Start a Preschool for 60 Children in South Africa

After a delayed start due to a lockdown at the beginning of the year when South Africa was experiencing a new COVID strain, things have been going very well at Siyabonga. Our students are engaged and very active, and are far exceeding our expectations for this time of year. We are still following all the COVID protocols we established last year and everyone, even are youngest students, are complying. In spite of the need to do things differently, the teachers are doing their best to follow the curriculum set by the Department of Education and provide quality early childhood education and development services to our families.

June 16 is Youth Day in South Africa, a public holiday commemorating the student demonstrations against Apartheid in June 1976, where many students were shot and killed by police. Each June at Siyabonga, we implement age-appropriate curriculum and activities we developed to teach the children about the history and about their rights and responsibilities.  We have always culminated the period with a celebration with the children and their families. Although we were unable to invite anyone to attend this year due to COVID regulations, we still held an event with the children. The children did performances and participated in other activities. Teachers wore school uniforms, which has become a custom in South Africa to honor the students who stood up against Apartheid. We believe we managed to make the day memorable in spite of the restrictions.

New Classroom

We were excited to begin construction of a new classroom in April that we have been planning for several years. The father of one of our students agreed to assist us and with the funds we had save, we bought materials and got the flooring in and the walls up. Unfortunately, we ran out of money before the project was completed. We currently have 94 children enrolled. Although we are certified for this many children, the number far exceeds what we had originally planned for when we built our centre with two classrooms. The space we have is really inadequate for the number of students that attend. Hopefully we can secure additional funding soon to finish the room either through donations or a grant.

Thank you all for your support this year and in years past. We are deeply grateful we were able to make it through the past year and, unlike many programs in our area, able to reopen and continue providing services to our families. We couldn't have done it without all of you.

Kind regards,

Khethiwe

I hope everyone is doing well in spite of these challenging times. We were excited to finally be able to open Siyabonga for the school year on February 15. As you may recall, shortly after COVID-19 cases were first identified in South Africa last March, the president of South Africa implemented a strict country-wide lockdown. Last August when new case numbers were down and the pandemic seemed to be getting under control, the imposed restrictions were relaxed. Schools, including early childhood education centres, were allowed to reopen in September if they implemented procedures to ensure the health and safety of children and staff. We were the first ECE centre in the area to reopen, and we remained open until we closed for the holidays. Unfortunately, in December COVID cases began to surge again due to a variant in the virus, and at the end of December the country again went into lockdown. Our province, KwaZulu Natal, was the hardest hit in the country. Though the lockdowns certainly had a significant impact on the families we serve, luckily I am not aware of any of our families being directly affected by COVID. No one on staff lost family members either, except for me. Sadly, I lost two aunts within a month.

In addition to the surge in COVID cases we experienced, we also had flooding in late January, which was brought on by heavy rains from the tropical storm Eloise. The first week we opened we only had 40 children in attendance. All but the main roads in the area are unimproved dirt roads, so it was challenging for families to bring in their children. This week our attendance grew to 98 children, higher than the 85 maximum we had hoped to maintain. This high number is in part due to other centres in the area not yet being able to open. We are maintaining all of the health and safety standards we implemented last fall: sanitizing and washing hands frequently, taking temperatures, giving each child a disinfected face shield when they arrive, doing more activities outdoors, and trying to maintain social distancing (though it is a little challenging with our youngest students).

We need support to continue providing services to our children and families and to be able to do extra measures to ensure a safe environment. Please consider making a donation to help us during these difficult times. And if you give between now and Friday, March 12, 11:59 pm EST, during GlobalGiving’s Little by Little campaign, your donation of up to $50 will be matched at 50%.

I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to one of our newer staff members. Nonhlanhla Masilela, pictured below, started working with our organization as a volunteer board member. I knew she had interest in getting more involved, so I encouraged her to go back to school. After completing her ABET, she enrolled at Embury Teachers College and has now completed the first two ECE courses, passing with distinction. She plans to continue with the program this year. She works as an assistant teacher in one of our classrooms now and is very good with the children.

The other picture shows one of our students, Ndalo, getting help washing his hands. Ndalo has been attending Siyabonga for three years since he was two and will be moving on to primary school at the end of the year. He is quiet, intelligent and creative and would like to be a teacher when he grows up. He lives with his mother and grandmother.

Thank you again for all your support. We couldn’t do what we do without you! And please remember all donations this week, up to $50, will be matched at 50% by GlobalGiving.

All the best.