The Calm Corner is Open!

One of the criteria in which we select who is to take on their 6 year journey from Grade 1 - 6 with iKhaya is through the level of trauma in which a child has encountered.

Every single child in Imizamo Yethu and other informal settlements would have experience trauma on some level, but our selection process find the most vulnerable of those that apply. We take on 30 children per year and develop a 6 year relationship with them as they grow up.

One thing I noticed when I joined iKhaya in January was our lack of areas in which to encounter a child in their deepest times of trauma. Children often arrived from school with silents tears, and naturally, our campus is loud and a little chaotically fun.

From that came the Calm Corner!

This is a quiet little room tucked away in the library, calmly yet brightly decorated with soft furnishings and a soft squidgey floor.

In here, we have rules and boundaries, but the number one use is for children to be able to find a moment for themselves, whether they want an adult to be with them or not. This space is a safe space and our teachers have all been briefed with the guidelines for the use of the room.

A therapist or counsellor for iKhaya is on the wish list, since we deal with problems much larger than ourselves, but this is the best first step!!

Even our couch was donated by a local family who suffered a great loss in their son at university. This couch was his, and now it is a couch that’ll help so many other children on their journeys.

We’d like to take this moment to say thank you to all that contributed to this room. The floor was donated by Ark Playmats, the posters from Kerrie in Texas, the couch from the Chubb family, the recliner from Bonita Carr and the bean bags lovingly donated by Camps Bay Christian Life Church.

If you know of a therapist, or a counsellor, or an OT that has a passion for seeing children’s lives in South Africa turned around, and could help us build a formal programme at iKhaya, please get in touch with me here.