Medical students take Bayang Bana Pele Crèche under their wings

A group of third-year medical students was responsible for many smiling little faces when they unveiled a entirely renovated crèche to its little students on Friday, 15 April. The Bana Pele Bayang Crèche has about 50 children from two to six years.

Reinhardt Erasmus, Fathima Vawda, Veneshree Govender, Antoi Roets, Riaan Calitz, Motlalepula Mabizela, Tertius Potgieter and Chanel van der Westhuizen were the students responsible for the massive renovation work that went into the Beyang Bana Pele Creché in Mangaung.

The students tackled the project as part of a community service project and ensured that the 30 children who attend the crèche can look forward to coming to a safe healthy environment every day.

According to Riaan Calitz, they started the project at the beginning of the year by doing a needs analysis and talking to the children’s parents and teachers. They also involved the aid of an architect and quantity surveyor to calculate the needs of the crèche.

The group also taught the children on a few occasions on good habits as to how to use the bathroom in a hygienic way and how to brush teeth, but they also made time to play with the children. The children were always eager to do some jobs in and around the nursery, whether it was gardening, cleaning, painting or building.

Two occupational therapy students in their third year evaluated the children to determine where they were in their intellectual growth curve.

The students said that the gratitude from the school’s children and teachers, as well as community members, who would stop and thank them for their help while they were busy working, made it all worthwhile.

The students plan to stay involved with the crèche and say the renovation plan was drafted in such a way that when they move along, another group can simply pick up from their work with ease.

Mrs Sarah Mothoana, the crèche matron, thanked the students as well as everyone who assisted them in “creating a wonderful, safe and healthy environment for the children.”

The smiles on the children at Beyang Bana Pele Creche in Mangaung were blindingly bright, after their new classrooms and playground were unveiled on Friday 15 April.