Pride in our natural environment

Enjoy the healing power of nature!

I've just posted some new photographs of our Pride program in action. Pride is coordinated by Lihle Mbokazi who hails from the Wilderenss Leadership School in KZN. Through the two Eastern Cape Pride programs, Lihle and her guides provide young South African learners from previously disadvantaged schools the opportunity to spend a day getting in touch with their natural heritage. Over the last year, Pride has taken well over 500 learners on trail.

Pride of Groendal operates out of the Groendal Wilderness Area just outside Uitenhage and Pride of Boschberg takes place on the beautiful Boschberg mountain in Somerset East. Lihle and her team take groups of learners on wilderness walks, introducing them to the splendor of protected areas which these young people may never have gotten to see otherwise. Accompanied by trained "Pride guides" (older learners who have been trained on various aspects of environmental education) learners get to know more about plants, animals and conservation issues such as saving water and recycling. They are also taught how to identify animal spoor and dung.

Together with the Pride guides, Umzi Wethu students attend these trails as peer educators/mentors. Umzi peer mentors engage the learners in discussions about issues which affect young people in South Africa today (HIV/AIDS, peer pressure, sexual integrity, self-esteem, substance abuse etc.).

Some quotes from participants:

"I’ve learnt a lots from the guide, I learned about Yellowwood trees, I didn’t like the mud, I learnt about Prickle pear, Olive tree it was very nice. I enjoyed myself a lot. I also learnt about the National tree and our national flower Protea." Linda Bruintjies (W.G. Olivier Primary School - 15/11/08)

It was great Privilege for me to be part of the trail and to learn about our natural resources, history and heritage of Somerset East. I enjoyed seeing different kind of trees and walking in the bush listening to Natural sounds." Litemba Ntlahla ( Johnson Nqonqoza High School - 7/02/09)

Hospitality Graduation 2009

The magic of Umzi celebrated!

On Friday 7th August we celebrated the graduation of our 5th group of students at the Ray Mhlaba Skills Centre in Port Elizabeth. At a heartwarming ceremony attended by various Umzi Wethu partners, student families and mentors we joined together to acknowledge the journey each of the graduates have travelled since joining the programme in 2008. I was reminded again of the fact that Umzi Wethu is all about people and the power of relationships.

We where priveledged to have Andrew Muir (Executive Director of Wilderness Foundation) as the keynote speaker and he provided guests with an entertaining and inspiring look at the history of Umzi Wethu. I think we were all reminded no matter which capacity we're involved with the programme, whether directly or more indirectly, that we're part of something special! Over the past 3 years Umzi Wethu has seen the lives of over 50 graduates transformed through the powerful intervention programme culminating in work placement across the eco-tourism industry.

Moving forward in these tough global times we remain positive about the future growth of the Umzi Wethu programme and its ability to fulfil the dreams of future students. To achieve our goals we will continue to build and strengthen partnerships which have always been the foundation upon which the Umzi Model has stood.

Take a look at some of the pictures from graduation here.

Students on the move!

A time to reflect and celebrate!

Its been an incredibly hectic and exciting few months at Umzi Wethu.

In April 2009 we celebrated the graduation of our Umzi 4 conservation students. 13 students graduated and we're please to report that to date we've been able to place almost all these students in jobs as field guides and field rangers. Initial feedback from employers has been overwhelmingly positive with our students fitting in to their new jobs excellently. Special thanks to all those employing partners who have helped us and our students to realise the Umzi dream!

No sooner had the graduation ended and the Umzi team had begun selection for our Umzi 6 (conservation) and 7 (hospitality) intakes. Selection took almost 3 months to complete with Pinky, Paul, Ntombi and Justin interviewing over 80 applicants and screening well over 150 applications in order to select the most suitable candidates for our new intakes. In July 2009 the new students began their journey with us and it has been an amazing time as students begin settling into residence life and getting into the Umzi vibe! For the team there are few better feelings than seeing a group of new Umzi students in their Umzi gear enjoying the excitement of new beginnings. The group dynamic between students at both academies has been excellent and we're filled with confidence that we're on the road to two more highly successful intakes. Thanks to everyone who has been involved in the selection process, especially our selection partners in the student's communities that identify students for us.

I must take this chance to introduce our excellent Somerset East Management Team - Chantelle (programme coordinator), Justin (facilitator), Lincoln (programme assistant) and Katie (house mother) - these are the people making Umzi happen at our conservation academy at the base of the beautiful Boschberg mountain.

Early August 2009 sees the Umzi 5 hospitality students graduating after an absolutely fantastic year at the Port Elizabeth academy. With only 1 week to go we're looking at a new record - all 20 students selected for this intake are certain to graduate on Friday. Well done to the entire team, staff and students for working incredibly hard to make this year the overwhelming success that it has been. Its with some sadness that we prepare for graduation as the lives of the staff and students become so intimately connected throughout the year. There has been a strong family spirit at the Port Elizabeth academy which I guess is exactly what Umzi is all about - creating home and family for those whose families have been devestated by poverty and other social factors. We've already begun assisting these students with job placement and have no doubt that within the coming weeks we'll have the majority of these students launched into the workplace - this is the ultimate goal of Umzi. This year we've formed a number of new employing partnerships with graduates entering work places both urban and rural - we now look forward to seeing our graduates soaring!

Wow - its great to reflect on how far we've come in just a few short years. With the continued support of all partners we venture into the next phase of Umzi with great expectation and excitement!

Warm regards

The Umzi Team

Umzi news on the web!

Greetings from the Umzi Wethu team!

With so many exciting developments happening at Umzi each week we've decided to set up a blog as a way to share the news with everyone. While much of the success of our programme is achieved through the time and energy put in by our management teams - we would not be able to achieve any of this without the support and input from our many partners (funders, service providers, mentors and many more). A great big word of thanks to everyone who has had a part in making Umzi happen!

We hope to be able to regularly update this site with news from our exciting operations as a way of keeping you all posted. Perhaps from time to time we'll have guest posts from mentors, students, and others involved with the magic of Umzi. Together with this blog we have also started a photo blog using picassa web albums in order to share some of the Umzi stories in pictures. You can take a look at this now at http://picasaweb.google.com/umziwethupmu.

By subscribing to this blog you'll be notifed each time we post something new.

Thanks for your interest and support

The Umzi Wethu Team