The Grade 4 to 7 learners of Yeoville Community School were surprised with a delivery of stationery packs donated by Kindness like Confetti (KLC), Mini Miracles and Ashraful Aid, community members and corporate donors.
Over 800 packs contained pens, pencils, a ruler, an eraser, a glue stick, a sharpener, coloured pencils, and a pair of scissors. Lever arch files, reading books, notepads, brown paper, art supplies, breakfast cereals and long-life milk also formed part of the donation. The learners were excited to receive their stationery packs.
The aim of this project was to give the learners of Yeoville Community School all the tools they need for a successful school day. Headmistress, Martha Mente who was thrilled to receive the stationery and supplies, explained to KLC that most of the children come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents cannot afford luxuries such as stationery.
There has been extreme poverty and hunger in this community of people and statistics showed 95 per cent of the parents of children attending Yeoville Community School, were unemployed. These are the children of Johannesburg’s waste pickers, car guards and beggars at our traffic lights; the children of the thousands of migrant families who have fled to South Africa in the hope of a better life, from as far as Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Congo and even larger numbers of Zimbabweans and Mozambicans.
These families inhabit the surrounding flats and abandoned buildings in our inner city. It has not been uncommon for multiple families to inhabit one apartment, which resulted in severe overcrowding as very often entire families live in an individual bedroom, or living room, and even a hallway or bathroom, within a single apartment.
Yeoville Community School has provided a safe haven too, a place less crowded than ‘home’ where children can run and play and sit and think, alone. Yeoville Community School, under the care of principal Mente, is a place where the children of Yeoville can grow and learn.
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