{"id":328,"date":"2017-05-03T16:22:21","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T14:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/?p=328"},"modified":"2017-08-03T15:28:04","modified_gmt":"2017-08-03T13:28:04","slug":"new-safe-creche-really-wants-to-make-a-difference-in-farmworker-childrens-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/?p=328","title":{"rendered":"New SAFE cr\u00e8che \u2018really wants to make a difference\u2019 in farmworker children\u2019s lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

The main drive behind Bonathaba\u2019s brand new, well-equipped farm cr\u00e8che is its management and educators\u2019 genuine desire to better prepare their farmworkers\u2019 children for Grade R and primary school, giving these youngsters as much of a head start as possible.\"Creche\"<\/p>\n

The newly-built cr\u00e8che at Bonathaba at Wellington, Western Cape, one of the table grape and citrus farms\u00a0m<\/span>anaged by Cape Town-based producer and exporter <\/span>SAFE<\/a> (South African Fruit Exporters), opened its doors in January this year. The building was specifically designed for this purpose and also consists of a clinic and aftercare centre, which will be further developed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Catering for a varying amount of pre-schoolers – from infants to six-year-olds \u2013 Bonathaba\u2019s new cr\u00e8che is located close to the farmworkers\u2019 homes. It opens 20 minutes before the working parents start their shift and closes 20 minutes after their day\u2019s duties end.<\/p>\n

Christie Henn, \"CrecheSenior Manager, Bonathaba, says: \u201cWe wanted to ensure the pre-schoolers acquire basic Grade RR skills, such\u00a0as cutting and pasting, working with paint and clay, and other forms of coordination, before they\u2019re off to school. I believe these children are going to have a real advantage over their previous generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

For this reason Henn called in the professional help of consultant Ingrid Broodryk, a qualified senior primary school teacher and well-experienced cr\u00e8che and aftercare centre manager from Wellington. Teaching at the Bonathaba cr\u00e8che on Mondays, Broodryk also trains staff and assists them with weekly lesson plans, teaching methods and advice on teaching material.<\/p>\n

The cr\u00e8che is kitted out with educational posters, alphabet cards, colouring books and crayons, paint, modelling clay, scissors, plastic building blocks and other educational toys – provided by SAFE. It also has small plastic tables and chairs for the pre-schoolers, while the building is furnished with air conditioners, small lockers, a microwave oven and first-aid kit.<\/p>\n

Henn has big plans for the new cr\u00e8che. \u201cWe want to register it officially at the Department of Social Development, so we can make sure our training programme is aligned with the national one, draw from the Department\u2019s guidance and monitoring system, and also apply for funding in the future.\u201d\"Creche<\/p>\n

In the next few weeks he and his team will paint colourful animal figures on the cr\u00e8che\u2019s outside walls, making it more child-friendly, as well as set up fencing and build a jungle gym with swings and slides. A lawn is also in the pipeline, once the area\u2019s water resources have been restored.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re pulling out all the stops. We really want to make a difference in these children\u2019s lives,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The new Bonathaba cr\u00e8che and what it aims to achieve – together with the clinic and aftercare centre once these are 100% functional – are in line with the objectives of the ethical trade programme, Sustainability Initiative of South Africa (SIZA<\/a>). \u201cAlthough the offering of a cr\u00e8che is not a SIZA requirement as such, it gives our farmworkers peace of mind as working parents and contributes to their motivation,\u201d says Henn.<\/p>\n

His next d\"Crecheream is a fully operational aftercare centre at Bonathaba. \u201cWhen our farmworkers arrive home after a long day\u2019s physical work,
\nthey often don\u2019t have the time or energy to attend to their children\u2019s homework, like most working parents. An aftercare centre that provides learners with meals after the school bus has dropped them in the afternoon, as we\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0ll as supervises their homework, will mean the world to our workers,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The main drive behind Bonathaba\u2019s brand new, well-equipped farm cr\u00e8che is its management and educators\u2019 genuine desire to better prepare their farmworkers\u2019 children for Grade R and primary school, giving …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":445,"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions\/445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/safe.co.za\/SAFENews\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}