Playgrounds are so simple and fundamental to our culture that most of us likely don't think twice about them unless they are lacking.
The Power of Play, founded by Squamish's Reza Marvasti, is helping a group of local parents bring a playground back to The Squamish Town Hub and a sister playground to a Maasai community in a Boma village, close to the town of Makuyuni in Tanzania.
About the local project
In Squamish, mom Anastasia Kogan and other parents have wanted to bring a new playground to the Town Hub.
There used to be a little playground there, but it was residential grade and had to be taken down for safety reasons, Kogan said.
"That place was pretty special not just for kids, but for moms, because there are services around so you're not just coming in and watching your kids play, you grab your coffee, you're looking at the consignment kids goods; you spend time there," she said, adding not having the former playground left a big gap that local parents want to fill.
And that is how Kogan connected with Marvasti and The Power of Play.
After a community survey helped establish inclusive play priorities, the playground equipment has been ordered.
It is a basic design that will work in the small space, Kogan said, with a slide and some other pretend play elements.
Organizers are hoping for some local donations of natural elements, such as logs and rocks that kids could enjoy.
"We're very close to our fundraising goal," Kogan said.
There will be a build day for the new Town Hub attraction in December that they are hoping locals will come out and help with.
Sister playground
In working with The Power of Play, Kogan said the parents wanted to also help kids a world away.
"We thought it would be amazing, if when we're bringing back something to Squamish, we can also connect it to one of his projects and maybe do a bit of a sister playground concept; connect the kids here to kids there any way we can," she said.
For the playground in Tanzania, Power of Play is collaborating with students at Emily Carr University of Art and Design to build a sensory-accessible playground.
"Then everything is going to be material that we can upcycle locally and find locally, and a local workforce," Marvasti said.
A village local will be trained during the process and left tools so the playground work can continue and ideally spread, he said.
The new playground will be near several schools, to maximize its use, he added.
The goal is also for Squamish kids involved in the local playground to create drawings and letters for the kids in Tanzania.
Marvasti will head to Tanzania after the Squamish playground is installed, taking the local kids' art with him to distribute to children there.
How can you help
The Power of Play needs to raise $3,000 more for both the Squamish and Tanzania playgrounds.
To donate, go to thepowerofplay.ca. Be sure to specify that you want your money to go to Squamish/Tanzania playgrounds.
The Squamish parents also need folks with carpentry skills to come out and help with the installation.
Any local suppliers of such things as concrete who can donate to the Squamish cause would also be appreciated, Marvasti said.
For Tanzania, tools that are in good working order are needed so they can be donated to the local population.
New playground complete in Lytton
Recently, The Power of Play completed a playground with the Tl'kemtsin Lytton First Nation.
Marvasti said the pandemic and devastating wildfire delayed the long-anticipated playground.
The children in the nation, whose community wasn't burned in the 2021 fire as they are on the other side of the Fraser River, hadn't had a community playground for about a decade, according to Marvasti.
The new playground, installed in late August, was repurposed from a primary school play set in Vancouver.
"[A] bunch of friends from Squamish, Vancouver all came in; we showed up on the land, and it was just so beautiful. A lot of people just grabbed a shovel [they got] from home," he said. "It was beautiful."
For more information on The Power of Play, go to www.thepowerofplay.ca, or email: [email protected].
For the Squamish playground, there is also a Facebook group: Playground fundraiser - Squamish Town Hub.
The Power of Play's local origin story.
