on the printing press at the Eastern Star museum. Photo: Carol Kagezi

By LESEDI NTULI

The Rhodes Student Rep-resentative Council has presented a set of books to Grade three pupils at NV Cewu Primary School, aimed at cultivating a pro-literacy culture.

The books, comprising sets of Disney Story books in English form part of a broader reading for enjoy-ment initiative. While this formed part of the Trading Live initiative, community engagement councillor, Mapula Maponya added that it was also the begin-ning of a relationship with the school.

“We have partnered with the school and student vol-unteers are now be able to come and assist whenever they can,” she said.

While the grade three pupils were delighted to be read to, Mrs Ntom-bizodwa Santi , a grade three teacher, expressed her gratitude and added that reading is key to en-suring a solid educational foundation for children.

“It can get quite frus-trating and stressful for us as teachers… we cannot

Book donation to Grade 3 learners

spend the same amount of time with each pupil because the classrooms are overcrowded. So I am really happy with the relationship we have with Rhodes because the stu-dents do help us by com-ing in and teaching the pupils how to read and write,” she added.

Phumeza Mqubuli, the deputy principle of the school, thanked the stu-dent council for the ges-ture and assured them that the books would be put to good use to benefit the children.

“We are thrilled to have received such a donation. Education is important, and reading is key to the children’s academic fu-ture. So, despite the chal-lenges that we might face, we work really hard to help them in every way possible,” she added.

The book drive formed part of Rhodes University's Trading Live for Mandela initiative, which aims to change lives for the bet-ter through interaction between different parts of the community.

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spend the same amount of time with each pupil because the classrooms are overcrowded. So I am really happy with the relationship we have with Rhodes because the stu-dents do help us by com-ing in and teaching the pupils how to read and write,” she added.

Phumeza Mqubuli, the deputy principle of the school, thanked the stu-dent council for the ges-ture and assured them that the books would be put to good use to benefit the children.

“We are thrilled to have received such a donation. Education is important, and reading is key to the children’s academic fu-ture. So, despite the chal-lenges that we might face, we work really hard to help them in every way possible,” she added.

The book drive formed part of Rhodes University's Trading Live for Mandela initiative, which aims to change lives for the bet-ter through interaction between different parts of the community.

CARE, HOLISTIC WELLNESS & HEALTH

By WYNONA LATHAM

With bright green tents and mu-sic blaring, the

Raphael Centre set up their TB and HIV testing station in Grahamstown’s Hoogenoeg area.

The Raphael Centre were participating in the Rhodes University’s Trading Live for Mandela Week and according to director of the centre, Mary Humphreys, the se-lection of the Hoogenoeg area was a strategic choice for addressing the issue of stigma around HIV and Aids.

“Stigma in modern South Africa effects par-

Raphael Centre deals with HIV stigma

ticular communities,” she said, “We have found that in Joza people are will-ing to come forward to do testing but in Hoogenoeg we are aware that there is a terrible stigma – people from that area have said that they would rather die than get tested.”

Zodwa Goje, who co-ordinated the testing at Hoogenoeg, said that even in 2014, stigma still remains the major stum-bling block of HIV activ-ism. “It’s difficult to know how we will get rid of stig-ma permanently because it is something that will never be completely re-moved,” Goje said.

Humphreys emphasises that stigma is a complex issue that requires work-ing with individuals on a very personal level. “It has quite a lot to do with the individual.

If you are open you can defeat stigma with posi-tivity,” she said, “But that doesn’t mean that there are not people who don’t hose down their children because they don’t want to touch them.”

Despite the sense that it may be a continuing battle against community wide stigma, Grahamstown resident Nathi Patosi, says that it is worth it to be in-volved in the process at

Hoogenoeg. “I read in Grocott’s Mail that these events were happening and I wanted to be in-volved with changing my community,” he said.

There is a lot to be hopeful for with the gov-ernment making strides to make HIV a part of its municipal programmes. “But we the Raphael cen-tre work with communi-ties and individuals with the intention of working on people’s lifestyle – people are tired of hear-ing about HIV but if you make it about their lives you can make a differ-ence,” Humphreys said.

