Pre-school begins colourful new chapter
In just a few short months, the Focus on iThemba team and its supporters did a complete revamp of a pre-school in the Upper Highway area.
A DATE that will forever be earmarked as a life-changer in Cynthia Cibane’s life is 16 April 2021, the day she was handed the keys to her newly built pre-school in Madimeni near Waterfall.
Inkanyezi (‘star’ in isiZulu) supports 37 children with quality early childhood development and is the fourth partner pre-school of Focus on iThemba to undergo radical transformation.
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The Hillcrest-based NPO, together with a group of 21 donors and partners, helped to reshape the future of this school by transforming the facility from an inadequate structure to a bright, beautiful space that is conducive to learning and teaching.
The team only broke ground in November last year and the school, also referred to as ProjectStar, now stands as a brightly coloured ECD centre.
It consists of five repurposed containers: a classroom, kitchen, toilet, office, sick-bay and storage space. In addition to this, the children benefitted from the installation of a large playground area to promote healthy gross-motor development. The children also have access to age-appropriate learning materials and equipment.
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A 5 000l JOJO tank was installed on site to promote water sustainability.
“The school’s former facilities weren’t conducive to learning at all and posed a big risk to the health and safety of the kids and teachers. They had access to only one toilet and tap and children of all ages were learning in one poorly ventilated Wendy house,” said the team leader at Focus in iThemba, Tayla-Anne Goss. “This transformation is truly remarkable and is testament to the power of partnership in making a real-world difference.”
Cibane expressed unreserved joy and described the project as an answer to her prayer.
“There are no words to express my gratitude, except thank you to Focus on iThemba and every donor and partner who was involved in this upliftment project. Without you, I do not know where we would be as a school. You gave us hope when we needed it the most. God bless you!”
Partners in the project are Bagnoli family, Belgotex, Bidvest SACD, Container World Self Storage, Container World, CotswoldDowns Estate, Cretemix, Delprop, Ed Weakley, Fry’s Metals, GMA Foundation, GROW with EducareCentres, JOJO Tanks, John Clarkson, Kerry Ingredients, Key Group, Lead Architects, Nu-Quip, TopiaWater, WW Solutions, ZBR Consulting Engineers (Pty) Ltd.
To support future transformation projects, contact Tayla via email at tayla@focusonithemba.org.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
