If it was not for the determination and perseverance of women with a heart for young children, there would be no ECD centres in marginalised communities.
Their Story
The creche started in 2013. Their vision is: to protect children from abuse, to provide healthy nutritious food and to help children prepare for grade 1. The ECD practitioner explains that preparing the children for “big school” is important as literacy and numeracy are poor among the children in her community.
Early on when the centre was not funded by DSD, NAG connected them with porridge from Feed the Babies. The ECD Practitioner describes the way the children’s health and growth began to change, weeks after they started giving them this nutrient rich porridge. She was astounded at the difference the porridge was making.
The ECD practitioner truly looks out for the wellbeing of the children at the centre, she regularly meets with parents and works closely with the Community Health Workers in the area. When the creche received funding from DSD, they started to save some of the school fees to buy blocks and sand so that they could renovate an old donated building and move out of the borrowed rondavel which was too small for the number of children. It is evident that the teachers at the creche are proud of the centre as they have truly made the most of what they have and created a truly beautiful ECD space.
“Go out into your community and do ECD awareness; tell the parents and the community why you exist and why it is important for children to attend pre-school.”
*names of been omitted to maintain the privacy of the ECD Centre