Enrichment activities at township daycare centre
The Scout who organised the project was looking for a service project that would be different and unlike ones she had previously done. She reached out to a Scouter who worked in an impoverished area to ask if he knew of a local daycare centre. Before we arrived, the plan was for it to be a short-term project. When we got there, the children all sat in small, dark room not saying a word, not moving. It was then that we realised how much we could enrich their lives over a longer term.
Four to six of us went for an hour and a half on twenty occasions during the year period. We started off with reading to the children and playing sense training games with them, which contributed to the Scouts South Africa SDG4 Quality Education badge. Later on we added more variety such as: singing songs, yoga, Lego, playdough, drawing and colouring.
We saw the children's skills developing. At first they were nervous and almost scared around us, but soon they warmed up, happily greeting us and excited to do activities. We were shocked at how constrained their environment was and believe we have enriched them.
Throughout the daycare project we learned a lot, especially about commitment. The children - while sometimes loud and wild - were sweet and very eager. Getting the daycare centre staff more involved could have led to a longer lasting impact on the children.
