Children
Creche visit 2011
In 2011 I visited a creche in a very poor township area. It is termed a creche loosely, based on the fact that it is a building that houses 60 children during the day, supervised by 2 expansive, smiling, endlessly patient women.
The dilapidated structure, complete with broken windows, concrete floors, gaping holes in the ceiling and roof, paint and plaster peeling from the walls, was forbidingly cold and cheerless.
The one item to suggest it may be a creche was a swing set at the front door, around which congregated all the children. Apart from that...nothing. No books, toys, games, pencils, paints, chairs or tables. The place was utterly empty
Within these miserable confines, these women labour daily, 12 hours a day, caring for children ranging in age from 4 months to 4 years. Despite the deprivation of their surroundings, and the total lack of stimulation, the children greeted us with exuberance, their faces beaming, reaching out to be picked up or touched. Oblivious to the harshness of their surroundings, they were engaging, and responsive, no sign of complaint or boredom.
I know this is not an uncommon phenomena here, in fact it is all too common, but having been brought to my attention, it may become a project in the future.
In 2011 I visited a creche in a very poor township area. It is termed a creche loosely, based on the fact that it is a building that houses 60 children during the day, supervised by 2 expansive, smiling, endlessly patient women.
The dilapidated structure, complete with broken windows, concrete floors, gaping holes in the ceiling and roof, paint and plaster peeling from the walls, was forbidingly cold and cheerless.
The one item to suggest it may be a creche was a swing set at the front door, around which congregated all the children. Apart from that...nothing. No books, toys, games, pencils, paints, chairs or tables. The place was utterly empty
Within these miserable confines, these women labour daily, 12 hours a day, caring for children ranging in age from 4 months to 4 years. Despite the deprivation of their surroundings, and the total lack of stimulation, the children greeted us with exuberance, their faces beaming, reaching out to be picked up or touched. Oblivious to the harshness of their surroundings, they were engaging, and responsive, no sign of complaint or boredom.
I know this is not an uncommon phenomena here, in fact it is all too common, but having been brought to my attention, it may become a project in the future.