Liever in het Nederlands lezen? Dat kan hier.
It is a given that every child, everywhere in the world, loves toys. Because children learn very easily through play, the importance of toys in the development of every child is greater than is sometimes thought. For example, it can help children develop skills such as fine and gross motor skills, concentration and patience, spatial awareness and cause-and-effect relationships.
In our Western societies, the range of toys for young children knows no bounds and is also widely available at schools and daycare centers. How different is that in Uganda! Having toys available there is only available to a very small group. We often see children having fun with toys they have made themselves, which they are very happy with and proud of. They are not even aware of the importance of toys in their development. Unfortunately, at the government schools we support, we see that toys for students are generally completely absent. The main cause of this is of course the lack of budget to purchase toys. It is also a great pity that in recent years a number of creative subjects have completely disappeared from the curriculum. From their first day at school, the majority of children are only offered purely school activities, such as writing, reading, arithmetic, etc. Especially the youngest children are often not yet ready for all that.
Since we as a team believe that young children in our working area should also enjoy toys, we have decided, as a pilot, to surprise the youngest pupils of Mwendo Primary School with (educational) toys. To this end, we first brought a considerable amount of wooden puzzles and coloring pictures from the Netherlands. In close consultation with the two teachers of the youngest classes, we have supplemented this with, among other things, colored pencils, skipping ropes, balls and building blocks. Both teachers were in need of storage options; we have therefore offered the materials in two large storage chests, in which other (teaching) materials can also be stored.
The teachers also indicated that they would very much appreciate a rotating swing on the site for the youngest children. Since our budget allowed for this, we did not hesitate for a moment and had the requested rotating swing manufactured locally. On the day we visited the school to distribute school materials to all students and washable sanitary towels to the older girls, we also introduced the toys and had the rotating swing installed. The video below provides a nice impression of the whole, not least of the enormous joy of the pupils when the swing arrived. After placement in a concrete base, the play equipment had to dry thoroughly for several days before it could actually be put into use.
Photo/video credits: FOCUS FILMS Kabale
The headteacher of the school has informed us that the children have a lot of fun every day with the swing and all the other toys we have brought to them.
We depend on donations to carry out our projects. Since we are a small private foundation with very short lines of communication, we can always guarantee that all of your donation will be spent well.
We thank the E&TAS Foundation for financing this project.
Would you like to help? We really appreciate that! You can read what you can do on the ‘How You Can Help’ page on our website.
HWMCO-Nederland & NiCA Foundation
‘We Fight Poverty by Bringing Development’
