"Our evaluation underscored the fact that families lack books, toys, games and parental knowledge and guidance," said Le Roux.
"This park is a gift from God; we prayed and here it is today. Thank you to the sponsors that made our dream a reality," said Debbie Pijoos, founder and director of God Cares. This is a non profit, faith organisation established in 2005. "We have been working in Syferfontein to alleviate the diverse needs required by residents who do not have the resources or knowledge to see to certain necessities themselves."
Du Plessis said that they initially started with an early intervention programme, evaluating children between the ages of 0 and six years. "Children who are not in school yet hang around the streets playing with dirty water or anything they can find in the streets."
These are some of the reasons that there is a delay in reaching the predetermined milestones compared to other children of their own age.
"They are, for example, not rolling, sitting, crawling, walking, running and jumping at the age they are meant to, or not doing it at all. Hand-in-hand with the delayed milestones we found low muscle tone and muscle bulk, poor balance, core stability, coordination and perception," said Du Plessis. The toddlers appear to be smaller than average for their age and weak with very little muscle strength.
Le Roux said children learn through playing and exploring and they get stronger through repetition.
"We felt that putting up a playground with the correct and necessary equipment (an environment where they can explore and play) to address the aforementioned problems would be a good start to help them develop. It is also our aim to teach the mothers and some of the ladies in Syferfontein how to do these exercises in the playground with the children so that it can be repeated on an almost daily basis."
Physiotherapists Bertha du Plessis (left) and Karen le Roux (right) explain to the sponsors that the playground is a lot more than meets the eye.
Debbie Pijoos, founder of God Cares, makes a point, "The community must look after this facility."
ARTICLE: MYRON RABINOWITZ, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
'We bring you the latest George, Garden Route news'
