News from The Crèches – 2023
Dear Friends of Thanda Foundation,
Our most exciting news for 2023 is that after almost 2 years of discussions, community engagement, and project planning we have welcomed Masibambisane CrËche to the Thanda Foundation Trust family.
Masibambisane CrËche is located within the Mandlakazi Community, which is about 3 kms from the Inkanyiso CrËche which serves the Mdletshe Community. The CrËche currently has 26 students however will allow for many more with our support.
There is currently a good building structure with three decent sized rooms and a secure fence around the property. However this, along with three passionate ladies, is all the CrËche currently has to offer the children. There is no running water, electricity (although Eskom is available in the area), teaching materials, whiteboards or learning aids, no play materials inside or out, no feeding scheme and no proper toilets. The building could also do with some general maintenance and a fresh coat of paint.
In conjunction with the Induna, community elders, parents and the teachers we have prepared a list of projects that we will be undertaking over the coming years. Our initial focus will be to provide learning and play materials for the children as well as uniforms and to setup a feeding scheme similar to that at Inkanyiso CrËche as well as to provide assistance to the teachers. The list of items required and projects to be undertaken is large, but we are confident that with support and time Masibambisane CrËche will turn into a jewel within the community just as the Inkanyiso CrËche has.
In respect of Inkanyiso CrËche, they had a wonderful 2023 and continue to grow from strength to strength! We carried out some general maintenance over the school holidays with the teachers being amazed at what a difference a fresh coat of paint made. We also provided additional tables, chairs and teaching materials to account for the larger number of students enrolled during 2023.
Our littlest friends have grown to love the extra care and attention that Mama Qhamu is able to provide, focusing solely on the little ones with teacher Lungi and her assistant Neli being able to teach the older children. The teachers and children also greatly enjoyed having volunteer Olivia, a primary school teacher from Switzerland, for 5 weeks this year. Volunteers provide the teachers with invaluable learning opportunities and wonderful ideas on how to engage the children.
We continue to assist with the daily operations and monthly support at Inkanyiso CrËche, ensuring that the jojo tanks were supplied with water, which is then used for the bathrooms, feeding scheme and to ensure clean drinking water. We also continued to supply nutritious porridge feeding scheme, which is extremely popular with both the families and children at the CrËche. The monthly support is invaluable providing teaching and cleaning materials, WIFI, stationery and paying the monthly stipends to the Lungi, Neli and Qhamukile.
Once again the appreciation for the CrËche could clearly be seen in our annual year end graduation ceremony. The parents, grandparents, members of the community and Thanda Safari, as well as the teachers celebrated
the childrenís achievements over the past year. Each of the graduates received a back-pack hamper to assist them with their future studies as well as a graduation certificate that they were very proud to receive. All students received a small snack hamper to take home with them.
We had thought that 2023 would be the year with the most learners with 50 students attending our school, however we have already reached 53 students for 2024. A testament to the invaluable service the Inkanyiso CrËche provides to the local community, and we expect that the student numbers at Masibambisane CrËche will also increase substantially going forward, especially if a daily meal is provided through the porridge feeding scheme.
