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PREPARING SOUTH AFRICA FOR THE WORLD |
An extraordinary Dutch/South African project is resulting in soccer ball-shaped boats being constructed at the Whisper Boat Building Academy for the deaf in Khayelitsha. The first boat was christened by Ajax Cape Town coach Foppe de Haan as a ceremony at the V&A Wazterfront recently. Project 2010 spoke to Belgium born Peter Jacops, who is chairman of the Whisper academy...  What were the biggest challenges of getting this project off the ground and constructing the first prototype? Well, we were under very tight deadlines and we built the first boat in record time. It was completed in two to three months and normally this would have taken six months. This project is unique in the way that it is the only BEE project in the boat building sector. Tell us more about the boats It's eco friendly and it can carry eight people. Also it is equipped with plasma TV-screens and is powered by solar energy. And what about the academy? I started this three years ago. Our students are drawn from the Noluthando School for Deaf in Khayelitsha. The production of the se boats provides hands-on training and as you can see, they have embracxed the concept. The academy has been financed by gifts from Dutch, Belgian and South African organisations and of course by the sale of the boats. How the future look post-2010 for the academy and these children? Fantastic. We only boat building school for the deaf in the world and more and more people are learning about us. 2010 will be a very important platfrom for us. more interviews... |