Thobeka Sandi takes part in a Zumba dance lesson at the Rhodes Health Suit. Part of the Association for People with Disabilities (APD), a support group for mothers with disabled children, Sandi enjoyed the class, saying it was “hard work for my bones”. Photo: Ashleigh Morris

Layla Radosavljevic leads a Zumba class at the Rhodes Health Suit.The class consisted of members of the Association for People with Disabilities (APD), a support group for mothers with disabled children. Photo: Ashleigh Morris

Zumba

Mothers and their children taking part in a Zumba class at the Rhodes Health Suit. The class provided a fun way to end off the Nelson Mandela Trading Live week. Photo: Ashleigh Morris

A zumba class held at the Rhodes Health Suit. The class was held as part of the Nelson Mandela Trading live week. Photo: Ashleigh Morris

Mothers and their children taking part in a Zumba class at the Rhodes Health Suit. The class provided a fun way to end off the Nelson Mandela Trading Live week. Photo: Ashleigh Morris Members from the local community participate in a Zumba class at the Rhodes University Health Suit.

Photos: Sheila David

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YOUTH LEADERSHIP & BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

By HEATHER CAMERON

On Wednesday, 23 July, Siyakhula Women’s Knit and

Crochet Groups met to be-gin completing their first commercial order of 30 scarves and beanies for the Winter Rose Rugby Club.

Knitting needles clicked against each other in the main room of the Assump-tion Development Cen-tre (ADC) in the heart of Joza while 14 local women chatted amongst them-selves as various scarves and beanies were coming to life on their laps.

Nombeko Mbane, a member of Siyakhula which means “we are growing” in English, ex-plained that this is what their small business hopes to do. The group formed in March of this year after a call from the ADC invited locals to join and has been successfully developing ever since. The eclectic mix includes women be-tween the ages of 21 and 55. The women meet three times a week to work on

Siyakhula - small business grows in Grahamstown

their products which are available in town at Un-der the Arch and at In the Loop on High Street.

The initial group of 12 members has grown to 21 which is the limit for now as the women are concen-trating on developing their individual skills within the business.

Earlier in the week, members of Siyakhula visited Kingswood College and Mary Waters High school as part of the Trad-ing Live initiative. Dur-ing their visits, the ladies taught learners between the ages of 13 to 14 how to knit and crochet. “They enjoyed it very much,” laughed Mbane, “we may expand the visits to other schools after this week,” she added. The laughter echoed around the rest of the group who were seated in a circle facing each other. Co-ordinator of the ADC, David Greybe explained that he believes that the shape in which they work is instructive of the work that they do. It

creates a sense of com-munity and community is what brought these wom-en together.

Greybe explained that the centre exists to pro-vide training and advice to local small businesses. According to Greybe, the ADC aims to offer support for local entrepreneurs. Siyakhula has been meet-ing weekly at the ADC for the past five months. While the production of scarves, beanies and the like has been successful through these chilly winter months, Siyakhula aim to develop so the business can continue into the sum-mer. “Beanies and scarves are seasonal so we must expand our designs,” said Mbane, “We want the business to grow and we want it to be sustainable so we must explore other things.”

Siyakhula Women’s Knit and Crochet group meets on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9am-1pm at the ADC.

By JESSICA TRAPPE

At 09:00am on Friday 25 July, a group of 11 individ-uals from the Centre for Social Development (CSD) gathered at Emfundweni on the Rhodes University campus for a team build-ing exercise.

The event that was host-ed by Sandy van der Waal, the managing director of Arrows Team Building, as part of the Trading Live Week happening in honour of what would have been Nelson Mandela’s 96th birthday.

As the event kicked off, Van der Waal emphasised the importance of being brave and communicat-ing. “Today is about you personally and the team that surrounds you eve-ry day” she said to the group, many of whom were wearing Nelson Man-

Communication is the arrow, teamwork is the bow

dela themed shirts. “It is important to focus on the positive things first and then focus on the correc-tions” she added as she went around the room giv-ing out pieces of paper.

For the first of two ex-ercises the team was re-quired to write their names on top of a sheet of paper and then hand the paper to the person on their right who would then write one positive comment about that person and pass on the paper again. The aim of the exercise was for in-dividuals to appreciate the small things their team members did.

Van der Waal then en-couraged the team to speak out about any of the negative things they felt and resolve all conflicts face to face. “Conflict is not always bad because

we learn things. We need to communi-

cate and then move for-ward” she added.

The overall aim was to encourage team members to be brave and communi-cate what they really felt in an honest manner.

Van der Waal then showed the team a music video of singer, Sara Ba-reilles’ song ‘Brave’ and asked the team to cho-reograph a dance to the song. Most of the team members were not keen to dance but after appoint-ing a leader and learning a simple routine every-one was clapping, singing along and having an en-joyable time.

