When asked to take time to think about ending the year off there were so many things to write about with all the new and exciting things happing in I Can! Reflecting on the Month of November as Disability Month, we thought it appropriate to write about the core of our business, which is our learners of course.

What a beautiful way to start November with light showers in the Western Cape. As we slowly approach the festive season we take the time to reflect on the months gone by in 2014. Take a step back to when we started the year, some new learners, some not so new. These are our most prized assets and it is with this in mind that we hone in on the abilities that lie with them despite their disabilities.

Learners from all walks of life visit our academies to enquire about opportunities to gain some skill or knowledge. It is not only our mission to ensure we provide each possible candidate an opportunity to engage with us in order to either place them on a learnership or at an employer. It is our commitment to our learners that drives us to deliver. Our learners have the innate ability to be part of a bigger picture through consistency and perseverance to complete a learnership. Their abilities are infinite when they are given the right tools and the proper guidance.

We have engaged with many sites who have been willing to open their doors to allow our learners to engage and gain work place experience. These opportunities provide them with the courage to do things for themselves when they have always had someone tend to their every need because of their disability. No longer do our learners fear having to travel alone to the academy nor to their practical work site, because they have overcome the stigma that they need to be hand-held to achieve success on their own. We reflect on those who have never been able to master the art of being an individual, those who have always relied on their parents or guardians to make the decisions for them. We are proud to be part of the changes that our learners have gone through on their learning journey. Proud to have seen the growth and determination to achieve.

Let’s take the time to reflect on our own abilities, and celebrate along with our learners who have disabilities. November we dedicate our accomplishments and achievements to overcoming the inability to see past the individuals’ disability.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” ~ Thomas A. Edison

Madre Human
General Manager: I Can!

The cleaners of I Can! Clean are people with disabilities, and so we have had to come up with some creative solutions to address challenges we encounter because of these disabilities. We communicate tasks and schedules with pictures, as well as words for those people who may not have strong reading or writing abilities. One of the newest members of our team is Gugu, who is a little person. To contend with her height challenges, she uses a step ladder, rather than having to depend on someone for help.

Our main contractor CCI, have been very understanding in our quest to provide jobs for People With a Disability and have helped us over the last couple of months while we have been on a drive to improve our service and delivery. We have employed 3 new supervisors who, between them have an impressive amount of experience in the corporate- cleaning industry and many years’ experience in cleaner-management. CCI’s expectation for excellence has propelled us to focus on how we structure and execute our service.

If your company is considering a new cleaning company- contract, why not give us a ring to talk about employing I Can! Clean for the job? 031 563 0507

Rachael Erskine
Khulisani

My name is Livhuwani Edward Nejelele. I am 29 years old. I was born with a disability. I would like to thank I Can! for the opportunity that was given to me.

Before the Learnership I was struggling to get a better opportunity because of my disability. It was hard to understand and accept that I was living with a disability but I am now confident and proud of who I am. People think that living with a disability means that we are not able to do anything in life.

I Can! then came into my life and things changed for me. I had heard that there were positions at a company called Group 5. I kept on asking the recruitment officer when my interview was. She kept telling me that she will get back to me once she gets feedback from the client. Finally I went for an interview with Group 5 for a learnership in Business Administration which was a qualification I had hoped for, as I am business minded.

When I got that opportunity I started telling myself to plant a tree called “work hard to achieve today”. I achieved what I planted on that day of the Group 5 interview. I remember Sushie Naidoo of I Can! recruitment had some wonderful words at our Induction held on the 4^th of November 2013. She passed around a Golden Ball for each candidate to touch and put our focus on. Today I enjoy the fruits of Golden Ball because I got a permanent position. I knew before I got a response after my interview that I was successful as I am dedicated to my work. I am a hard worker, energetic and I am very ambitious.

I was in the learnership for a duration of one year and 6 months and did my training at KLM.

Workplace:

During the 6 months of doing practical work, I had a positive influence on people I worked with and due to my work ethic. It was hard to believe that a person with a disability was able complete a task just like an able bodied person.

I have never seen my disability as an excuse when I was given tasks to do. My mentor and all people that I work with know me as a hard working person.

Conclusion:

I thank God for giving me an opportunity and the strength to go through this long journey that I went through this whole year. I faced many challenges and I never gave up hence today I am celebrating the fruits of my labour and I am still permanently employed.

I would like to thank Sushie and Thembi from I Can! recruitment for the contribution that they have made in my life. Today I am shining an everlasting light and would like to urge them to continue changing the lives of people living with disabilities.

