We’ve been engaging with the youth in Melkhoutfontein and other communities in South Africa for over 3 decades in a wide range of activities and programmes. During the past few months we have been running our ‘Lego Club’ in Melkhoutfontein. We are lucky to have wonderful volunteers and supporters locally and across the world who have donated over 10,000 pieces of Lego including complete sets and loose bricks.
As well as being great fun and therapeutic there are numerous benefits to children engaging with Lego including cognitive development, improved hand and eye coordination, persistence and patience, problem solving, teamwork when making with others, creativity and a sense of accomplishment.
Over 20 youth from the community have engaged in the sessions that launched in September – with most experiencing Lego for the first time. Some love to follow instructions to build sets, whilst others let their creativity run wild developing their own ideas….police and fire stations are very popular! We provide a safe, quiet space with hands on support and encouragement. Due to the benefits as experienced by the youth we are running the sessions once a week (though we’ve had requests to run it every day !) being led by youth development Kamamma Elmordine. Its been a pleasure engaging with the participants and we’ve been impressed with their making skills.
Many thanks to all who have donated sets and run the sessions. Also thanks to Vilando and the team at the Melkhoutfontein Wcg E-Centre for hosting us. The participants have been using the computers to inspire their designs.
