And what a wonderful 'party for the future' it was. On Friday, 13 June 2008, Ikamva Youth and Animation SA put on a fundraising event to be remembered: food was catered by Giovanni's, a glass of sparkling wine was handed to each guest at the door, and DJs Fletcher, Toby2Shoes, and Señor J Onion kept the dancing going until the early morning. VJ Charles provided visual effects, and work by members of Animation SA was screened. Ikamvanites also entertained the night's guests with dramatic and heart-felt opera, poetry, and Kwaito performances.

IkamvaYouth's main office is in the same building as the Desmond Tutu Hall, where displaced foreigners have been staying since the xenophobic violence in the last week of May. We are posting updates on our Desmond Tutu Hall blog.

IkamvaYouth is based at the Nazeema Isaacs library, and our office is part of the building that houses the Desmond Tutu Hall in Makhaza, Khayelitsha.

As of Saturday, the hall was full with 550 people -- many of whom had not eaten since Thursday. On Sunday night the hall was filled with 700 people -- most of them Zimbabwean. Today (Friday 30 May), we have 400 people in the hall.

Today is their eighth day in the hall, and the situation is desperate. There are 20 infants, 3 pregnant women (one in severe pain), and people are beginning to get sick. They are all sleeping on the concrete floor, and we are struggling to ensure that everyone gets fed. Although TAC and other organisations are doing an INCREDIBLE job at coordinating civil society's response to the crisis, and ensuring that donations reach those in need, more help is needed.

Ikamvanites, led by Bongani Ndubata, are helping out at the Desmond Tutu hall, and purchasing goods most needed by the refugees, as soon as funds arrive in our account. Please help us to enable the members of the Makhaza community who are against these xenophobic attacks to help the victims of this disturbing violence. Please deposit cash into our account (with the reference "Tutu").

Alternatively, please bring donations to the hall, or drop off donations with TAC volunteers, at 50 Cantebury Street, off Roeland Street in Cape Town.

To find out what's most needed at the time of your donation, please contact Bongani on 0726483278, or IkamvaYouth on 021-3626799.

Generally, we need food, milk, baby formula, nappies, buckets, jugs, blankets, matresses, cleaning stuff, stoves, medicine, urns for hot water, money to buy airtime so that people can contact their families, etc.

Thanks for your help!

Sihle Siyabonga Ngidi reports Six well-known poets from Durban and surrounding areas gathered in Mayville Secondary School to facilitate creative writing workshops on the 26th of April 2008. The focus of the workshop was on getting the learners of Ikamva youth org to write poetry.

IkamvaYouth learners attended a Careers Expo in Langa on 1 May. Please click on "read more" to find out about the wonderful and interesting day that we had.