“Say what you wanna (sic) say and let the words fall out honestly I wanna (sic) see you be brave with what you want to say” are

Siyakhula ladies knit and crochet at ADC. Photo: Heather Cameron

By ZANELE MUKHARI

Margie Keeton has devot-ed her career to strength-ening practical initiatives in South Africa and she spent her 67minutes for Trading Live at the As-sumption Development Centre (ADC) doing just that.

Joza locals gathered at ADC on Thursday where Margie Keeton gave a presentation to the com-munity members about social governance and the NPO (none profit organi-zations) status. “We are using this as a platform not only to give clarity about NPOs but as a space where connections can be

Social awareness at ADCcreated in the community” said Margie Keeton.

With the help of visu-al aids and a transla-tor, Keeton’s presentation had the audi-ence hanging onto her eve-ry word.

From ex-plaining the d i f f e r e n t types of NPO to under-standing the importance of NPO struc-tures, Keeton covered all the bases.

Keeton has been devot-

part of the lyrics to the song.

“The song captured what I wanted to bring to this event, a lot of organi-sations are speaking out for example, against rape and racism” said van der Waal as she explained her choice of song.

“This was an opportunity to give my 67 minutes for Madiba day and do what I love. I wanted to encour-age people to be brave in their communications and highlight positive things in colleagues and help them enjoy each other” she added.

Arrows operates out of Grahamstown and offers indoor and outdoor activi-ties.

They cater for any teams including; general, corporate, sports, schools and committees.

By ZINHLE HLATSHWAYO

Nelson Mandela was a revolutionary in many dif-ferent forms of the world, he effected change in a variety of areas of South African lives. Mandela was not only an advocate for racial equality but for gen-der equality too, a strug-gle which women have faced over centuries.

South Africa’s former presidents’ legacy of de-mocracy for all continues to live on; and to keep it alive many South Africans participate in Mandela day. This is an annual initia-tive which takes place on Madiba’s birthday during which South Africans vol-untarily offer 67 minutes of their time for service to their communities. In this way, Tata Madiba’s legacy is kept alive as people the world over knew him as the kind of president who was for the people, a man who fought for positive change in society.

“Trading Live for Mande-la Day” is a community en-gagement initiative which first took place on Friday, 27 July 2012. In line with the central objective of the nationally celebrated Mandela Day, Trading Live provides Rhodes Univer-sity staff and students an opportunity to take ac-tion to help change the world for the better, and in doing so build a global movement for good. On the 22nd of July this year, some of Rhodes Universi-ty’s anthropology students

Amasango boys summoned to the kitchen for gender equality

visited Amasango Career School to discuss gender issues with its scholars.

An ironic observation was the division between the boys and the girls in the class room with girls seated on the right and boys seated on the left. The two groups were sep-arated by 5 chairs making the division clear for any-one to see. The scholars discussed issues around the stereotypical house-hold duties of the two dif-ferent genders. Gender stereotypes were chal-lenged by two role- re-versal skits performed by the Amasango scholars, men were summoned to the kitchen while wom-en socialised over a cold beer. The discussion which flowed from this was an alarming protest from some of the boys against women not performing their traditional roles.

One would assume that “born frees” are far more familiar with liberalism and equality, Tuesdays event was proof that one should rather stay clear of assumptions. Children of today may be familiar with Madiba and what he stood for, however, it is incorrect to assume that they all share the same sentiments. The struggle for gender equality still continues with only a few boys taking a stand with the ladies, there is proof that Madiba still continues to effect change no matter how small.

ed to development work in South Africa through-out her career and serve

on a number of education, policy and development bodies.

Keeton of-fered to as-sist anyone who needed help with their propos-als for estab-lishing NPO’s in the future.

The event was also

hugely beneficial because it allowed the locals to net-work and exchange ideas.

“Settings like these give the community an oppor-tunity to strengthen their NPO status and meet with other like-minded people they could work with” said Keeton.

The Assumption Devel-opment Centre has been transformed from a clinic into an economic devel-opment hub through the collaboration between the Assumption Sisters, Rho-des University and local NGO’s.

The Assumption Devel-opment Centre has cre-ated many opportunities for the community and continues to give hope to the community members.

“We are using this as a platform

not only to give clarity about

NPOs but as a space where

connections can be created in

the community”

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