Parkview resident’s initiative achieves international acclaim
PARKVIEW – Parkview resident Gretchen Wilson-Prangley believes South Africa's future is bright if the youth are empowered through education.
Parkview’s Gretchen Wilson-Prangley arrived in South Africa from New York, United States in 2004, seeing, in her words, ‘the many possibilities’, and being intrigued by the nation’s people, stories and inherent potential.
She said she grew up in Seattle in the US but moved to New York where she worked as a journalist. South Africa gripped her heart, as did South Africa’s youth and she said she had much faith in South Africa’s future, based on the stories of its triumphs in the past. “Coming here from the US, I met so many amazing people who did so much selfless, incredible work during apartheid and was inspired, as so many have been, to re-imagine South Africa as a just and equitable society,” she said.
In January 2013, she took what she calls a leap of faith, abandoning her job as a journalist and choosing instead to invest in Play Africa, which she described as a ‘museum without walls’. Play Africa is an interactive children’s museum, which provides learning to children through exciting programmes, hands-on exhibits, parent support and educator training.
The company was recently named ‘one of the most impactful and scalable education innovators in the world’ in the HundrED Global Collection 2022 Report. HundrED is a a non-profit organisation specialising in education innovations, based in Finland.
Some exciting initiatives the company is currently working on include a dinosaur dig exhibition at Constitution Hill. Then, there is an initiative aimed at teaching slightly older children about the Constitution and their constitutional rights. “Children are curious and capable, and as adults we underestimate the potential they have to bring a brighter future to the nation.”
The success of Play Africa is something which Wilson-Prangley said she had not anticipated when she took those first bold steps in choosing to leave the familiar culture and life of New York and settle in Johannesburg.
While retaining her American accent, Gretchen said she considered herself ‘proudly South African’.
Details: Teachers and parents can learn more at Playafrica.org.za
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