About Youth in Action:
Youth in Action (YiA) is an HIV/AIDS prevention and support program established to offer youth of Nkomazi tangible support programs that enable them to form a foundation for life long positive contributions to building a better society.
Youth in Action, a unique project offering a wide range of opportunities for the region’s youth, was established in 2003 as an HIV/AIDS prevention program under the umbrella of Thembalethu Home Based Care.
The goal of YiA is to unite the Nkomazi youth from all 34 villages to work together and fight HIV and AIDS. In order to fight this pandemic disease, the youth engage in a number of life affirming activities to promote a healthy and productive lifestyle.
Thembalethu’s philosophy is to educate the youth about HIV/AIDS, while promoting the Abstinence (A) and Be faithful (B) messages.
We believe that if young people are provided with an infrastructure for positive living they will take control of their lives, and avoid behavior that puts them at a higher risk for contracting HIV.
The YiA motto is “Challenged to take control”
VISION: A vibrant and dynamic youth population that is free of HIV/AIDS and is contributing to the eradication of poverty.
MISSION: Empower the youth to take control over all aspects of their lives.
STRATEGY: Develop and implement a two tier program wherein youth are given capacity to 1). participate in tangible activities and life-skills while simultaneously being made aware of the realities of HIV/AIDS, and 2). to be given the opportunity to enter counseling and support groups if necessary.
KEY OBJECTIVES
- Saturate the Nkomazi with HIV/AIDS awareness
- Train and empower peer counselors in HIV/AIDS pre & post test counseling
- Establish and run support circles in all villages
- Engage youth in life-skills and sporting programs as positive life-styles
- Challenge youth to push their boundaries and reach national competition levels in all activities
Youth in Action HIV/AIDS Awareness Program
VCT- HIV Voluntary Counseling and Testing
Coordinators Nora from Block B and Thembi from Driekoppies Work together with 200 trained peer HIV counselors in 20 villages and a staff of 8 counselors at the Block B care center The peer counselors in the villages conduct HIV education in schools and refer their peers to the Block B care center for HIV testing and counseling. All HIV positive youth will continue with the Block B center until their CD4 count is raised through a nutrition and counseling program or are stable on ARV's.
In 2006, we have managed to test 550 people and we have 81 who tested HIV positive. The summary of patients of HIV positive 2006: 5 patients waiting for CD4 counts, 48 pts CD4 above 200, 16 pts private docotor, 2pts attending classes for ARV's and 10 pts on ARV's
Education Team
Coordinators: Wendy Ngubane (28) from Mzinti Sindiswa Ndukuya (27) from Schoemansdal
The Education team manages the after school care program run for the orphans and vulnerable children. They also head a 'Back to School' program with Khulisa that encourages children who have dropped out of school to return. A culture of debate and dialogue is encouraged through debating competitions particularly about HIV issues.
'Wanna Be Stars'
Coordinator: Vusi Kubhayi from Schoemansdal
The 'Wanna Be Stars' encourages Thembalethu's youth to develop their musical talent, and to promote the 'Abstinence and Be Faithful' messages through their original music. 'Wanna Be Stars' has just come out with its first CD titled: 'Don't Touch Me Now', and is looking forward to creating a music video in the near future.
Music Video: 'Wanna Be Stars'
Small Micro Medium Enterprises (SMME) Team
Coordinator: Zakhele Zitha from Altunda.
The SMME team aims to build a strong foundation for young entrepreneurs in Nkomazi. So far, agriculture based mushroom and bee SMME’s have been developed. A bio-diesel project is also currently under construction.
Sports Team
Coordinators: Sandite Sambo(25) from Schoemansdal, Chris Masilela(24) and Kenneth Sigudla(25) from Ntunda Village
The Sports team aims to decrease HIV infection rates by promoting a positive attitude and healthy lifestyle through participation in team sports.With so many different sports programs the youth have been offered a constructive environment that teaches them teamwork, discipline, self-motivation, and respect for others all while having a good time.It also provides a potential career for those who excel in it.
