Manenberg is one of the most distressed Cape Town communities in South Africa. It is one of five areas that has been identified by the City of Cape Town as a Zone of poverty and social disintegration. The Department of Social Services Western Cape estimates the population of Manenberg at 65,000 people (2004), but because the number of people in informal housing--the back yard dwellers--fluctuates greatly, it makes the figure closer to 80,000 people at any given time. Police statistics reveal that it is the community with the highest rate of public violence in Cape Town. The unemployment rate is 66%.
The purpose of the Manenberg Initiative is to screen all preschool children in the Manenberg and Heideveld communities in order to identify children with physical and/or developmental problems. Despite socio-economic hardship, the Initiative aims to lay a more solid foundation for future generations by improving the school drop-out rate, and to structure appropriate interventions through a parenting program or, where appropriate, refer the children for specialist attention.
A donated shipping container has been converted and made fit for use and will be used to house the project in the backyard of the Manenberg Clinic. This container-cum-clinic-operational from July 2007 onwards-will be equipped with educational toys and other learning aids. From this container, two medical interns with pediatric skills and experience, along with Early Childhood Development staff will carry out screenings during the weekday working hours of the clinic, helping children to work on the following developmental skills: social and emotional, language, fine motor and gross motor. |
