Four education centres in Cape Town can now provide desperately needed resources for children, thanks to donations totalling over R1 million (R1 085 516) from GrandWest.
The centres include Breadline Africa and their beneficiary, the Little Angels Educare in Wallacedene, WaterSprites Nursery School in Kensington, Autism Connect Learning Centre in Strandfontein and Friends Daycare Centre in Maitland.
Invest in our children
“We at GrandWest believe it is important to invest in our children from an early age as they are our future,” Mervyn Naidoo, GrandWest’s General Manager said.
Naidoo continued and said to have a country of capable and responsible future citizens the private sector has to get involved.
“The centres selected all strive to nurture and develop the social, emotional, cognitive and physical needs of the young children in their care.
Lack of resources and infrastructure
Unfortunately, like many child centres, they often lack the resources and infrastructure needed for the task.
Melaney Simonhoff, Social Economic Development (SED) Officer at GrandWest, said they received an application for support of a new classroom. “What we found when we went to visit Little Angels left our hearts quite empty and sad. Therefore, we decided that we would give them enough support to improve the quality of the learning environment as well proper ablutions facilities.”
Little Angels Educare Centre
GrandWest has partnered with Breadline Africa, who has selected their beneficiary Little Angels Educare Centre. The facility has had to accommodate 110 learners in wooden and corrugated structures. Since the new R548 516 facilities were unveiled on 1 September, two six-meter containers provide a spacious area in which to play and sleep, and a similar space will provide a classroom for the children to study in. Included in the upgrade is a six-meter container ablution block with six cubicles, a six-meter container space for staff to use as a kitchen and office, and a jungle gym for the children to play on.
Miss SA
According to Simonhoff, Miss SA, Ndavi Nokeri, was such a kind, calm person with a beautiful soul. She had all the patience in the world for all the pictures. As you can understand, everyone wanted their picture taken with her.
GrandWest invited her to the opening of the ECD centre, understanding her love for children and her passion for the upliftment of the community.
“She was an absolute blessing to work alongside.”
Naidoo said the excitement of the unveiling was contagious.
There was an absolute buzz in the community. The learners were super excited and loved every minute of entertaining us.
It was so heart-warming to see the beautiful new structures knowing what they had before.
