NEARLY R400 000 was raised for early childhood development in Nelson Mandela Bay during the recent 16th annual Mayoral Charity Golf Day held at the Gqeberha Golf Club.
This year, the event, endorsed by the mayor’s office, in partnership with the Mark Headbush Foundation, saw the greatest turnout yet with more than 140 golf enthusiasts from all over the country participated.
The aim of the event and that of the foundation is to make a difference in the early learning phase, focusing on learners from the ages of 0-9 years or grade R-3.
This is the foundation’s way of ploughing back into local communities.
The Mark Headbush Foundation’s Charity, Mbofana, said that investing in early childhood development (ECD) could help to mitigate all challenges which put the future of children in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and beyond at risk.
“According to research, 1,24 million children between the ages of three and five in South Africa do not attend an appropriate early learning programme every year.
“There are lots of inequalities in quality early learning opportunities which can be attributed to a lack of teaching resources, the worrying children to teacher ratio of 1:31, and the poor infrastructure in ECD centres,” she said.
“The Mayoral Charity Golf Day is key in raising funds for addressing the earlier mentioned challenges. It raises awareness of the inadequacies in learning establishments (schools and classrooms) and the lack of learning support materials such as books, libraries, educational tools, computer labs and communication and technology tools which exacerbate the digital learning divide,” she added.
The foundation has managed to raise over R4 million since its inception in 2005 and all funds raised have been directed towards the beneficiaries in an effort to improve the state of early education in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro.
The event has grown to be one of the Bay’s premium business- and social-networking functions and this year was no exception.
It once again attracted big corporates, top business people, public service officials and golf enthusiasts from all provinces, all in support of the Foundation’s worthy cause.
“In fact, this year’s edition attracted more players than the event could host, which is exciting for the foundation and its work,” Mbofana said.
Also seen on the course was Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Retief Odendaal and deputy mayor, Mkhuseli “Khusta” Jack, along with various sponsors and partners.
The event raised R349 000 towards early education, which again will all be directed towards the beneficiaries.
Engen was a main sponsor and according to general manager: corporate strategy and communications, Khalid Latiff, the company continues to show unwavering support and commitment to the work of the foundation in early education.
“As a brand that aims at enriching lives for a sustainable future, we at Engen are passionate about education and humbled to renew our partnership with the foundation.
“By helping support the Mark Headbush Foundation’s efforts in early childhood development we hope to do our part in addressing these challenges which put the future of many of our children at risk.”
