At Reakgona Adult Centre in Seshego all activities are driven by their vision of learning and enablement of the persons in their care.
Reakgona Adult Centre for mentally disabled adults was established in February 1998. The institution serves as a continuation for adult development programmes into independent living and job placements in the community.
Centre Manager Themba Phiri informed that it the facility exists to develop skills for mentally disabled adults within the community in order to empower and build their capacity and support those who can manage in the labour market.
Phiri said that each service user’s talents and area of interest is identified and then developed within a frame of time. In the first year skills are identified, in the second year they are placed on apprenticeship and in their third year they are partnered with local companies for sheltered job placement.
Examples of services offered include brickmaking, woodworking, garden farming and tunnel farming. Phiri said they also have their own worm farm, where the liquid compost is harvested and used to feed their crops to sustain the organic farming process. The crops are sold with 51% of the proceeds paid to the service workers and 49% ploughed back into the centre’s funds for sustainability.
In brickmaking cement bricks are manufactured for customers who bring their own sand and cement.
For information on their products and services, contact Phiri on 060 376 1772 or 015 223 2375.
Story and photos: Alet-Elize van Jaarsveld
>>alet-elize@observer.co.za
Featured photo: Reakgona service workers, Thabang Magongwa, Lucky Nkoana and Koketso Phago, busy watering the tomato plants as part of the tunnel farming programme.
