Week 10: Lego's Educare

I am so overwhelmed with appreciation and excitement to be placed at Lego's Educare, a black owned daycare serving colored children ages 0-6, for my service learning project. The business is profitable and possesses a diverse, talented staff. Some challenges include: a lack of staff training in team building, personal development, and cultural awareness/cohesiveness, the need for a website, and a shortage of developmental resources for older children. During my research, I discovered 3 articles that were useful in learning about the economic affects on children in South Africa.

Child and Youth Care Workers in South Africa

Political Systems and Health Inequity: Connecting Apartheid Policies to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in South Africa

HIV/AIDS and the South African State: Sovereignty and the Responsibility to Respond

Additionally, here are two articles discussing specifically the need for palliative care in South Africa:

Assessment of the Need for Palliative Care for Children: Three Country Report: South Africa, Kenya, and Zimbabwe

Children's Palliative Care in South Africa: The Facts

South Africa's current economic situation, especially concerning the young and upcoming generations, is inevitably tied to the outbreak of HIV/AIDS during apartheid. It is not only an individual and medical disease, it is a social, economic, and political dilemma at the same time. 280,000 children under the age of 14 and 17.8% of South African adults aged 15-49 are living with HIV, and there are almost 2 million South African children under age 17 who have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (Scrubb). Efforts to care for the growing population of highly vulnerable children affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and other risk factors have led to an increasing demand for social service programs, such as Lego's Educare. These programs are designed to meet and protect children's physical, emotional, spiritual, cognitive, and social needs, but there is a huge gap that still needs filling.

Informing ourselves about our placements and the causes behind the need prepares us to join in and work with professionals in this new environment. I have much more to learn about my placement specifically, as it has been difficult to find articles that pertain to information about day care facilities (without pulling up countless sites about volunteering). I am most definitely looking forward to the opportunity to work toward a solution for under-served families and children in townships, to collaborate with experienced individuals who will no doubt teach me and open my eyes to unknown disparities in communities, and to pour my heart into these little children, my passion.