The Month To Say Yes is here!

Say Yes! Help fill our pledge tree with 100 leaves by the end of September and watch the leaves and the impact of your support grow... 

The work of I Am Somebody! has been growing, so now we are growing a tree of Yes pledges to sustain the growth of our organisations programmes and the exciting and necessary relationships that have already resulted from our work across generation, class and culture in our Cape Town community.

What you can do:

• Become one of 100 people to pledge R100 a month for one year. 
• Every pledge grows a leaf on this virtual tree.  
• Help us fulfill our target of growing 100 leaves by the end of September.  
• Of course, we will receive a donation of any amount with deep gratitude.

To find out more visit www.monthtosayyescampaign.org  and watch the leaves on our virtual tree grow. Also visit this web page to download your Yes pledge form and this letter with more information about the campaign. 

We believe that people who know they are "somebody" can live with purpose and create whatever they envision! Just thnk of the small sacrifices you need to make to help and compare them to building a country where every young adult leads a life that matters in a community that is healthy and whole... say Yes! You, too, can help create this vision!

Gratitude is the memory of the heart ~Jean Baptiste Massieu

This past week, our Board Member Tina Schouw celebrated her birthday. Many of you will know Tina's music. Some of you will know how often she has shared her gift to help us raise funds, performing at soirees and other events. 

I have long been in admiration of Tina. When I first heard about her I definitely idolized her, she was a role model for me of a strong woman who lives her dream. Now that I know her better,  she has helped me find the strong woman within myself and is helping the organisation do the same for others. I still remember when Toni Stuart and I, in the very early days of the organisation, approached Tina and asked her to join our Board. We asked her because we knew that she would help us find the inner wisdom we needed to build the dream of I Am Somebody! We were so nervous that she might say no, but her answer was a huge smile and a YES! She has been a mentor and support for I Am Somebody! ever since. 

I believe that the successes of I Am Somebody! and the resilience of the organisation in these early days can be attributed to the commitment our board has had. Regardless of their busy lives they each contribute so much to the work, they are the roots that are not always seen above ground. They are a support daily, they give their time without always been recognized for it and without needing anything in return. They believe in the dream of our work and they have been hugely instrumental in making it happen. Thank you Greg Andrews, Kyoko Kimura, Tina Schouw, Toni Stuart, Diana Ferrus and Kita Thierry. 

At her birthday gathering over the weekend, with a few friends and family, Tina asked people not buy her presents but to bring cash donations and drop them into a hat, which as she puts it is to "support the work of my favourite, fabulous NPO, I AM SOMEBODY" She collected R2100.00 towards our work! 

In her beautiful way, Tina suggested that her experience might be an example of a way that people in our community can help raise money for I Am Somebody! But more on that coming during our month to grow a garden in September (Wondering what this is? Watch this space to find out more soon!!) 

Thank you so much Tina for this gift among the many that you have given our work. Wishing you a very happy year!

---- Nicole le Roux, Director of I Am Somebody!

Personal Sustainability Weekend

 Xoli Fuyani of Earth Child taught morning yoga classes

Our greatest resource is people. Together, I Am Somebody! and Educo Africa's vision for our recent weekend workshop was to support the sustainability of the people within different organizations through room for personal reflection, wilderness reconnection and rest, and to develop deeper partnerships among those organisations using the concept of networking and exchange.

The Personal Sustainability Weekend, held July 20 - 22,  was an idea that surfaced at our Environmental Partners networking meeting last year. Alex Eppel of Educo Africa felt strongly that the sustainability of an organisation starts with the people doing the work.  We resonated with his belief and realized that although it was incorporated into our work before, we had never directly addressed it with our partners. I Am Somebody! and Educo Africa collaborated to develop and implement the first of our personal sustainability weekends for individuals working in non-profit organisations. The amount of interest for this programme was significant, it was clear to us that the issue of personal sustainability was very relevant to many people in the non profit sector.

Walking to do a solo in our beautiful natural surrounds

The weekend was centered around a question that was drawn from the incredible work of Organization Unbound (www.organizationunbound.org). The question was: When did you last receive the gift that you so regularly give to others? To work with this question participants had the chance to do a solo activity and tell the story of their solo, but they also had the opportunity to contribute their own answers, tools or solutions to the group.

The value of the weekend was ultimately created by the incredible wealth of passion, resources and skills within the group. It was inspiring to witness the way each person brought themselves to the weekend. It was also incredibly moving to reconnect with how much we do receive in our own lives from working within our communities and with the environment.

