Etafeni Playgroup Project
In 1983, traditional healer Rose Mbude founded the Etafeni Playgroup Project in Nyanga township outside of Cape Town. Etafeni means 'open space' and expresses a vision for safe places for children amidst the crowded, poverty-stricken shanties of Nyanga. Rose inspired a group of women volunteers and started to co-ordinate community care for orphaned and vulnerable children by establishing backyard playgroups.
Today, Etafeni Playgroup runs two excellent Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres caring for more than 120 orphans and vulnerable children. The group coordinates valuable outreach programmes to educate mothers on the importance of engaging in early childhood development practices. Etafeni also hosts a Gogo’s Support Group that involves grandmothers affected by HIV/AIDS in regular activities.
The Etafeni Fakisandla programme has expanded its outreach in the community supporting orphans and vulnerable children of all ages in foster, granny- and child-headed households. The Fakisandla child care workers, co-ordinated by a trained counselor, Baba Valele regularly monitor and assess these households. By networking with social workers, Etafeni is able to instigate interventions in the home when children’s safety is threatened by neglect or abuse. When necessary, children in the Fakisandla programme receive monthly food parcels, as well as school uniforms, shoes and supplies.
Etafeni co-ordinates quarterly educational outings for all the children in their playgroup and Fakisandla programmes. These outings are a great opportunity for the children to get out of Nyanga township to enjoy green grass and fresh air. They also visited the beach, a museum and parks.
ASAP supports the education and psycho-social programmes of the Etafeni Playgroup Project and its Fakisandla programme while providing essential strategic mentoring and project management training.
In their own words…
"Etafeni Playgroup works to use parents and concerned community members as volunteers. Soon after we started Etafeni, the mothers of the children realized the benefits their children were getting from this playgroup and began to offer their services, visiting homes in the community and teaching other mothers about early childhood development and the importance of playing with their children. The bond between a child and their mother or primary care giver is the single most important thing in that child's development into personhood. Their capacity for love, for surviving difficulties and negotiating life's transitions is developed at this early stage.”
| 2003 | 2008 | |
| ASAP Grants | R5,000 | R141,747 |
| No. Of OVC | 0 | 120 |
| No. of Families | 0 | 25 |
