OIL's first Lube Lounge for 2007 was by far one of the funniest that we have had. This Lube Lounge theme was 'Comedy' and we had a great evening laughing with our guests.

Over 180 teens attended the evening, where we were treated to some serious comedic talent which varied from coming from our very own Fish Hoek Valley to as far out as Stellenbosch. Our guests were Brett Anderson, Ilana Wetzler & Yve, who treated us to a series of Improvisation Games which were hysterical, as well as our very own Mark Sampson who made us all sit back and laugh at our own cultures for 15 minutes of stand up. The guests were also interviewed and they as well as the teens were given the chance to challenge as well as be challenged about their lives and their life choices that they have made.

The evening as a whole was a great success and we would like thank:

Yep! It's 2007 and we are back on track and ready to equip youth to be role models and agents of change in their communities. On the 7th February, we hosted a training day for Track 2 & 3 peer educators. It was a bright colourful Wednesday as the team of Oil set off to King of Kings Baptist Church for our first event of the year.

The day started off with an icebreaker, which broke them up into integrated teams. This game involved getting a tennis ball, an orange, a balloon and a marshmallow using toothpicks from the start of their team's line to the end of the line using various body parts. This broke down barriers and definitely fostered team spirit with each other for the remainder of the day. The teens were trained in their seperate tracks on topics such as:

The rest of the day was enjoyed by all when team building games included activities which involved water balloons and good old fashioned team spirit, with prizes to be won by the winning teams.

The reason for running this training day each year is for the Track two and Track three peer educators from all four communities to come together and get to share their different issues which they are facing as agents of change in their communities, as well as kick start the training for the year. These peers educators have been in the programme for one to two years which means they are already good role models and they are already willing to make a difference in their communities. We see this by their show of support, participation and commitment. This is very exciting group of leaders to work with.

OIL's October Lube Lounge was the very last one of 2006 and was by far one of the greatest that we have had. The weather was great, the venue was awesome and we had over 160 teens attending the evening. Another bonus of the evening, was when we were treated to some serious rap talent during the competition portion of the evening. The incredible talent was from our very own Fish Hoek Valley!

The theme of evening of was young achievers in the sport arena and we were lucky to have some very dynamic guests to interview live on the evening. Brent Stevens who plays for the Vodacom Western Province rugby team joined us, as well as Gareth Hayden who will be playing for the Men's Open World Cup Touch Rugby Team in January for South Africa and as a surprise guest, we had Kirsty Woods who plays for South African Women's Touch Rugby team.

The evening as a whole was a great success, as not only did the guests inspire the youth to have vision for their lives, but to also show us all that:
1. skin colour and gender should not be barrier to reach your dreams
2. anything is possible-if you persist and have patience

Kirsty definitely showed the teens that women can play touch rugby just as well as any man!

We would like to thank:

On the 23rd September we held a Marketing Event at Fish Hoek Senior High School. This event was aimed at bringing awareness of OIL to the schools that we work in, to all the grades, their friends and their families. We had a walk around Fish Hoek School for 2 hours, after which we had entertainment acts which were from the communities that we work in. What was really exciting to see was most of the teens that took part in the entertainment, are part of the OIL Peer Education Programme.

There were stalls which sold various refreshments, and we even had a gladiator arena and face painting for the younger ones. It was really a day out for the whole family. At the end of the day there was a prize giving for the most participation per school, and individual prizes for the furthest walked and the like.

Although we did not have as many teens as we would have liked, the day went very well, and we were very satisfied with the outcome. It was a great opportunity for the teens to get out there and socialise with each other, and have a chance to be patriotic for their school.

We would like to thank OIL staff for the amount of effort that went into making this event a success, the peer educators who sold tickets, the schools for letting us advertise, and these members of the community who donated various prizes for our prize giving.

Another big thank you to the following people and stores:

Peer Education is part of the Western Cape's strategy to prevent HIV and other social issues. The Siyabulela event was organised to celebrate the powerful effect of Peer Education in the lives of teenagers and communities in this province. Each organisation implementing GoLD Peer Education was invited to send representatives to the event in Mbekweni. The event was well attended, with over 150 teenagers showing their support of the programme.

