A NEW daycare centre building was handed over in Umgababa on May 5 after it was rebuilt by Casa Dillon Education, a non-profit hub that supports initiatives and programmes that develop early education.
Casa Dillon Education is run by the Iris Canham Community Development, founded by Iris Canham and committed to narrowing inequalities in early education. Iris is also the founder of Indwe Africa. She said that after a visit in April from their donors and some reflection on how far they have come since launching, the donors committed to the transformation of the Somelulwazi Daycare Centre in Umgababa.
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“The first thought was to redo their flooring, but it was soon realised that the floor couldn’t be fixed without the roof being fixed. Upon inspecting the roof, it was clear that a new roof couldn’t be held up by crumbling walls. The decision was clear: Tear the building down to the ground and rebuild in 10 days to ensure the least disruption of schooling. Local entrepreneur Timothy Harper of TNT Construction came to the rescue, working day and night with his team to meet the deadline,” said Iris.
She said her organisation started with various education programmes and outreaches into rural communities in 2019.
“At the time, there was no centre, but we ran preschool programmes under a mango tree in Illovo. When it rained, children sat in my car and we did the classes, flattening the seats of mine and my co-worker’s vehicle. We had the class standing outside with our umbrellas while the children sat inside and continued. A church then offered us the use of their carport when we had around 75 children a day, from preschool to extra lessons for primary school children at the nearby school,” she said.
Iris thanked the donors for making the handover possible.
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