Category: Integral Education

On 14 August our Educare reopened after 140 days of lock down. We welcomed back the pre Grade R children who quickly slipped back into their daily routine. They were very keen to get back to doing arts and crafts, baking, and exploring the garden. For our children gardening is a creative activity that leads them into slower rhythms of time. The fragrant plants, wet earth, sounds of the birds, and taste of freshly picked fruit provides them with a sense of peace and an intimacy with nature. Mahatma Gandhi said; “to forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves.”

The weekly community visits to deliver educational material and food parcels has given us a deeper understanding of how our children live. A large part of a teachers job is to remove barriers that prevent children from learning. Some of the barriers our children experience are hard to overcome.

*Mo who is 4.5 years old started at the Educare a year ago. He had poor physical co-ordination and did not respond to simple instructions. Teacher Devi spent one on one time with him in the garden where he worked in the earth with his hands and enjoyed the routine of tipping the kitchen scraps into the worm farm. His confidence grew and the garden soon became his ‘safe space’. By the end of 2019 he was used to the Educare daily program and participated in most of the physical activities. His speech had improved and he was holding a crayon with a mature grip.

In May when National Lockdown moved to level 4 and a permit was received to visit the communities nothing could have prepared Teacher Nushfeekah for the despair she saw in Mo’s eyes. He had lost weight, did not communicate at all nor did he smile like he used to. It was as if Nushfeekah was a stranger. Going to school had been his break away from a new stepdad and baby sibling at home. For the past 4 months he has had no ‘safe space’ to go to. Working in the earth again with his hands could help Mo work through those feelings. Channelling frustrations into something like gardening, sometimes called green care is a natural way to sort feelings out, to calm and decompress the mind.

* Not his real name.

Children living in Flamingo Heights were very excited to show teacher Nushfeekah (left) their completed work yesterday. The two parents, who supervise the children while they work through the educational activities that have been planned for them, are committed to helping the children continue with their lessons during lock down.

Diego, who graduated at the end of 2019 was thrilled to see teacher Nushfeekah again and greeted her with an elbow tap! Behind him is his sister Mia who started at Children of Light this year. They live in Pook se Bos.

Sisanda from Pook se Bos is due to graduate at the end of this year. She holds one of a hundred muffins that were donated to our Covid-19 support project. These were delivered to our school communities together with the food and fresh produce that is regularly distributed.

 

Jaylene and Jeremy who live in Hadji Ebrahim informal settlement help to carry in the food that has been delivered to the community.

Teacher Nushfeekah shows Lameck the new worksheet that she has delivered for him to colour in.  The two mothers who supervise the educational activities in Hadji Ebrahim will help the children complete the work this week. Lameck is due to graduate at the end of this year.

 

 

 

 

The first relief parcels for June were delivered to our three school communities today. Exciting new educational activities were included for the children. Teacher Nushfeekah creates the educational packs according to her original term planner, ensuring that the Educare program stays on track while we are in lock down. When Early Childhood Development Centres are allowed to reopen after lock down the children will bring their completed work back to school.

While packing the relief parcels at school staff take extra care by wearing protective gear and by practising physical distancing. When they are in the communities delivering the parcels they educate the families about the Covid-19 precautionary health practices.

If you wish to help with our Covid-19 support project you can drop off donations at the school every Tues 10h00 – 13h00. You do not have to get out of your car, just email info@colt.org.za to let Devi know what time you will deliver. More information about donations via Payfast and EFT can be found at http://colt.org.za/donate/

Wish list for Covid-19 support project

• Disposable gloves
• Disposable masks
• Plastic aprons
• 5L sanitiser 70-80%
• Sanitiser spray bottles
• Paper towels
• Disinfectant wipes

Packed bags ready to be delivered to our children and families living in Hadji Ebrahim, Pook se Bos and Flamingo Crescent informal settlements.

 

 

 

Kavita and Trisha (above) volunteered to make play dough for the children’s education packs which will be handed out next week. Each child will receive their own tub of colourful play dough!

Working with play dough improves fine motor skills and pre-writing skills. Rolling and moulding the dough has a calming and soothing effect on the child and encourages them to explore their imagination and creativity.

 

The National Lockdown is on day 39 today! Educare staff visited all three communities today to see the children and to arrange delivery of food parcels to the families. Parents said that there had been no testing for Covid-19 in their communities and their most urgent need was for educational materials for the children. The children run around freely and it is difficult for parents to keep them indoors.

Teacher Nushfeekah delivered a pack of creative materials to each child and is happy to report that the children are all well. Principal Mala Maitri will continue to monitor the needs of the families during the lockdown period and provide assistance where possible.

On Friday 13 March our children participated in a sports day organised by the Early Childhood Development Forum. Over the past couple of weeks teachers have spent time at the park preparing the children for the different races; running, three-legged race, dribbling with a stick and tin race. They also decided on the name ‘Light Lions’ for the Children of Light Educare team. Team colours were red t-shirts and navy shorts. All the moms were there, very eager to support their children and to participate in the races.

Some of our children who find it hard to concentrate on an indoors activity showed how brave and confident they can be on the sports field, which was really wonderful for all of us to see.

This week the children have been very busy creating bead bracelets and Valentine cards for their moms. Yesterday the moms joined their children for a festive valentine lunch and afterwards each child presented their mom with the card and placed the bracelet on moms arm – it was very heart-warming to see the moms’ expressions as they received their gifts!

Marj Murray from Breathwork Africa then demonstrated breathing techniques that the children can use at home and school to self-regulate and manage big emotions. The children were immediately engaged and learnt how to do the elephant breath, bunny breath, belly breath, and spaghetti breath (which seemed to be the favourite!)

 

 

Over the weekend a number of our school families were affected by shack fires in the Hadji Ebrahim settlement. While their shack was burning down Lameck (far right) begged his mom to save his school bag which contained his message book and Grade R registration forms. Thankfully she was able to and he was at school today. He was really feeling down though because he had to borrow shoes from another boy at school. Fortunately there was a pair for him in our cupboard of emergency clothing and he happily joined the others on their outing to the park.