Children line up to buy themselves new toys and toiletries at the FreshStart Sedgefield recycling shop using their weekly collections of glass and plastic.
Sedgefield, South Africa (18 June 2021) – FreshStart Sedgefield is a not-for-profit organisation, that aims to create new possibilities, on the Garden Route by helping children to help themselves and break the cycle of poverty, hopelessness and helplessness. This is primarily done through projects involving the recycling and/or upcycling of waste material.
Smutsville is a township on the outskirts of Sedgefield, this is where the children who visit the organisation come from. The majority of people living in Smutsville live in shacks, they do not own their land and have minimal access to services.
Sedgefield has no industry, and as a result employment possibilities are limited, especially for those without secondary or tertiary education. So this creates a vicious circle and results in a collective feeling of hopeless-helplessness.
The Smutsville Recycle SwopShop is the first FreshStart Sedgefield empowerment project.
It is based on the successful model of Swop Shops started in Hermanus in 2003. The Smutsville Recycle SwopShop has over 600 children registered as collectors… with children learning practically to help lift themselves out of the poverty cycle.
The children collect recyclables and exchange them for points which they can use to buy toiletries, clothing and household essentials. One of the key factors is that parents are not allowed to go with their children to select items from the swop shop. This gives the children the opportunity to choose their own gifts.
There are at least 8 different ‘stations’ for every child to pass through at each SwopShop! Queueing at the gate with recycling in hand is the first – then the weighing and allocation of ‘mula points’ with a sticker on every little hand! Each child can use their points straight away or save them up for bigger items. One example is a young man saving his points for months to be able to buy a bicycle.
The shop has continued to support the children of Smutsville through the pandemic which has been a lifeline to many families. The shop was open on Youth Day and hundreds of children showed up to go shopping.
“The buzz at 1.00 pm on Wednesday afternoons is LOUD! The children rush out of school, grab their recycling bag – race off home to gather their hard-earned collections – and in no time, 2 large queues line the street in front of the gate. Older ones help the smaller ones, volunteers direct the ‘traffic’, weigh the glass, plastic, tins and paper and then the shopping begins! There are so many wonderful items to choose from, clothes, winter woollies, blankets, stationery, toys, the ever-popular marbles and spinning tops and of course the toiletries. Something for everyone. Shoppers, volunteers, donors and supporters are all thrilled that it’s ‘business as usual’ every Wednesday afternoon.”
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