About 9 km away from Hanyani Secondary School is the village of Matatani. Until recently, the pre-primary school children of this village used to get instruction only once a week from teachers who were brought to the community via a mobile truck dispatched by the local Department of Social Development. Every Monday morning, the children would huddle under a big tree atop a hill, waiting for the truck, loaded with a chalkboard and some learning materials, to arrive. After a few hours, the truck would drive off, and the children had to wait a week before they could enjoy another learning session. That also meant that no formal learning took place on rainy days.
Due to the recent interventions by the University of Johannesburg (UJ)’s Faculties of Engineering and Health Sciences, these children can now learn from Monday to Friday. In this manner, the university has assisted with the educational needs of the community and broadened the horizons of these young children.
The first step was the placement of two repurposed shipping containers standing just a few metres away from each other. From there the Matatani Crèche came into being, and has blossomed into a fully functioning early childhood development facility. The containers have been repurposed by the UJ team to support the education of the pre-primary school children in the vicinity. They are equipped with educational materials, books, toys and solar-powered ambient lighting.
There is excitement around the crèche with children occasionally breaking into song and reciting nursery rhymes. In April this year, the Matatani Crèche was officially opened, due to the hard work and dedicated efforts of the community who arranged for three teachers from the community to be registered. The community supported the facility whole-heartedly and proceeded to clear the site around the crèche, build protective fencing and toilets for the children.
“There has been a great change since the opening of the crèche,” says teacher Vidah Netshavhakolo, adding that families have also noted the positive change in their children.
“The children are able to read the posters displayed on the walls – the alphabet, counting numbers, reading colours and they also know the months of the year.”
Netshavhakolo is one of three educators taking care of the 24 children aged between 2 and 5 at the crèche.
Professor Charis Harley, Head of the Data Science Across Disciplines Research Group at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Science and 4IR Professor in the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment (FEBE), explains that once the local chief had granted approval to use the space to start a crèche, the UJ team was excited to start.
“Once the space was cleared for us to build, we put up the containers and laid the grass. We included the soccer nets for playtime and painted the space. We included educational toys so they could play with tactile, visual and auditory elements. These specialised toy structures were designed specifically for the harsh conditions the little ones find themselves in, with the aim of getting them to learn through play.”
Outside the containers, the FEBE team painted sections in chalk paint so that the children could draw and write on the walls. The children’s silhouettes were also painted at the back of the containers so a piece of them would always be at the crèche, and they can track how much they have grown as time goes by.
“There really has been a great change, ” says Netshavhakolo, during one of the visits by the University in August 2024.
In summer, the temperature can rise to 40 degrees Celsius in the villages. During the September recess, the UJ team managed to revitalise the Matatani crèche by constructing a 100m2 vernacular shading system that will be connected to a rainwater harvesting system. Additionally, a green kitchen next to the crèche that uses green architectural methods to naturally cool the space has been built. This is being completed with the addition of a rocket stove, shelving and gates to the kitchen.
There is a plan in the works to upgrade the toilet area at the crèche using 3D printed seats. In continuous efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, this project focuses on SDG 4- Quality Education and SDG 10- Reduced Inequality.
The ongoing interventions in the community of Matatani also include a solar powered tele-medicine clinic in the same vicinity as the crèche. The clinic, a collaboration with the Faculty of Health Sciences, is a space where consultations with patients can take place. “Mothers can leave their children at the crèche while they go to the clinic,” says Prof Harley.
“We are looking to do consultations in optometry, podiatry, chiropractic and general health. The clinic can also be used by the Department of Health when they come to do vaccinations or other related work. We are also setting it up as an emergency room so there will be emergency grab bags here. When there is an emergency, people can come here and wait for the ambulance or transport to the major clinics. As part of this, we are also doing first aid training. There will be first aid trained people who can assist when there are no healthcare professionals in the area,” says Prof Tobias Barnard, Director: Water and Health Research Centre in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Watch the video of the UJ for Societal Impact project here:
