The Fix-It Kids
An article about two teenagers who opened a "Repair Café" in their neighbourhood, where things are fixed instead of thrown away.
Tap any word to hear it · dotted words have a definition in the glossary
🎧 Listen
1Every second Friday morning, the community centre in a small neighbourhood in Rehovot fills with broken things: toasters that don't toast, lamps that don't shine and trousers with holes in the knees. Behind the tables sit with and sewing machines, ready to bring them back to life.
2The "Repair Café" was started by two fifteen-year-olds, Jonathan Ezra and Maayan Cohen. "It began when my mom wanted to throw away our kettle," Jonathan says. "Only the switch was broken. I watched a video, fixed it in twenty minutes, and thought: how many other things are thrown away for no reason?"
3Maayan, who learned to sew from her aunt, was immediately interested. Together they asked the community centre for a room and put up notices in the neighbourhood. They also invited people with practical skills — an , a carpenter and a — to join them.
4The idea is simple: visitors don't just leave their item and come back later. They sit next to the volunteer and learn how to fix it themselves. "We're not a shop," Maayan explains. "We want people to leave with a working toaster and with the to fix the next one."
5In their first year, the repaired more than three hundred items. But for Jonathan, the best part is not the numbers. "Our oldest volunteer is eighty-two, and our youngest is twelve," he says. "Where else do people of all ages sit together and solve problems?"
📘 Glossary
- community centre - a building where local people meet for activities
- volunteers - people who help without being paid
- screwdrivers - tools for turning screws
- retired - no longer working because of age
- electrician - a person who fixes electrical things
- tailor - a person who makes or fixes clothes
- confidence - belief in your own ability
Questions
Finding details
1. How often does the Repair Café meet?Finding details
2. What gave Jonathan the idea for the Repair Café?Making inferences
3. What did Jonathan learn from fixing the kettle?Finding details
4. Where did Maayan learn to sew?Finding details
5. Write TWO things Jonathan and Maayan did to start the café.Purpose and structure
6. Why does Maayan say "We're not a shop"?Making inferences
7. What TWO things does Maayan want visitors to leave with?Finding details
8. How many items did the volunteers repair in the first year?Main idea
9. For Jonathan, what is the best part of the Repair Café?
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