Latin American & Ballroom Dance Team
Coordinator: Jerry Mabila (29) from Schoemansdal, Trudy Lekhulehi(18) from BoschfonteinThe Latin American & Ballroom Dance team encompasses 18 dance clubs throughout the region. It offers the youth a fun and challenging activity, and encourages positive competitive skills, as well as future career opportunities.The youth involved aspire to qualify for national teams, and eventually the Olympic Games.
Performing Arts and Drama Team
The Performing Arts and Drama Team strives to create a society of professional performing artists who can participate internationally and turn their natural talent into future income generating opportunities. Many of the team’s original dramas are focused on the central theme of HIV prevention through spreading the Abstinence and Be Faithful messages.
Arts & Crafts Team
The vision of the Arts & Crafts team is to hone the creative talent among the youth and provide skills training. The Wildly African Treeshop provides the crafters with an outlet to sell their products. This work presents artistically inclined youth with an opportunity to develop their skills into a self-sustaining career.
Awards and Honors
Arts and Crafts: In 2004 5 artists participated in a national art competition that was sponsored by Sappi. Dereck received a bursary and special mention for his book. The artist’s work was used for Sappi’s international Christmas cards.
Sports: In December 2004 a 6 year-old from Steenbook was sponsored by YiA to the South African national chess competition and achieved position 2. YiA runs regular recognized chess leagues with over 100 players.
Latin American Dance: In 2005 the Latin American Dance team competed in South African games representing the region and won 2nd place against 70 participants.
Wildly African: Originally began with 55 youths trained in arts and crafts. The project grew into a business and the crafters products are now available in the Wildly African Treeshop.
MAJOR ACTIVITIES:
During 2006, YiA achieved some significant goals:- Under the auspices of the Centre for the Study of AIDS (CSA) from the University of Pretoria, YiA trained 400 peer educators/youth from 21 villages in HIV counseling.These youth are now setting up support circles to assist those affected by HIV.
- YiA and Nkomazi Voice (weekly community newspaper) received the Premier’s provisional silver award for the best youth group in entrepreneur development.
- YiA organized the Nkomazi celebrations for the World Aids Day (1 December) in partnership with the Municipality.
- The sports desk held the Ntunda annual sports festival in September which involved over 900 competitors in 6 sporting codes and over 3,000 spectators; YiA started and sponsors a basketball league which involves 17 teams and has trained 20 coaches/referees.
- YiA runs a successful chess tournaments and has managed to break into the traditionally Afrikaans Lowveld chess tournaments. An OVC from Steenbok, and the youngest player (6) to play in the SA national chess games (2004) was awarded a medal and continues to win.
- YiA players were selected to go to Cape Town to compete in indigenous games.
- The Latin/American dance team established 18 clubs in 15 villages and has won bronze and silver medals at provincial and national levels. Workshops with FEDANSA have been organized and the Nkomazi is recognized as one of the most progressive youth groups to be involved nationally.The YiA coordinator has been elected to represent Mpumalanga at the national level. In 2006 Latin American Dance have won 180 trophies provincial and 22 nationally. They represented our region monthly on provincial compitition and 4 times in SA games.
- Performing arts youth have attended workshops run by Mpumalanga performing arts laboratory. They have written and choreographed their own HIV awareness drama, which is being presented in schools.
- A number of Performing Arts competitions were run encouraging 6 different genres such as poetry, pantsula (traditional) dance, drama, singing groups, solo artists.
- YiA organized and ran their own version of “Pop Idols” called “Wanna Be Stars” with hundreds of participants from 15 villages.The winners went on to create a CD of their original music titled, “Don’t touch me now” (Easter 2006). The song of the same title promotes the Abstinence & Be faithful messages, and has been played on the radio.The group hopes to make a music video in the near future.
