by Katrin Haller, German intern at Delheim

As you enter the gate of Delheim wine farm during the day, the first thing you hear is either noise of playing or singing children. Where does it come from?  So I went to find out – Delheim’s crèche, they call it.

Delheim’s  “official” crèche was founded 11 years ago. By now it is attended by 22 children including three babies. Geraldine, a qualified teacher and the heart of it, has been there from the very beginning. Today she is supported by Diah and Johanna, a professional cook.  Delheim is one of a few farms where you will find a crèche, pre-school/kindergarden and an after-school-club. Even children from off the farm attend the crèche; right now there are seven of them.

 

Delheim’s crèche is part of the Pebbles Project.  Pebbles’ vision is to enrich the lives of children from disadvantaged

backgrounds with special educational needs through providing support and training to local crèches and primary school children. For instance they take care of the after-school club, where they support the children in their homework and also provide supervision, art, sport, literacy and life skills activities for primary and high school children.

At 15h00 I turned left at the sign and walked a few metres when I arrived first at the playground. So far it was fairly calm. Strange, was my first thought.  But as I was later told, the small ones have their “middagslapie” till 15h00.

I entered the gate where some of the kids had parked their creative and self-built cars.

On the stairway there were some homeless shoes and step by step I approached a vibrant child’s world. I opened the first door and

stood in the middle of the after-school club, where the older ones do their homework – a room full of colourful books and games. The kids are supported by one Pebbles employee  twice a week and Delheim´s Matilda, who is there four times a week from 14h00-17h00. I guess they were quite happy for this short break.

Outside I met Diah, who takes care of the babies. Then I met Geraldine and the children in the main building, a nicely painted big room with a stage and areas for different uses eg a painting corner, books, games…..

The kids’ day at the crèche starts at 8h00 by usually playing outdoors in the playground. At about 9h00 everyone gathers for the “morning ring”. Geraldine told me that the children sing songs and talk about a specific theme. This week’s theme is “SUMMER”. So Geraldine decorated a table in a corner with typical items according to the theme such as sunhat,

sunglasses, crème, clothes, and summer food. In the meantime Johanna, our cook, prepares breakfast for the kids, so every child gets a healthy, balanced meal. Tuesday is a very special day, because that is when Johanna prepares their favourite meal – Spaghetti Bolognese, Geraldine tells.  “Lekker”, I thought.  After lunch they all fall asleep to boost their energy levels again.

Today is the second day that four young students from the Paul Roos High School attended; Johan, Werich, Rhynhardt and Abrie are participating in a social leadership course. They are creative with the kids, do sports and play outdoor games. Today they did face painting, and  the kids quickly got fascinated. The boys mostly wanted to be Spider- or Batman, while the girls loved the flowers. Little Angel, Rosaliene, Amanda, Johnuin and Marschial decided to paint me. They used every inch of skin on my face, so in this case it’s good that it is so big .

With all our bright and colourful faces we went to the playground to enjoy even more the sandbox and the slide, which has lately been built and enlarged by Sidney, our carpenter. This was all made possible through donations; thank you. 

The afternoon was even topped by the bright coloured bubble-blowing kit that the four boys had brought along. What fun!!  Kids always need to be stimulated so we moved on to play soccer with them (a talent scout should come and see them), and games such as “vrot eier”, (rotten eggs), a fun circle game. Before the parents picked up the children and babies, we gathered for a picture.

The whole crèche was looking forward to the upcoming fundraising braai the next day.  With these events the parents try to raise money to improve and enlarge the facilities. One of the next projects will be a swing and a see-saw. Good luck with your efforts!!!

And a “baie dankie” to all of you who have made this crèche so special and vibrant.

Categories: DELHEIM, OUR COMMUNITY

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