My message to people living with disabilities is to go out there and show people that our Disability can be an Ability and that we are able to work in the corporate world.

Livhuwani Edward Nejelele
Group 5 employee

Lungile Mdaka

Lungile Mdaka is a 19 year old (young) man who recently joined the I Can! Parc du Cap academy and is sponsored by Quest Staffing Solutions. Lungile lives by the philosophy that the only disability one can have is a bad attitude.

Lungile loves to run. He started athletics at primary school level during the athletics season and continued until he finished his primary education. He was hoping to continue running in mainstream high school as well, however after grade 7 Lungile was transferred to a special needs school because of his learning disability. He felt that his dream of becoming a professional athlete was ‘fading away’.

However, things were about to change. It was when Lungile met K-WAY VOB coach at an athletics competition that was held in the province for all the special schools, that he eventually regained hope of making his dream a reality. He joined the club and quickly realized that he had to make a lot of sacrifices. Through determination and hard work he started to prove himself. This disciplined hard work paid off when he was selected into the Western Cape provincial athletics team.

Lungile is now a professional athlete for K-WAY VOB and still an active member of the provincial team. We believe that he is headed for even greater success in the future.

Lungile Mdaka is a great inspiration to many young adults out there with disabilities who aspire to make something of their lives. He reminds us that with hard work and sacrifice, much can be achieved –the only disability one can have is a bad attitude!!!

Maryam Kriel
Operations Manager – W Cape

The month of November began with one of I Can’s! employees going back to her school to inspire the youth. Sinethemba travelled to Happydale Special School to inspire, motivate and show that a disability can also be an inspiring ABILITY.

On arrival at Happydale the school principal did not recognise Sinethemba. In his own words ‘’she has grown into a lady’’.

The Principal used to teach in a mainstream school and he expected his previous learners to visit him and to inform him about their successes. In all the time that he has been in Happydale, Sinethemba is the first past pupil to visit and motivate youth with disabilities.

In the school hall Sinethemba was introduced and warmly welcomed by the psychologist Sipho Williams. Sinethemba informed the learners that she had successfully completed a Life Skills learnership at I Can! and thoroughly enjoyed it. After the learnership she was offered a position as a General Assistant at I Can! She told the learners that I Can! is there to assist and to take care of youth with disabilities. She also mentioned that having an intellectual challenge does not mean a person has no ability: there are still many opportunities available. Sinethemba also thanked all her educators, in particular Mrs Ali who has been extremely supportive of her.

Mrs Ali spoke highly of Sinethemba, particularly about the level of respect and good behaviour she possesses. She mentioned that during the holidays she would invite Sinethemba to her house. Mrs Ali did not see Sinethemba only as a pupil but as family. Sinethemba is helpful at all times and Mrs Ali is very proud to have taught her. She added that hard work, self-discipline and good behaviour is rewarding.

Sipho Williams reiterated that discipline and good behaviour starts from a young age. I Can! is changing young people’s lives not only by offering learnerships but also by assisting with employment for people with disabilities. The school principal stated that it was a pleasure having Sinethemba visit and that she must continue to make the school proud. The rest of the school pupils should learn from her and also be outstanding members of society.

Sine Mokobo
Recruitment

I Can! opened its doors to the first agricultural academy within the I Can! fold on 1 September 2014. The academy is located on a huge piece of ground in the suburb of Merrivale, near Howick KZN.

The first twenty learners were enrolled on a 3-month vegetable gardening skills program, and were kindly sponsored by Agriseta. Some of us ex-city slickers were extremely grateful to have the agriculturally-able assistance of our newly employed facilitators who held our hands patiently as they explained that vegetables are actually quite easily grown in the soil and not just purchased from Woolies. That was the first surprise.

The second came from the learners. We have watched these young adults grow in confidence as they learned about the soil and its properties. They composted, weeded, planted and irrigated. They pulled on their gumboots and raincoats as the first rains of the seasons bucketed down and flooded the farm roads. They watched over their seedlings like concerned parents. They trellised, ridged and nurtured their plants over the 12-week period and finally today they harvested their produce. You can imagine the smiles as these learners took home their own-grown spinach leaves and eagerly discussed dinner options!

A further ten learners have been enrolled on the year-long Plant Production learnership. These learners have been sponsored by African Food Dynamic and Oricol Environmental Services. I am sure that you will join me in wishing them great success as they complete their fundamental unit standards focusing on good communication, numeracy and literacy – skills that all farmers need. Their great agricultural experience has just begun and I am confident that we are going to witness the growth of our new budding agriculturists, proving that our only limitation in life is our ability to dream big.