- YiA holds debating workshops and competitions between 10 schools. 65 youth trained in arts and crafts went on to gain employmentat the Wildly African, and arts and craft center. 4 mushroom houses (SMME’s) and 3 Bee-hives have been started with OVCs
- Asambeni, a tourist project offering a unique opportunity for visitors to spend a night with a local family has been initiated.
Sports Team
Vision: Most of the youth are involved in a vibrant and competitive sporting environment that encourages a positive lifestyle; thus creating opportunities for future sports careers and involvement in international competitions.Basketball Cricket Chess
Volleyball Sports Festival
Developments
The YiA sports team encourages the development of other sportsmanship, such as soccer, table tennis, netball, indigenous sports, etc. However, sports equipment is urgently needed. An objective of the sports team is to identify athletic talent among the orphans and to develop their skills
OBJECTIVES
- To work towards creating an enabling environment to provide capacity to the youth in the fields of sports and recreation
- To establish a network of sports Centers throughout Nkomazi
- To identify development priorities and seek to influence donors, grant makers, organized business and other stakeholders to support the NSRC’s development agenda.
- To promote youth participation in the conceptualization, implementation and evaluation of sports development of the youth.
- To establish the Nkomazi Academy of Sporting Excellence
- To address the youth sports coaching crises by lobbying for leadership developmentand coaching programs.
- To promote collaboration amongst sports structures working in the same geographical area
- To affiliate to Provincial, Southern African, African and International sporting structures
- To collaborate with other role players both in the Nkomazi Region, the Mpumalanga Province, South Africa and foreign countries to create partnerships to assist in NSRC meeting its goals and objectives..
Basketball achievements
In 2004, YiA established a 7 team Basketball league. A tournament was held where a Nkomazi squad represented YiA in the Standerton provincial games. Sifiso Mahlinza, a squad member, was the national representative for our province.
In February 2005 a 3 day workshop was conducted with the South African basketball association (BSA), with 22 participates representing 20 villages of Nkomazi. Charles Forster who is an international Basketball referee and Trainer, and Michel Kataly, an international coaching trainer, were the trainers. The participants received a certificate from BSA, and 20 basketballs were also distributed to teams who lacked the necessary sporting equipment.
In 2006, sports have manage to sustain the 7 team that was established in 2004 and one player was selected to represent the province nationally.
Chess Achievements
- YiA members began their own chess team.In 2004 the YiA sports desk gate-crashed the traditionally white Lowveld chess league where the organizers were astounded at the skills level of the rural youth.
- This led to YiA orbganizing the first ever Chess tournament in Nkomazi which was held in August 2004 with 101 participants from the region. 15 of the best players were then sponsored to participate in next Lowveld Chess tournament in Nelspruit. During that tournament 5 players were elected to represent the
Nkomazi region provincially.Tikulu Malwane, a 6 year old boy from Thembalethu won a Gold medal for the under 10 category . We also brought back 2 silver medals in the under 20 players.
- In March 2006, YiA held another Nkomazi chess tournament with children from 34 villages. Again, winners from the various levels participated in the Lowveld Chess. An extraordinary performance was performed by Tikulu Malwane where he won another Gold medal. Two bronze medals were won, and 10 players were selected to represent our region in provincial games at Barbeton in May 2006.
- In 2006, 120 participants attended a chess tournament, 15 players were selected to participate in Lowveld Chess Tournament.
Sports Festivals
- Sport is not sport without vigorous competition, so In 2006, YiA sponsored and organized a sports festival in Ntunda. Over 1,000 participants came from many of the villages to compete in soccer, basketball, table tennis and netball.
- Following the success of 2004, another sports festival was organized in September 2005. Over 5000 spectators flocked there to spur on the 990 sportsmen and women from all over Nkomazi. An added attraction was the fiercely contested semi-finalist selections for the local “pop idol” competition called “Wanna be stars”.The winners went on to compete in the World Aids Day celebrations on 1stDecember.Winners were awarded sports gear.
