Cape Classics, which launched the Indaba Education Fund (IEF) is receiving enthusiastic financial support from its business partners and benefactors in the USA.
This support can provide early childhood teacher training, learning materials and educational infrastructure to uplift young, at risk children living in the South African Winelands.
Andre Shearer of Somerset West, CEO and co-founder of Cape Classics, says the funding has enabled the IEF to realise a key initiative: the establishment of the Indaba Montessori Institute outside Stellenbosch, for the training of Early Childhood Development (ECD) teachers who will positively impact the lives of thousands of children.
The practical part of the training takes place at the Lynedoch Early Learning Centre, which is situated at the Sustainability Institute and caters mostly to farm workers’ children. The IEF has also funded the provision of educational materials, as well as upgrades to the classrooms and surrounding gardens at the Lynedoch Early Learning Centre.
“Early Childhood Development is a beacon of light and an opportunity for us to create a positive education beginning for so many,” says Shearer. “Our long term goal is to have an impact over 25-100 years that will truly be able to change a global paradigm. We want to offer as many children as we can, the chance to write a different and happy ending to their stories.”
*The IEF’s mission is funded by a portion of global sales of Cape Classics’ Indaba Wines brand, as well as through fund raising and private donations. For more information, visit www.indabaeducationfund.org.
