The Project

The purpose of this project is to raise R4.0m for the re-construction of a preschool educare building in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa.

Progress to date

To date, over R2,5m has been donated, leaving a balance amounting to R1.5m to be donated. The building was completed early 2012, but necessitated borrowing R0.5m if the building had not been completed.

If the building had not been completed at this date, additional costs amounting to about R1.5m would have been incurred, and moving the school from the old unsafe building to the new building delayed.



The Existing Building

80 children had to cram into this dilapidated, dangerous building - which was not conducive to learning and good health.


The History

Mrs. Florence Memani started the pre-school as a church project in 1990 with 12 children in the home of Mrs. Eunice Hlwele under the auspices of the Dorcas Foundation.

In 1996 the Adventist Chruch Community Services in the Western Cape assisted in procuring funds from Old Mutual to erect a pre-fabricated building in which the school operated until December 2011. Subsequently in 1999, the Adventist Church took over the project and moved the building to a site they owned in Khayelitsha.

The Purpose

Children of the informal settlements enter the schooling system at a disadvantage as many of them have never built a jig-saw puzzle, used a pair of scissors or turned the pages of a book, in other words no "early childhood development" (ICD). Nor have they had access to the educational programmes on television.

A pre-school facility provides opportunities to learn these basic building blocks of the educational system. Children are provided with a daily nutritious meal cooked at the premises. In addition, children are cared for during working hours.