The Red Hill informal settlement is tucked away in the mountains en-route to Cape Point and is home to approximately 1,500 disadvantaged households, most living well below the poverty line.
This community and its children recently celebrated the opening of a dedicated Early Childhood Development (ECD) facility in the settlement, kindly sponsored by private donors in collaboration with Micato Safaris and their philanthropic organisation, AmericaShare. The donation further enables the employment of two dedicated staff members and included furniture, equipment, art supplies, as well as educational toys.
The brand-new open-air timber deck is a beautiful space that offers the children a great place for educational activities amid the inspiring view they fondly call ‘Umbono Wempumelelo’ – ‘A View to Success.’
Due to its mountain location, the facility is exposed to the extreme local winds that would inevitably interfere with their planned activities for the children - this is a challenge that the Tenthouse Structures MADEBETTER, together initiative was destined to resolve, and our team, set about to conceptualize and design-engineer, four vertical wind barriers to fend off and protect the facility from the wind and elements.
Working with Fran Gebhardt from AmericaShare, the installation of these wind barriers was coordinated to coincide with fun, educational activities with some of the children in the community.
Whilst some of our team installed the shade sails, our other THS volunteers had a wonderful time engaging with the children. Facilitated by Joni Pierce-van Zyl, Tenthouse Structures’ CSR Coordinator with the help of Yonela Dyonta and Ethel Tshandu, the children enjoyed reading time and getting creative with 2 art activities.
Focusing on the educational aspect, the reading highlighted the importance of sharing and the art activities on the development of fine motor skills, use of recyclable materials, and collaboration.
Once the installation was complete, we showed the groundskeeper, Bongani Ndarana, how to manage and maintain the new wind barriers and we were pleased to be able to present the team with a gift voucher, donated by Checkers SA, for some much-needed new cutlery, mugs, and plates.
The infrastructure and its new wind sails will help the preschool and playschool teachers and staff of Red Hill to host ECD activities in a safe, wind and sun-protected environment.
For more information on how to get involved please contact Fran Gebhardt at fgebhardt@micato.co.za and CC Glenn Jones at Gjones@micato.co.za.
*MADEBETTER, together is a CSR initiative of Tenthouse Structures dedicated to reusing, recycling, and repurposing shade cloth to improve the local community.