The dignitaries included the MEC for Education, Cameron Dugmore; the MEC for Health, Pierre Uys and the Premier of the Western Cape, Ebrahim Rasool. The presentation of the peer educators to these dignitaries left a marked effect on them. Similarly, MEC Cameron Dugmore's presentation on the progress of Peer Education across the province was encouraging as we could see the growth and effect of this method of prevention. Pierre Uys' speech revealed his optimism and passion for the youth making a difference to their communities. Ebrahim Rasool's address was filled with compliments of the peer educators and their work. He showed immense support of the programme and conveyed his heart for the youth of this province.

Simon's Town community day was held on the 9th September 2006, the theme was Teenage pregnancy, this event was took place at Fish Hoek Civic Centre. This event was organised by Simon's Town Senior Peer Educators. There was a panel discussion, Crimson Crew dancers from Ocean View, Kwaito dancers from Simon's Town School, the debaters, a play by Simon's Town School learners, and poems written by Simon's Town School learners.

The guests that were invited were Sister Khakhaza from Marie Stopes; Mrs Anderson, a teacher from Simon's Town School; DJ Sugar from Good Hope FM; Presenters from CCFM and the Pillow Talk crew to televise the event. There were more than 160 teenagers who attended the event from all four communities.

We thank the Simon's Town School, Simon's Town 7 Eleven, Long Beach Mall Pick 'n Pay, Fish Hoek Printers, Golden Arrow buses, Fish Hoek Civic Centre and Edgars Stores, for supporting this event.

OIL hosts an annual camp for grade 10 peer educators, in the month of June. This year 84 teenagers from Ocean View, Masiphumelele, Simon's Town and Fish Hoek High Schools, joined OIL at the Rocklands campsite in Simon's Town.

This camp is aimed at providing critical information that will be the basis for their 3 year programme with us. This includes learning how to work with people from different walks of life and different backgrounds. As usual there were fireworks, however the huge learnings behind it was well worth it! The camp also goes through the fundamentals of leadership that is tangible and prepares them to be leaders in their journey through high school and for later in the workplace.

We would like to send a big "THANK YOU " to:

Lube Lounge - 'Dream Careers' was an amazing start to the second term this year. This is a youth forum based on various themes that OIL hosts at different points during the year, that is geared towards inspiring the youth in the Fish Hoek Valley to reach for their dreams. Each peer educator brings 2 friends to this event which when combined with various guests, sometimes including celebrities, makes for a very exciting evening!

We had our first Lube Lounge for this year, on the 5th of May 2006 at Fish Hoek Senior High School. Our theme was "Dream Careers". Despite the chilly weather, we had an amazing turnout of just over 250 teens attending.

We were honoured to have Ricardo Herdien, (past peer educator, currently a student teacher at SunValley Primary School.) Wyers Marais, (past peer educator, currently studying surface design at Cape Peninsula University of Technology) Bradley Knight, (DJ at GoodHope Fm) and Angela Swinney (Freelance Copywriter, worked on, Backstage and E-TV) as our guests speakers. They spoke about their respective career choices and the impact its made on their lives. The feedback from teenagers were amazing! They were more motivated to think beyond high school and inspired to think about their careers.

After amazing interviews, a dance competition, coke and donuts and socialising with our guests our teens left, inspired and tired but happy.

Our deepest thanks goes out to:

From the OIL team, we would just like to send out a big THANK YOU to the teens who braved the weather to attend and make it a huge success! We are already looking forward to our next Lube Lounge and we hope to see you all there!

Inter-track days were absolutely awesome!!! We had an amazing time with teenagers from all over the valley including those who travelled from Gugulethu and Langa. The aim of our inter-track day is to lay a foundation for team work for the rest of the year and to begin the mentoring process with them. This can only be done once the different tracks get to know more about each other.