Reiger Park heroine honoured for her services to the community
Described by many as an unsung heroine, 66-year-old Reiger Park resident Elizabeth Foster’s services to the Boksburg community and surrounding areas were recently recognised.
At a gala event held in Sandton, recently, Foster was named the Heroine of the Year in the highly contested national Everyday Heroes Award.
The award was presented to her by Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini.
The event, sponsored by several government and non-governmental organisations, was also attended by dignitaries, including parliamentarians.
Foster is a retired teacher who has, for the past couple of years, been empowering local women by training them to become pre-school teachers.
The women she trains return to their respective communities to establish their own nursery schools or obtain employment at existing pre-schools, where they then use the acquired skills to educate children.
Foster believes education is the weapon which one can use to change the world.
So far, she has trained almost 1 000 practitioners and most of these have opened their own day care centres, which create jobs and alleviate poverty.
‘I’m very passionate about education and I like developing other people’s academic skills. I believe that investing in education is the most effective way of reducing poverty in our communities,” she said.
Born and bred in Dikathole, Germiston, Foster graduated from the Coronationville Teacher Training College and taught at Reiger Park Primary School, Thokoza Primary School, Goedehoop Primary School, Lakeside Primary School and a primary school in Dikathole.
She was also involved in many community projects aimed at combating the high rate of illiteracy among children in the previously marginalised black communities.
Because of the increasingly heavy workload, Foster decided to retire as a teacher in 1997.
She then dedicated most of her time establishing lower elementary schools, in partnership with local churches.
She also trained local women to teach at these schools, which also created job opportunities for unemployed women in the townships.
Foster was later appointed principal of the biggest crèche in Ramaphosa, known as Noncedo Pre-School.
This pre-school also accommodates an accredited academy for early childhood education training, where Foster, a single parent, is still training local women in the field of early childhood education. -@FanieFLK