Rowan Robinson
Manager: Special Projects and Farmer Wannabee

We’ve been very fortunate to partnerwith one of the biggest call centers in SA. We have successfully placed 27 candidates with The Foschini Group and these new recruits are currently undergoing training to better prepare them for their new line of work.

It has been a great experience for the recruitment team to be part of the preparation of each candidate: from assessments and interviews, to reaching the first milestone of completing first clusters and actually starting to train on the TFG site.

We are definitely looking forward to further successes upon completion of their training process. I Can! would like to extend our gratitude to all the corporate companies who are seeing the opportunities in the mainstream market for persons with disabilities and by integrating these employees back into society.

Exciting times and greater prospects ahead, DO not miss out!

Jamie-Leigh Rodgers
Senior Recruitment Officer

The Durban North Academy recently assisted the HEARD – UKZN team with a pilot study, led by Dr Jill Hanass-Hancock on the financial and economic costs of disability to households. This study had been commissioned by UNICEF in cooperation with the Department of Women Children and People with Disabilities (now moved to Social Development). It aims to address the economic and financial vulnerability of people with disabilities.

It is hoped that the results of this study will identify the disability-related costs to households in relation to access to place of work, health and education in order to inform the South African government how better to budget for disability in the future.

Extract from an Article by Dr Jill Hanass-Hancock and Prof Jim Whiteman

Time to Bring People with Disabilities into Development

“In order to move forward we need more and better disability-related data and evidence that will complement and support our efforts to ensure the rights of all disabled people. This includes not only the causes and prevalence of disability in a given population, we also need to understand the full extent of the livelihood challenges they present; to find new entry points for interventions; to engage the potential of people with disabilities; and to understand the economic dimensions of disability. In resource-poor settings this may require a shift of thinking away from the medicalization of disease management towards a more holistic model of care that includes care and rehabilitation beyond the acute or routine management phases of a disease or disorder.”

Reference:http://www.heard.org.za/

Natascha McAllister
Operations Manager – KZN

Heritage Day is a day in which all are encouraged to celebrate our cultural traditions in the wider context of the great diversity of cultures, beliefs and traditions that make-up the nation of South Africa.

The aim of Heritage Day is to focus public attention on the importance of South Africa’s diverse cultural heritage. The day promotes the need for a new South African identity, fostering reconciliation and promoting the notion that variety is a national asset as opposed to igniting conflict. Nelson Mandela coined the phrase “rainbow nation” to describe South Africa’s diverse cultures, customs, traditions, histories, and languages. A diverse nation: a colourful nation. A nation being unified.

We explained to our learners that celebrating heritage is not just about the traditional attires that we wear or the traditional food that we eat. It is also about how we entertain ourselves in different cultures. Each culture has their own unique way of dancing, reciting poetry (Umbongo / Isithakazelelo); of singing and story-telling.

So on Heritage day this year, we prepared dancing routines for each culture: Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, Swati, Venda, SeSotho, Indian and some represented Africa with the Nigerian attire. See the attached photos.

The learners were so excited about the whole experience. They commented that they will never forget I Can! because of the way the staff members taught them to play, dance and laugh with each other, in unity.

Anathi Msol
Academy Supervisor (Kempton Park)

Spring is in the air and we could not be happier for seeing the dull and dreary layers of winter being shed. Sunshine and beautiful weather greets us in the Mother City as well as beautiful, smiling faces of our Academy learners in Cape Town. A rejuvenated feeling of accomplishment sets in as we slowly, but sure approach the end of a very busy year.

We are happy to report a success story of a past learner, Ronecia Christians (19 years old), who finished her Life Skills Qualification with I Can! Cape Town on the 25 July 2014.   When she first came into my office with her uncle and aunt at the start of her learnership, she explained in a very timid voice that she wanted to learn and not be dependent on others. She believed that the learnership would help her achieve this.

True to her word, Ronecia made a success of her learnership and persevered with every challenge. Ronecia even volunteered her services at our graduation again demonstrating her willingness to learn at every opportunity.

We are proud to announce that after a month of completing her learnership, she has secured a job at one of our Practical Host Sites, Sun Bell Lodge. She applied for a position and within a week they contacted her informing her that her application had been successful. We are delighted for her!

Congratulations Ronecia on your new job, we encourage you to continue to strive for what you want.

“You don’t have to be Great to start, But you have to start to be Great” Zig Ziglar.