KlevaKidz campaign saves lives

Over the last three years the initiative has reached more than 79,000 learners in 190 schools located in areas where the household use of paraffin is widespread and paraffin-related accidents are common.

This year's KlevaKidz campaign kicked off in Soshanguve in Gauteng on 23 July followed by KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, and Eastern Cape and will end in Cape Town. Every year twenty schools in a new district in each province will be targeted. The KlevaKidz campaign delivers an empowering message through edutainment about safe handling and storage of paraffin and what to do during in an emergency.

Daytime caregivers

"In the next three years the campaign is set to reach 90 000 learners aged 9-13 years in 300 schools," says Khanyisa Balfour, Engen's Group CSI manager. "Over the years of involvement we have become aware that children of this age are often the primary daytime caregivers of their younger brothers and sisters. It is with this in mind that we target them with the message of safety.

"We are also happy that this campaign supports the Life Orientation curriculum of the Department of Basic Education. All learners also receive a funnel, a pencil case and an edu-comic reader, as well as posters for their schools to complement the campaign."

"Paraffin-related poisoning, fires and burns tragically affect people living in informal settlements," comments Elaine Williams, publisher at Oxford University Press Southern Africa. "Young children are often worst affected. This is one reason that our Foundation Phase Life Skills textbooks have a focus on safety in the home. This campaign supports what the Department and our books try to do - improve education around safety for those forced to live in overcrowded and poorly ventilated homes."

Educational drama

The KlevaKidz production is an interactive educational stage drama that raises awareness and empowers children on the dangers associated with handling and storing paraffin and how to prevent accidents from taking place. The production uses a television quiz show environment as a vehicle for relaying the empowering message, which is combined with a jingle. "We have found edutainment to be a powerful medium to stimulate children's imagination .What is even more rewarding is to hear children of four years old still singing the paraffin safety jingle afterwards," says Balfour.

Research commissioned by Engen in 2011, which benchmarked the before and after the first KlevaKidz campaign, illustrated that awareness improved from 24% to 90% and changed the behaviour of more than 80% of participants.