Meet the team: Jerome, Dawid, Pieter and Floris. They have worked together for the past two months at various jobs (see pictures below). They fixed the classroom block walls and lime washed them and fixed the roof sorting out any leaking problems, build a wall for the wooden deck structure, laid down the plumbing for the new training kitchen and fixed gutters to walls, laid bricks for a new pavement, fixed a cupboard to an inside wall that can hold a big screen TV and painted it... these are just some of the many jobs they have on the go. The goal is to finish the wooden deck which is providing a walkway from the entrance that gives access to the training kitchen and woodwork room on the right and the needle work room on the left. The ceiling in the woodwork room still needs finishing and the toilets in the new toilet block need installing. All this is possible through funding from Schenke Zukunft and the Freunde der Erziehungskunst.
Pieter is the master builder, the organizer, the teacher in woodwork, plumbing, building, painting... and Jerome and Floris, his eager trainees, have been working at the Breede Centre for the past two months. You hear and see Pieter instructing, demonstrating, overseeing, trusting, correcting and praising. Not only do they learn practical skills from Pieter but they also get to know the tools they need and how to take care of them. They learn about planning, preparing, organizing, executing and tiding up a job and to think through any problems encountered. When he is not around Dawid, his assistant, takes over and guides his young peers in more than just a practical way. While they work they talk about what concerns them as young men or they listen to the radio.
Jerome and Floris have expressed their gratitude at having his opportunity. They know that it opens up many more opportunities for further training and jobs. Both have been accepted in a municipal employment scheme which will see then working and training two days a week in their chosen field. They will earn an income that will add to what they earn at the Breede Centre as trainees. For they are not ready yet to leave us completely as they are (for now) very much part of the bigger team working to make training opportunities such as they have available to many more young people in they village.
Katleen
14 Aug 2015
