The Zoe Trust together with their partners sponsored the establishment of Misty Meadows School’s workshop facilities in 2019. This included the purchase of 4 work benches and sets of tools for use in the workshop totaling R30,000 in value.
Since 2019 The Zoe Trust has sponsored a monthly running cost of R1500 per month to cover some of the cost of materials for use in our workshop (maker space) projects.
Our school’s education philosophy is about enabling learning in as many ways as possible for the children in our community. Our school benefits from being situated on a farm with amazing access to the natural world and practical activities like farming, gardening, and building things in the workshop.
Our workshop classes have now evolved to include a wide range of practical activities including cooking, cheesemaking, sewing, farming, gardening, mechanics, property maintenance, natural building, metal work (jewelry making), ceramics, leatherwork, shooting. The students voiced the desire to broaden the focus of the workshop classes to encompass a wider range of practical skills and we agreed that this would be a positive step in the children’s best interests.
Here are pictures of some of the projects our students have completed over the past year:, including cooking, sewing, jewelry making, glass-reinforcing, baking and selling, tie-dyeing and natural dyeing, dress-making, ceramics, concrete projects, amongst others…
Our school now runs all the way to Matric and our older children are using our laptops to access online learning and resources for themselves, depending on their own interests. We have extended the use of our computers to support children to access information on how to plan and execute their practical projects. There are so many YouTube “how to make” videos that the children are watching to learn how to do some of the many practical things they want to be able to do.
We are also supporting the children to figure out project plans and costings, as well as to scope how to turn their projects into entrepreneurial ventures. We aim for these children to be well equipped to engage in a wide range of practical activities with potential to provide them with gainful employment as adults one day.