The National War Memorial Health Foundation is celebrating it’s 76th anniversary on Saturday 3 September at the Ysterplaat Educare in Koeberg.
The provincial education minister David Maynier will be the keynote speaker.
The Foundation provides community assistance to all people in the Cape south-western region with the emphasis on the development of children at pre-school level.
Ysterplaat Educare officially opened on 1 September 2020 after continual communication with parents who were eager to send their children to school, especially Grade R parents.
“The biggest concern was for our learners entering into a new phase in their little lives. The transformation from Grade R to Grade 1 was unknown but the parents stood firm at Ysterplaat. True to their commitment, we could re-open with all protocols of the Department of Social Development and the City of Cape Town health inspectors to overcome the first hurdles mid-2021,” says Jessica Willemse, principal at Ysterplaat Educare.
They held their first graduation last year and says without the teachers and parents the graduation would not have taken place.
“At pre-school level we enable the children to advance mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually and socially, integrating children with special needs or disability alongside their peers, preparing them to cope with their role as the adults of tomorrow.”
The celebrations on 3 September start at 11:00 and everyone is invited,” says Geraldine MacPherson, manager of the Foundation.
The Foundation was established at the end of World War II in 1946 as a living memorial to memorialise the 12 000 South Africans who lost their lives during the war.
The Foundation is trying to improve the living conditions and all the other circumstances that bear on the health and happiness of impoverished communities on the Cape Flats for the past 75 years.
“All beginnings are difficult, but the Foundation impacted positively on the lives of those in whose service it stands, most importantly the early education and development of the children. We owe the founding and the existence of this great institution to the ultimate sacrifice of the men and women who lost their lives during the war.
“The early childhood development sector in South Africa has been devastated by Covid-19 in 2020 and the devastating effect continues worldwide. The pandemic, with its extremely horrific unintended consequences, created fear, anxiety and uncertainty,” says Izak Mahali, Chair of the Foundation.
According to him all early development centres could not avoid the immense challenges caused by the pandemic.
“Many centres still struggle to recover from previous restrictions. Most of the children in SA live in poverty and do not have access to quality early childhood education services, and this was the case even before lockdown.
“This remains one of the Foundation’s greatest concerns. Society is still unaware of the immense harm negligence is causing to quality early childhood education. The first three years of life of any child are precious for them to be prepared to benefit from higher education,” Mahali says.
