Honey Bee Crèche to close its doors
The preschool is said to be closing their doors on December 15, due to circumstances beyond their control.
Honey Bee Crèche has been caring for and educating little ones for the past 15 years in the Bosmont Community. Karen Edwards is the principal and an educator of the pre-school and after all the years of Honey Bee’s existence, the principal has sent out final notices to all parents.
The preschool is said to be closing their doors on December 15, due to circumstances beyond their control.
Edwards explained that she has been evicted by the owners of the property and that they have threatened to call the ‘Red Ants’ to forcibly remove her.
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This after years of trying to negotiate with members of the United Reforming Church of South Africa who own the property.
She said that she takes full responsibility for the eviction and is heartbroken that after years of servicing the community, she has to give up.
“We started off with eight children and we grew. The church refused to assist me in any way to clean up the place. We had broken jungle gyms, dirty classrooms and a dirty kitchen.
“We cleaned it all up and made it an environment conducive for the children to learn in. I approached the church and after that, the relationship just went really bitter,” said Edwards.
The reason for the eviction is because she had not been paying rent for the premises and has instead tried to renovate the place in lieu of payment. The church stayed away for a few years and Edwards continued the fix the premises.
“Little did I know that if I cleaned up the place it’s still not me paying off the rent, according to the law that’s not how it is,” said Edwards.
According to the health department, the school has to be compliant, and in order for the creche to be compliant, they had to fix up the place.
Edwards said that her only worry was about where her children were going to go and what would happen to her property. That is the only reason she fought the owners.
Edwards said, “Recently, the Sheriff of the Court handed me a final notice. I’m closing because I cannot fight anymore. It’s really emotional but I want to do what I love to do and the children are the most important to me.”
The principal and educator have decided to raise money to build a Wendy house at her home in the same street. She is furthering her studies and is looking to forward to working with special needs children.
In the meantime, she will only be taking the 3 to 5-year-old classes on to her personal property from next year.
Her entire staff have been employed by another crèche which has opened up and she said that she was unaware of what would happen to the premises.
“It’s about the child and not the about the issues. I take full responsibility for fixing up the place. I take full responsibility for the situation, and personally, I apologise to the church.
“I didn’t mean any harm and the only thing I meant to do was to give the children of the community an opportunity to learn,” concluded Edwards.
