Education South Africa Project #46847

Volmoed Youth Leadership Training Program (VYLTP)

by The Volmoed Trust (for Healing And Reconciliation In South Africa)

Volmoed Youth Leadership Training Program (VYLTP)

Project Report | Apr 28, 2023
GlobalGiving VYLTP Report for April 2023

By Wilma Jakobsen | Project Lead

GlobalGiving VYLTP Report April 2023

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR GENEROUS DONORS!

This first quarter of this year has been full and busy and eventful.

In February, students from Mennonite Eastern University in the USA spent a week staying with local families in Zwelihle, and engaged with young people from our youth leadership program at Volmoed during the days.

The drumming project continues, as a partnership of VYLTP with Drumba. In January and February, Bevil from Drumba trained ten young people in leading drum circles, and they graduated in March.

VYLTP and Drumba are now working out how to partner together, with Drumba providing the marketing for gigs and events for our young trained drummers to play at so that we can focus on our leadership training.

In early May we are starting the next phase, which involves training the young people to actually make the drums. This is exciting.

On Human Rights Day in March, there was a great VYLTP event in Hermanus, where a mural of Archbishop Tutu that had been painted by a local artist and one of our young artists, was unveiled. Our drummers were there for this exciting event.

At the end of March, VYLTP added a new weekly program, simply called Thursday Program, as the young leaders come to Volmoed on Thursdays, engage in learning programs with local and visiting speakers, enjoy the nature and beauty of Volmoed and get to know each other across racial, cultural, and language differences. This will now take the place of our former ten week residential program. We are working out how to cover the same content, based on the five themes of Volmoed: Beloved Community; Creation and Creativity; Healing and Wholeness; Peace & Justice; Reconciliation; as well as teaching leadership skills and other tools needed to be leaders in church and faith groups and in society. This is a very exciting development and in the end will cost much less than the residential program.

Our Taizé Youth Day in April was attended by about forty-five young people, from the local communities and from Khayelitsha and the Western Cape. We were glad to have a large group from one of the local communities that has not yet attended these days, and this made the racial demographics more diverse, which we hope will lead to deepened friendships across cultures.

For the first time ever, we added drumming to the music mix! Our newly trained drummers, under the direction of Bevil from Drumba organization, gave us a new and beautiful experience. The music and meditative singing, time for reflection alone and in small groups, a walk to the waterfall, networking, and workshops on drumming workshop that was very popular, Gender Based Violence, and Africa, make this a wonderful day for the young leaders.

As the year continues, we are excited to see how all these new emerging projects develop. As always, thank you for your ongoing support throughout the year. We are hugely grateful.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROUS YOUR DONATIONS!

WE APPRECIATE YOU!

Links:

Volmoed Youth Leadership Training Programme

Attachments:

Global_Giving_VYLTP_Report_April_2023.pdf (PDF)

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Dec 29, 2022
GlobalGiving VYLTP Report for December 2022

By Wilma Jakobsen | Project Leader

GlobalGiving VYLTP Report December 2022

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR GENEROUS DONORS!

As this year ends, VYLTP is grateful! It has been a busy few months for VYLTP. In September we held an in person weekend for our local VYLTP participants, focused on learning about contextual analysis as a tool for reading texts of Scripture through the lenses of culture, class, and the historical context of empire.

A few of our young people who are interested and talented have continued their weekly art program with Alyson Guy, the resident artist at Volmoed. In mid December there was a small exhibition of their artwork at the weekly Thursday gathering.

Our last Taize Youth Day was attended by about thirty five young people, from the local communities and from Khayelitsha and the Western Cape. A day together of music and meditative singing, reflection alone and in small groups, a walk to the waterfall, networking, and workshops on Climate Change, Africa, Gender Based Violence, and Grace in Advent.

VYLTP has begun a new potential income generating project for our local young adults connected with our leadership training program. It’s all about drumming! Bevil Spence of Drumba360 is teaming up with us. Drum circles take place every two weeks. They are training to

drum for tourists in Hermanus and Overstrand. Some will be selected to learn to lead drum circles and others will learn to make the drums. We are in the beginning stages of planning. Their first public debuts

were at the Christmas Carol picnic and a Thursday gathering at Volmoed, then on a public holiday at the Hermanus Waterfront. They were excited and so are we! Watch this space for future developments.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support throughout the year. We are enormously grateful.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT AND ALL YOUR DONATIONS!
WE APPRECIATE YOU!

Links:

https://volmoedyouth.org.za

Attachments:

Global_Giving_VYLTP_Report_Dec_2022.pdf (PDF)

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Sep 1, 2022
GlobalGiving VYLTP Report for September 2022

By Wilma Jakobsen | Project Leader

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR GENEROUS DONORS!

VYLTP is grateful! In May, through the insight of Mona Nerea Okello, our wonderful volunteer, we took on the goal of growing a core community and capacity of local young people. The hope was to begin to build our local VYLTP presence in the surrounding area in order to better welcome young people to Volmoed. With great joy we can say that this is now happening!

Because of your generous donations, we were able to hire a half-time youth worker, Siyabonga Vonco, aka Siya. Siya is a multi-skilled, talented alum of the very first VYLTP program back in 2016. He is a Volmoed trustee with prior experience working with non-profit organisations in Hermanus. He hosts a community radio breakfast show on weekday mornings, makes furniture and renovates kitchens, directs choirs and is well known in the local community.

Since mid-May Siya has focused on developing a core community of young faith leaders from the local communities of Zwelihle, Hawston, Mount Pleasant and Karwyderskraal.

Siya’s coming on board coincided with our first in-person week long workshop since Covid-19 started. What a joy! He prepared the ground for our June Taizé Youth Day and the Beloved Community workshop. He brought small groups of young people to Volmoed, and together with Wilma Jakobsen, Volmoed chaplain, they attended events at the Fynbos Festival. A marimba concert, choir concert, and interview of Justice Edwin Cameron, a retired constitutional court judge, were the highlights.

The plan worked well! Our June Taizé Youth Day was attended by over sixty young people, and the Beloved Community workshop began the next day. Twenty young people from Zwelihlel, invited by Siya, attended the Taizé Youth Day of silence and prayer/meditation, bible discussions and small group reflection, networking, and workshops on Africa, Gender Based Violence, and Care for the Environment.

Ten of them continued with the ‘Beloved Community’ workshop, facilitated by Seth Naicker. This was formerly the first week of our pre-Covid-19 ten-week program. This one-week workshop is our first step towards beginning our in-person leadership training programs again, as we discern how best to offer a hybrid program of in person week and weekend workshop and online courses.

Five of our young VYLTP community, beginners, aspiring and local artists, attended an art workshop with local artist Adele Fouché in the art studio at Volmoed. This was a highlight for them.

We are so grateful for this community building and leadership training. We continue to discern how best to operate post Covid-19. In September we will hold a weekend workshop in-person.

As always, thank you for your ongoing support throughout the year. We are enormously grateful.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT AND ALL YOUR DONATIONS!

WE APPRECIATE YOU!

Attachments:

Global_Giving_VYLTP_Report_Sept_2022.pdf (PDF)

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