Caversham Centre - Community

Inspiration in the Individual and the Individual as Inspiration

COMMUNITY BASED COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMMES

Beyond Caversham
Caversham community collaborative programmes began with Caversham Press in 1988 when groups of emergent artists attended printmaking workshops run by Malcolm Christian . During the following years this grew in scale and breadth including annual bookbinding programmes, under the auspice of Caversham Education Trust . All these programmes took place at Caversham Centre.

In 1999/2000 with the assistance of Sister Sheila Flynn, a Dominican Nun, Caversham began its first community-based collaboration with the establishment of Senzokuhle (We are doing well) Women's Group in the Mpophomeni area, which is located approximately 30 kms from Caversham. This was an embroidery project with a group of unemployed women affected and infected by HIV/Aids. The project continued to operate until 2004 when it disbanded due to the death of so many of its members. At present only three of the original group members remain. Bongi Zuma, one of these members continues to work with Caversham in sharing her skills and knowledge with other women in rural communities.

In 2002, with the enthusiasm and commitment of Gabisile Nkosi , the first Caversham CreACTive™ Centre was founded at Jabula Combined School , in the neighbouring community of Lidgetton. The children, whom it serves, have named it Ulwazi (Knowledge) CreACTiveT Centre. This innovative initiative has provided the laboratory for the development of a model which Caversham has successfully replicated in other communities. These have become living evidence of the "Masabelaneni" (Let us Share) Vision and demonstrate their effectiveness in meeting challenges for the youth arising from disadvantage and the HIV/Aids pandemic.

Through these CreACTive™ Centres, Caversham contributes to the empowerment of rural and urban communities and the school curriculum. It also contributes towards the long-term growth and sustainability of the arts by cultivating a reservoir of future talent through specialist training and development of individuals in aspects of programme design, implementation and management.

This approach harnesses existing strengths and potential, combining them with art-related skills training, technical support and mentorship within local schools and communities, enriching South African human creative capacity.

As a result of the ongoing Legacy Leadership and Vision-sharing residencies, the number of new Creative Centres coming into being in both rural and urban areas will grow. These include Rorke's Drift, Mtubatuba, Kwambonambi, Jozini, Umlazi, Kwadabeka, Durban , Pietermaritzburg, East London and with Caversham partner art@school in District Six. We will keep you informed of their progress...

A Caversham CreACTive™ Center is place of:

Reflection - Focused environment to explore and value uniqueness and issues of personal and common history
Refuge - Safe environment that fosters trust through interaction and dialogue
Renewal - Inspiring environment that develops hope and builds individual self belief through skills, values and the principles of Ubuntu

ULWAZI
This highly successful Caversham CreACTive™ Centre has been operating for the last five years at Ulwazi Combined School in Lidgetton. Gabi continues to conduct popular fun-filled yet instructional workshops, which have resulted in poems, books, prints, performances and also contributing to building pride and ownership in the school's environment with the painting of a mural inside the CreACTive™ Centre and on the outside of the school hall.

ISIPHO
The Isipho (meaning "Gift") is the brainchild of Khululiwe Mabanga, a rural woman from a village of KwaMsane Reserve in Mtubatuba who came to Caversham for a Crafters Workshop in February 2006. She was inspired by a visit to Ulwazi at Jabula, went back home and approached Induna for a piece of land. The tiny shack is now a daily meeting place for women during the day and school children in the afternoons. A variety of workshops have been run by facilitators from Caversham Centre including Jewelry-making and Embroidery.

HLANGANANI
This CreACTive™ Centre, Hlanganani, meaning "Gathering", situated at Oscarsberg Primary School in Rorke's Drift was established by Phindile Manyoni and Sibongile Mthiyane who also facilitate workshops at this Centre. In 2006 a mural was painted inside and the Centre was used as a venue for the commemoration of the 2006 Youth Day celebrations attended by over 200 members of the community.

KWAMBONAMBI
Kwambonambi Pre-Primary School in rural Zululand is the first Caversham CreACTive™ Centre to explore and focus on eYe programmes. Susan Bonney, an embodiment of creativity with many years of rich ECD experience, heads the Zululand Team and with the assistance of two other competent facilitators offers accredited eYe courses to women from different backgrounds, thus developing inspirational teachers for our most impressionable, vulnerable citizens

eYe - EARLY YEARS EDUCATION
In synergy with Caversham's vision of "Inspiration in the Individual and the Individual as Inspiration", in 2001 Caversham Education Trust took the well known SCOPE Early Childhood Development Course under its wing. This course, which began in 1993, was designed by Jill Sachs, now Caversham Education Trust's Programme Manager, to provide inspirational training to the teachers of young children in the deep belief that creativity nurtured from birth bears fruit in adulthood.

Continually evolving, the course materials have been restructured to meet the requirements of the National Qualifications Authority, and in September 2006 Caversham Centre celebrated receiving full accreditation as a Service Provider with the Education, Training and Development Practices (ETDP) SETA

Three of the innovative in-service eYe Courses currently being offered are:

The basic ECD SCOPE Course - to provide a high quality framework for teaching young children
The Three Learning Programmes in Grade R - creative teaching within the National Curriculum Statement.
Using Arts and Creativity Based methodologies in ECD

Each course incorporates the Caversham Hourglass © methodology of Reflection, Dialogue, CreACTion™ leading to Ownership and has three components: personal growth, knowledge acquisition and skills development.

CAVERSHAM CENTRE VISION
Inspiration in the Individual and the Individual as Inspiration