Carryou Elandsvlei has finally opened its Safe Park – and it was an instant hit.
The park took less than a year to complete and opened on 22 July, during the organisation’s annual general meeting. The park serves as a safe place in which Elandsvlei children can play and do their homework under supervision.
The Safe Park is anything but an ordinary park in which children play on jungle gyms. While there are many to choose from, children are also stimulated with educational games.
Carryou’s child and youth care workers plan their lessons as teachers would in schools in order to make a real impact on the visiting children.
Once there, children are split up into age groups for playtime, and later they’re divided according to their school grades to do homework and school projects.
Youngsters aged 15 to 18 have their own place at the Safe Park which boasts a pool table, a foosball table, a mini gym and other sporting equipment to keep them busy.
According to Robert Maphangwa, mentor at the Safe Park, child and youth care workers focus on playing with and interacting with children at the child’s level. He said they teach the younger children through playing and storytelling, but when working with the older ones, teaching becomes more of a dialogue.
“We have both formal and informal structures to teach children,” he said.
He added that disabled children are welcome, as they are equipped to care for them. “The misconception among parents with disabled children is that they think their children cannot play, but this isn’t true,” he said.
The Safe Park is not only for children, however. Adults can also benefit from its programmes. Robert explained that the parents of children who do not attend Early Childhood Development Centres are welcome to visit the centre where the child and youth care workers will teach them how to stimulate their children.
The Safe Park’s activities are free of charge and open to any child or adult who is willing.
The park’s staff are appealing to the new Rand West City council to reach out to them regarding sport as the park offers sports such as netball, soccer, pool and volleyball, and are looking for teams to play against for fun.
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