A local community centre will soon begin construction of a new music and art school. This is according to Steven van Hoof, a board member at Langrug Community Centre.
“We’re hoping by the end of this week everything will be in place, so that we can then start saying: ‘Okay, Monday we start’,” said Janet Johnson, chairperson of the centre.
Langrug Community Centre opened as a soup kitchen in 2012, according to Janet Johnson, chairperson of the centre. “There were people in the community who identified that children weren’t getting hot meals, decent food, during the weekends,” said Johnson. “That was where the idea of a soup kitchen began and, since then, it’s just grown and grown and grown.” PHOTO: Reid Donson
The school will be a free and safe space for the children of Langrug to access “quality after-school activities that bring a high level of music, arts, and crafts”, said Van Hoof.
“It’s something that the community needs,” said Azola Tafeni, a Langrug resident who has been volunteering at the centre for the past month.
The project is being funded by the Tomorrowland Foundation, an international organisation supporting non-profit organisations that provide disadvantaged children “a chance to express themselves creatively”, according to the foundation’s website.
Janet Johnson (left), chairperson of Langrug Community Centre, and Nasiphi Notoza (right), administrator at the centre. Johnson has been working at the centre since 2015, she said. Notoza, who lives opposite the road from the centre, said she started volunteering at the centre in 2018 and has since been employed there full time. PHOTO: Reid Donson
“Things are moving full steam ahead,” said Van Hoof, in correspondence with SMF News. “We’re aiming for an official opening early next year […] it’s going to be a creative home for up to 350 children at a time, right in the heart of the Langrug community.”
‘Sense of belonging’
Langrug Community Centre first opened as a soup kitchen in 2012 and serves between 300 to 350 meals to the community every Saturday, according to Johnson.
According to Nasiphi Notoza, administrator at Langrug Community Centre, the centre also provides a safe space for children who are unable to go to school due to documentation issues.
“The centre has actually opened up a space for that child to come,” said Notoza. “Even if it’s drumming, playing music with them, just to give them that sense of belonging.”
Langrug Community Centre has a play area for children, with teddy bears and books. “Our local library is down at the bottom, so we try to bring that a bit closer here,” said Nasiphi Notoza, administrator at the centre. PHOTO: Reid Donson
‘What my mom would have done’
The centre is currently in the final stages of negotiating to use a nearby piece of land for the school, according to Johnson. The land currently houses a crèche, as well as a group of residents who live on the property, she said.
Part of the negotiated agreement is that the crèche, Ikhwezi Early Childhood Development Centre, continues to operate on the property out of the new music and art school building, according to Notoza.
“I’m very, very excited,” said Nosicelo Tafeni, who runs the crèche her mother opened in 1997. “I think I’m doing what is best, and I know that is what my mom would have done.”
Part of the property that Langrug Community Centre is planning on using to build a new music and art school, according to Nasiphi Notoza, administrator for the centre. Nosicelo Tafeni, who runs Ikhwezi Early Childhood Development Centre on the property, said that the new music and art school will benefit children whose parents aren’t home when they come from regular school. “There’s no one to look after them,” she said. “At least, when the school is open, they will have something; they are safe.” PHOTO: Reid Donson