TIMCA NEWS

Traveling through Intabazwe we noticed a bus from Hope House collecting children at some of the schools.  A quick google search and a couple of days later we found ourselves at the door of Hope House where we had a wonderful meeting with their team. 

Founded in 2008, Hope House is a home for abandoned, abused and neglected children in the greater Harrismith area.  To quote from their website – “Our mission is to provide the home that we believe every child deserves, and to guide and provide for our children in order for them to reach their full potential as contributing members of society, and in this way also enable them to break the cycle of poverty in our area.”

What made the visit even more significant was that Elizabeth came with us as she was in South Africa.  Abandoned by her mother at the age of 3, our USA co-founder has lived through the pain of abandonment and Hope House very quickly found its way into our hearts.  The end result of our meeting is that we are now running extramural  Math Clubs for 18 primary school children on a Saturday morning at Hope House.    

Tuesday 27^th October 2020.

Singing in the Silence

It’s a quiet day at Qhubeka Public Primary School in Intabazwe, Harrismith. The school is closed for a mid-term break. There is no hustle and bustle of youngsters on the dusty playgrounds.  There are no teacups jangling in the staffroom amidst the hum of socially distanced conversation. But wait, what’s that? The silence is broken with the sound of a small group of singing children.

Math Clubs are Go!

Deep in the heart of the school there are feet tapping to the rhythm of a familiar TIMCA refrain:

“Nine and One are Number Bonds, Eight and Two are Friends, Seven and Three, Six and Four, Five and Five are Twins…”

The Number Bonds Song

TIMCA Math Club facilitators Randy Tshabalala and Sbu Mphuthi have been waiting for this day for many months. Delayed in their quest by the COVID-19 pandemic, they are finally busy with their first Math Club in Intabazwe. The two local residents started their TIMCA journey in February 2020.

Training is Key

Initial training in Intabazwe was followed by a trip to the Friendly City of Port Elizabeth. Trainers Untu Baart and Abongile Bobo took them through their paces. Days after their return home the country went into lockdown, and their hopes were dashed.

Thanks to Qhubeka PPS

Level One COVID-19 restrictions meant that the dream of starting Math Clubs in Intabazwe could once again start to be realised. This could not happen without the cooperation and support from Principal Attie Tshabalala and HOD Mr Mbhele from Qhubeka PPS. The willingness of the school to embrace the Math Club programme and to nominate their Grade 6 scholars for the initiative is highly appreciated.

The twenty-five Grade 6 scholars from Qhubeka PPS have been split into 3 clubs, and today they are all learning about the number bonds song, Fizz-Pop and that Maths is Fun. These scholars will be part of TIMCA’s pilot programme in Intabazwe, which will stretch over 5 weeks, ending in November.

Bright future for the community

In the year ahead, TIMCA will be driving forward with facilitator education and the development of more clubs in the Harrismith area. The goal is to have a minimum of 240 learners and 10 facilitators in Math Clubs in the area by the end of 2021. These clubs will be run in the community, by the community, for the community.

Acknowledgements

TIMCA would also like to acknowledge a number of people, without which this Math Club launch would not have been possible. Firstly, our donors, who have a passion for development, Sam Twala, Chairman of the Harrismith Water Hero’s and community leader, Attie Tshabalala, Principal of Qhubeka PPS, and Ané de Witt, Proprietor of Shady Pines Guest House in Harrismith.

Regular updates on the progress of the clubs will be posted on our Website, www.TIMCA.org.

Our Representative

TIMCA’s Sipho Mpisane attended the National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) Education Collab on the 3rd September, and sent us this report-back on a very meaningful session

A Brief Background

A brief background on who they are: The National Education Collaboration Trust (NECT) is an organisation dedicated to strengthening partnerships within civil society and between civil society and government in order to achieve South Africa’s national goals for basic education. It strives both to support and to influence the agenda for reform of education (https://nect.org.za/about/about). 

Collaboration

The Collab began with a very informative presentation from Ms Selaelo Lekoloane, Programmes Director at the NECT. Ms Lekoloane shared some of the collaborative work of the NECT in response to the COVID pandemic, as well as some of their thoughts on the future of education.  Her presentation re-emphasised the importance of continued collaboration between government, civil society, business and communities to realise the dream of education reform in South Africa.  She ended on a challenging point, expressing the NECT’s commitment to ensuring a South Africa where 90% of learners pass mathematics, science and languages with at least 50% by 2030. 

Breakaway Sessions

Shortly after the insightful presentation, we were all invited to take part in a breakaway session.  In this session we had the opportunity to take the conversation forward. This focused on core areas in which we can hold hands, as we narrow our collaborative focus through a reverse brainstorming process.  This was a particularly interesting time of collaboration that focused on solutionist thinking, taking into account ideas and inputs from people that represented diverse areas within education. 

Sustainable Solutions

The NECT is doing incredibly important work.  Even more important is their approach to finding and implementing solutions. This is highly collaborative, and pulls strengths from different sectors and stakeholders to create meaningful and sustainable solutions.    

Thanks from TIMCA

TIMCA is grateful to be a part of this collaborative approach. On behalf of TIMCA, I look forward to continuing to build this relationship into the future.

Watch the conversation

In the first of the TIMCA Talks to… series, TIMCA’s James King is in conversation with Michael Ellefsen, a Biokineticist in Private Practice in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Michael takes us through the impact that lockdown and working from home may have had on your sleeping patterns. He then provides handy tips on how to deal with the disruption to your Circadian Rhythms.

This is a fascinating discussion with a practitioner who deals with aspects of Lifestyle and with people struggling with chronic diseases. Please contact us at admin@timca.org

Please watch on YouTube

Please watch TIMCA’s Education Centre in Intabazwe, Harrismith, continue its journey to completion. TIMCA honours and thanks Maersk South Africa, in particular CEO Jonathan Peter Horn, Faidah Josephs and Nasheetah Hendricks. Maersk donated the containers and their delivery to enable this to happen.

TIMCA would also like to thank Shady Pines Guest House in Harrismith, and in particular owner Anè de Witt for the incredible and generous hospitality. With help from companies like Maersk and from the local community leaders like Sam Twala and Anè, TIMCA is set to make a difference to the community in this Eastern Free State town.

www.TIMCA.org Creating agency and driving cognitive development

Intabazwe

Intabazwe is a suburb of the Eastern Free State town of Harrismith. This town is better known as the gateway to the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal. It sits above the escarpment, not far from the steep Van Reenen’s Pass, which winds its way through the Drakensberg Mountains.The pass takes road travelers from the financial and industrial heartland of Gauteng to the warm coastal waters and port of Durban. Vehicles pass on the busy N3, about 2km from where TIMCA is establishing an Education Centre in the heart of Intabazwe.

A Sense of Community

This vibrant community is a microcosm of South Africa. Streets bustle with people as informal traders make their living in the dusty winter landscape. Almost in the centre of Intabazwe, a plot flanked by Kilane and Zwana streets is being developed. Part of this development is the establishment of an Education Centre for TIMCA. The Foundation that you see being laid in this video is more than concrete. It is a symbol of TIMCA’s commitment to development in this community. It will house the containers that have been generously donated to TIMCA by MAERSK shipping company.

The Future

These will be the structure of the Education Centre. This is part of a broader plan to assist communities like Intabazwe. This support is not possible without the community itself. We are fortunate to have a relationship with the Harrismith Water Hero’s, and would like to thank Sam Twala and his team for their assistance in making this possible. Please join us for our next video showing the delivery of the containers, which will be happening in the near future.