To honour the sentiment of a democratic and free society, which the late Nelson Mandela believed in and to help to increase the quality of education at one of the many impoverished schools within the Nelson Mandela Bay area, The IIE’s Varsity College Nelson Mandela Bay adopted Papenkuil Primary School in Gelvandale, Gqeberha.
The adoption is in line with The IIE’s Varsity College’s newly launched KHUMO Project, which is focused on community upliftment through local empowerment.
‘Kid Heroes Under the Mentorship of Others’ KHUMO is The IIE’s Varsity College and IIE MSA’s own national CSI.
Its main aim is to collaborate with various stakeholders and communities to assist underprivileged primary school learners.
KHUMO, which means wealth, is rather fitting as The IIE’s Varsity College will be sharing its wealth of knowledge and resources to educate and mentor young minds by recruiting staff, students, and lecturers to get involved and cater to the specific needs of the school.
They will utilise the time and talents of these volunteers, who are passionate about ensuring there is sustainable development and that they are making a real impact on local communities, showing how it truly ‘takes a village’ to help raise and empower children.
In July, the campus donated nearly 300 lunch boxes and snack packs to foundation phase learners (grades R, 1 and 2) as well as 15 white boards and four noticeboards with which staff, volunteers from the campus, as well as some students, assisted.
Their Mandela Week activities concluded with a character dress-up read-a-thon, where staff and students dressed up as book characters to make reading fun for the learners and emphasise the importance of literacy.
There are various activations and activities planned to uplift the school throughout the year such as, the upgrading, maintenance and supply of usable sporting facilities and the hosting of a sports day.
Remedial support, musical instruments, an environmentally friendly project, library upgrades with setting up a reading corner, a literacy programme, the installation of Jojo water tanks and an end of year family fun day is on the cards for the remainder of the year.
“Our Northern Areas schools face financial challenges so for us to be the beneficiaries of a project like this is truly a blessing,” said Jerome Leverzencie, principal at Papenkuil Primary School.
He believes that a project like this can bridge the gap between the likes of The IIE’s Varsity College and the school and would be mutually beneficial to all parties concerned especially the learners.
“Most of these learners come out of broken homes where there is very little love shown.
“The love and attention which The IIE’s Varsity College has given the learners this week has been well received, is much needed and will leave a lasting impression in their growing minds,” said Leverzencie.
