The learners from Steenberg Primary with the students from CPUT. Picture: Supplied.
MyMachine South Africa is helping children in Cape Town develop creative confidence and the skills to innovate for a brighter future.
Launched in 2024, this project empowers young minds to think creatively, offering them the chance to design their own “Dream Machines”—devices that solve problems or bring joy to their lives.
The initiative, part of the global MyMachine movement, saw collaboration between Open Design Afrika, the Initiative for Community Advancement, the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), and the Zeitz MOCAA’s BMW Centre for Art Education.
Grade 7 learners from Steenberg Primary School worked with third-year industrial design students from CPUT to transform their imaginative ideas into functional prototypes.
Nicholette Frank, a retired teacher from Steenberg Primary, reflected on her involvement in the project: “Even though I retired after 40 years at Steenberg Primary, I couldn’t miss the chance to be part of MyMachine. Watching these kids bring their ideas to life and knowing they were working on something that could truly change their world was incredibly inspiring.”
Under the management of Open Design Afrika, led by its CEO Suné Stassen - with support from Zeitz MOCAA’s Liesl Hartman, the project provided children with hands-on learning opportunities.
This year’s MyMachine project focused on developing prototypes of five dream machines, created by the children and refined by the CPUT students.
“Our mission is to help children believe in their potential and teach them that they can be the architects of their future.
“We want to nurture not just their future-making skills, but their passion and purpose. Through MyMachine, these children are learning to think critically, adapt quickly, and dream big—qualities that will serve them and society well into the future,” Stassen said.
“The Zeitz MOCAA BMW Centre for Art Education and My Machine project share an important mission – to foster creativity in children and provide opportunities and spaces that enable them to imagine.
“The building which houses the museum was built 100 years ago – a ‘machine’ that functioned as a grain silo. It is therefore fitting that this building, that provided an essential food source, now provides hearts and minds with food for thought, contemplation and dreaming,” Hartman said.
All five projects will be on Expo at Zeitz MOCAA from Saturday 15 Feb until mid March.
tracy-lynn.ruiters@inl.co.za
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