Supporting children over the school holidays

Children, more specifically schoolchildren, are under immense pressure and at risk if they do not have psychosocial support.

This is according to The Dream Kids Holiday Programme’s communications consultant, Lebo Seoheng.

She said their approach looks at individuals in the context of the combined influence of psychological factors and the surrounding social environment – all of which impact their physical and mental wellness, as well as their ability to function.

“Young children in South Africa are faced with many socio-economic challenges, including poverty, growing up in single-parent homes, exposure to violence (domestic and community), exposure to drugs, alcohol and sex. These societal challenges have an adverse effect on them and, therefore, they need an outlet to vent, express themselves and have discussions about the challenges and how they impact their daily lives.”

The Dream Kids Holiday Programme, developed and implemented by Touch A Million – a registered NPO in partnership with the Mpumalanga Department of Social Development – established a holiday school programme which seeks to address and provide learner psychosocial support in rural and peri-urban areas.

Some of the interventions included arts, social recreational activities as well as interactive sessions.

“The objective is to provide a safe and engaging environment for learners to interact, socialise and engage with their peers (social protection) over their school holiday periods,” Seoheng explained.

Some of the content partners in the programme included the department of social development, Heartlines, Child Welfare, GRIP, Help 2 Read, Scouts SA, Google Digital Literacy Programme, Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation and Phandi Craft. Dream Kids Holiday Programme was in the Mbombela and KaBokweni area from October 1 to 6 at Maphakama Primary School.

“We are delighted with the learner turnout. We had an average of about 400 per day who participated in the programme. One of the interesting highlights was the activity with the Google Literacy session, where youngsters built their confidence and learned computer coding. Some of them lacked confidence but through the facilitated session and support from fellow learners they were able to build their confidence and self-esteem,” said Shirley Khoza, Dream Kids Holiday Programme’s project manager.

As the school curriculum begins to prepare children to become the 21st century pupils for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is important that they expose those in rural and peri-urban areas to educational technology.

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Edutainment is an effective vehicle of getting learners to critically engage and reflect.

One of the other highlighted activities included the youth cinema, where they watched an informative and educational movie and thereafter engaged in discussions with a psychologist.

This simulated them to reflect and self-introspect with the content of the movie.

Other highlights of the week included the Speak Out Loud interactive sessions, Artrageous drama centre, indigenous games and impact centre which is a fully-fledged game centre with board games and a reading corner.

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The week also included a Dream Kids Youth Day which focused on people between the age of 18 and 35.

The all-inclusive programme that included a certified Google Literacy Digital Programme, interactive sessions with National Youth Development Agency, GRIP and a motivational speaker who inspired the local youth.