It was like being in Hollywood when the children of St Mary’s Day Care Centre in Grahamstown took part in the making of a documentary which will form part of an educational campaign to give children in Africa laptop computers.
It was like being in Hollywood when the children of St Mary’s Day Care Centre in Grahamstown took part in the making of a documentary which will form part of an educational campaign to give children in Africa laptop computers.
In June St Mary’s Day Care Centre (DCC) and the Holy Cross after-school programme at Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery were ecstatic to receive one laptop for each child from General Mills, an American food company, in collaboration with One Lap Top per Child (OLPC), an American non-profit organisation. Both companies are devoted to enhancing early childhood education and visited Grahamstown to document the schooling and development of the children who received laptops from them.
This is part of the Win and Give marketing campaign that the initiative plans to launch in January next year, where American children can win and give a laptop to someone less fortunate than themselves. Jeff Fuller, the marketing manager at General Mills said the initiative behind their project was to get each and every child in the world involved and "what motivates children most is helping other children".
Three of the St Mary’s DCC children- Simamkele Mpehlo, Anthnetia Mackay and Brandon Botha- boarded a flight for the first time to Cape Town. There they took part in the making of an advertisement for General Mills fruit snack. The advert features an American child who runs all the way to Africa where he hands over a laptop to an African child, performed by Simamkele Mpehlo from St Mary’s. The shooting of the documentary for the General Mills website took place at the day care centre. Roger Domingo, project manager at St Mary’s said the aim of the website is to take an American child into the life and living conditions of African child. "Yes the child in Africa is disadvantaged but it’s not meant to be sad rather just show that by helping give a laptop you can enhance the life and opportunity of another child," said Domingo.
Fuller explained that the aim at the end of the day is to get each and every child in the world a laptop. "Many people often ask why would these children need laptops when something like clothing and food is far more of a priority, however by giving each child a laptop it is also giving them more of an opportunity to motivate themselves by giving them access to the world." Domingo said that he could see a vast improvement of the children in their attitudes towards their school work.
The design of each laptop is specifically aimed at children, making each programme fun and informative. "They will come from school with their maths and science homework and be excited to try and do it on their laptops," said Domingo. St Mary’s Day Care Centre provides food and care to some of the most impoverished and disadvantaged schoolgoing children in Grahamstown. "Before the attitude towards school work was lacking but now each and every child seems inspired," said Domingo.
