The Children of Masakhane

Children are a very important issue in any community because they are the future of the community and the country. If interventions such as education and community development can improve the lives of the community in such a way that children benefit from it, then the future wellbeing of that community is potentially improved. However, if the physical and mental wellbeing of the current generation is not urgently attended to, problems such as poverty, unemployment, malnutrition and low productivity will simply be perpetuated.

The primary school children attend Rand Gold Primary school which is situated about 5 km from the settlement. The children walk to the primary school and back.

Malnutrition is a factor affecting many of the children in this community. Some donations of food have been received from the NGKWelfare but ultimately enterprise development through skills training would be a more sustainable solution to relieve poverty in this community. However, the benefits of a feeding scheme to alleviate the shortage of food especially for the children of this community in the interim is something which needs to be looked at. A creche at the proposed community centre could be a valuable resource where children affected by HIV/AIDS, malnutrition etc. could be identified and targeted to receive the proper attention.

The High School children attend the state high school in Magaliesburg. Problems with transport to this school previously caused a number of high school children to drop out. As a result there are quite a few out of school youth and young people who did not complete their high school careers in this community. Efforts are being made by the commitee and development practitioners to address this issue and to prevent marginilisation of these youths. Teenage pregnancies, HIV/AIDS etc are all problems which are exarcerbated by children being out of school and unproductive. The proposed community centre could play a vital role in reintegrating marginilised youth into the community through providing opportunity for training and productive activities to young people.

Article to be updated with more pictures and information when signal improves.