Sylvester making potjie

Participants Nolubablo (far left) and Zimkhitha (bottom right)

I Am Somebody! also saw this as an opportunity to support young adults in our Rites of Passage programme. We invited four of the participants in our Rites of Passage programme to attend the weekend and share the work they do and aspire to doing.  For Sylvester, whose dream it is to open a restaurant, it was an opportunity to make potjie for a group.  For Michael it was a chance to be witnessed for his work teaching surfing to kids, and to speak into what step he wants to take in the Rites of Passage programme. For Nolubabalo and Zimkhitha it was a chance to facilitate and share the work they are doing with youth through their organization at UWC. The four participants brought their passion, their dreams and an inter-generational perspective to the larger group, offering as much if not more than they were receiving. Exchange, we believe, happens across generations, across experience, across class and across culture.

Jenny Radloff from APC Women facilitated a vision board actiity

Finally, one of the most beautiful things to witness this weekend was the diversity of the group and the wealth of exchange this diversity made possible. There was inter generational diversity. There were people from organizations across different non profit sectors, from environmental to gender and technology to community building and youth development. There were consultants and artists with backgrounds from sustainable building to international documentary film. But there was also diversity in gender, class and culture. Throughout the weekend the diversity was often mentioned by participants as something to appreciate. We were reminded this weekend, that working towards an integrated, resilient and reconciled community can happen simply by exploring issues that matter to us within diverse groups of people.


We are very grateful to everyone who participated in the weekend and to Educo Africa for collaborating to make it happen and we're really looking forward to the next one!!
If you are interested in participating in the next Personal Sustainability Weekend on  November 17-18, 2012 please RSVP to yesiamsomebody@gmail.com and alex@educo.org.za

Rites of Passage Programme Workshop

On July 7-8 we held the first of eight two day workshops that are part of our Young Adult Rites of Passsage Programme. Click on the photos for more information about the workshop. Thank you so much to our partner, Novalis Ubuntu Institute, for providing the venue through non-monetary exchange. Thank you to our sponsors, Knead Bakery Muizenberg and Empire Cafe for donating bread and soup. Thank you to our volunteer, a mentor to one of the participants, Olivia Coetzee for sharing her story and supporting the weekend process in many ways. Thank you to Damian Holt for logistical support. 

Our candle for the children within us had animal crackers as well but they disappeared before we could even properly light the candle so they would never find their way in to the photograph.

The last activity of the weekend was called "River of Life" where you tell your story through a river.

Each participant painted the River to look at their own life, and began to look at how they have found belonging, independence, mastery and generosity in their lives.

After painting we told the stories of our rivers and the stories of creating the rivers.

Open Event

OPEN - event in collaboration with the Two Oceans Aquarium
It is on nights like these that anything in our country, in our community and in our lives feels so completely possible! Thank you so much to everyone enabled this event to be a success, there were so so many people who gave of their skills, their time and their energy!!! It was such an amazing experience for the I Am Somebody! team to have so many people support and take ownership of the vision and work of the organization, to have the participants and people from the community together and to experience, and to listen to the music while watching fish swim by! Watch out for our next big event coming in September. These photos were taken by Andre Meyer, who volunteered his time and skill to support our work.

Thank you so much to the Two Oceans Aquarium for collaborating on the event and to our sponsors TRUTH photography, Web Tickets and Lourensford Wine Estate. A huge thank you also to the Rhythm Workshops, Diana Ferrus, Tina Schouw and Sandile Mhi.

All proceeds of this event supported I Am Somebody!'s first Rites of Passage Programme camp! Thanks to your support, we raised R8500. Thank you so much for all of your support. 

 Above Left: Poet Diana Ferrus gave a beautiful performance in Afrikaans and English that used the power of words to transform

Above Right: Helen Lockhart of the Two Oceans Aquarium and Nicole le Roux of I Am Somebody! introducing the collaborative event

Right: Julie Blundell, Jonny Blundell and Anele Viti of Rhythm Workshops enabling us to create music with tubes - it was magical!

 











Above Right: Tina Schouw sharing her music and her heart with us

Left: One of the participants of our programme, Sandile Mhi rocked his first performance ever sharing his music, rhymes and wisdom in English and Xhosa

Right: Board member, Tina Schouw talking back stage with two of the participants in I Am Somebody!'s Rites of Passage programme Nolubabalo and Zimkhitha.