Edutainment for Alex youth

Being able to run, climb, ride bikes or play with balls in a safe environment is an everyday experience for many children, however, for children from the Child-Headed Households (CHH) programme in Alexandra, it is a rare opportunity.

Many of these children do not get to play fully because of a lack of space and resources within their homes.

Rays of Hope, a non-profit and public benefit organisation which manages a large number of social outreach projects in Alexandra, has reached out to the children from its CHH programme, in partnership with Kingmead Junior School, to help them experience some of the joys of being a child. The organisation aims to enable individuals and families to improve all aspects of their lives by creating a lasting impact on the broader Alex residential community.

“We are extremely thankful to our partner, Kingsmead Junior School, which provided our children with such an opportunity and so much more. Once a month children from our CHH programme are hosted at the beautiful school,” said Andrea Dienst, marketing assistant for Rays of Hope.

Not only do the children get the opportunity to run around, exploring the grounds of the school and play equipment, each child also benefits from having one-on-one time with an older Kingsmead student as part of a Buddy Reading Programme which is run between the school and Rays of Hope. Kingsmead teachers and students seek to impart a love of books and the arts through reading to the children, as well as doing crafts and other fun activities with them.

“The Kingsmead teachers have also been a tremendous support to our staff members [of the programme], most of whom do not have a teaching background. They share resources, ideas and techniques which the staff take back and use in the CHH Homework Club,” added Dienst.

“We would like to say a huge thank you to the students and teachers from Kingsmead who make this possible, we truly are grateful for the love and support you show our precious children.”