Residents and management of Rand Aid’s Thornhill Manor Retirement Village came together and packed food parcels for a number of children at Nobel Primary School who have been identified as having very little to eat at home.
Normally, these children receive sandwiches at school, provided twice a week by charities and three times a week by teachers.
The retirement village committee appealed to residents for donations of non-perishable foods such as canned vegetables, powdered soup, pasta and rice or for cash donations to be spent on further food items.
The residents rose to the occasion with generous contributions to the project. The plan, formulated with principal Marié Bellingham, was that each needy child would be given a parcel to take home each Friday until supplies are exhausted. In addition, the Sebenza Police Precinct brought donations of other food staples to Thornhill Manor for distribution alongside the residents’ contributions.
Nobel Primary School was first established in 1900 to educate workers’ children at what was the world’s largest dynamite factory. A Jewish teacher, John Greenberg, was hired and enrolment grew rapidly as farmers from surrounding areas sent their children for tuition.
A parents’ committee was formed and factory management agreed to design and build a school to accommodate a total of 100 pupils, and it further pledged to engage suitable teachers.
Today, the school has about 1 200 pupils who are educated by a dedicated and committed team of teachers who are proud of their school and its undisputed pedigree.
