Repair-ing for the future with SB youth and volunteers

Water kettles, portable heaters and lamps. All simple electrical devices that you can find in almost every home in Belgium. They’re easy use and even easier to break. But did you know that 60% of broken appliances can be easily fixed?

Refugee youth as part of SB Espoir learned this surprising fact and how to do simple fixes of electrical devices through a workshop with Repair Café. On a brisk Saturday morning, the youth and volunteers assembled at the Repair Café workshop in Ixelles.

With the help of the technicians at Repair Café, the volunteers and youth were taught and practiced strategies on how to diagnose a problem and techniques of repair. Our first task was to fix a portable heater, and we did! Well, with the guidance of the technicians but we used the tips and tricks that we learned, we would determine if an item was fixable and then looking at the best options to fix it.

The youth and volunteers had the opportunity to try soldering wires to circuit boards, using an ohm meter, removing broken switchboxes, among other useful techniques.

Repair Café is a part of the Repair Together movement and the Repair Café International Network, all working towards promoting the repair and reuse of appliances, electrical devices, and other fixable items. They support the principle of reducing waste and second-hand sales and exchanges.

This Repair Café in particular works with Les Petits Riens to repair donated appliances and electrical devices that are then resold in the Les Petits Riens shops.

The volunteers and youth fixed about 10 items that will be sold at the Les Petitis Riens shop in Ixelles at Rue Americaine.

These kinds of partnerships with the local community in Brussels exposes the youth to learn about different life skills and opportunities for their future.

Interested in partnering with SB Espoir for a workshop or activity? Check out more information on our website and contact us hq.dev@sboverseas.org