Little inquisitive minds were nourished with knowledge through games and talks from the City of Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) and Randburg SAPS officers, who visited the Sunshine Centre on June 2, in Craighall, as part of the Child Protection Week campaign.

National Child Protection Week is commemorated annually from May 29 to June 5 to raise awareness of the rights of children as articulated in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the Children’s Act.

Read more: Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital launches child protection week campaign

EMS community educator, Chris Viviers, played a game using toys and potentially dangerous objects with children to help them identify objects that could start fires.

“As a community educator, my role is to teach the community about the dangers of fire and factors that could contribute to starting fires. We also train groups of people on how to do CPR, which takes a few hours.”

Sunshine Centre is an early childhood development and non-profit organisation for children with disabilities and those who are able-bodied.

Also read: Smile Week prioritises healing and mobility for child patients

Parents who can afford to pay a small school fee contribute towards the school’s daily operational costs.

Sergeant Elisabeth Modiba from Randburg SAPS taught the children the importance of knowing important emergency numbers, while highlighting the importance of speaking to elders if there was a problem.

The day ended with the COJ EMS team giving the children a tour of the fire truck and explaining how everything in the truck worked.

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