What inspires a child to say: I love to be me?

This question is at the centre of our work and our vision to create a kindergarten and family centre in the Vukuzenzele community in Philippi, Cape Town.

The family centre is imagined as a welcoming place where children and their families can laugh, play, sing, work, learn, grow together and be loved, nourished and supported. It is a place where children are the seeds at the centre of an ecosystem, and their growth and thriving is nurtured by a strong community. From a starting point of concerted focus on early childhood development (ECD), on the whole child and on families, we see an opportunity to grow a thriving community ecosystem and help transform many lives. We imagine that every child is a seed. A seed that loves to be themselves. Each seed carries its own potential both for self-actualisation, and for contributing to the flourishing of the larger ecosystem. Each seed needs a nurturing environment to grow to its potential. The seed needs all the elements to survive and thrive (in other words circles of support). 

We are facing an education crisis South Africa. The development of this Kindergarten is a genuine attempt to provide good quality pedagogical learning to children who have little or no access to even adequate education. A considerable amount of care, attention, thought and love needs to go into planning environments where children are inspired to learn, explore, discover and play. The under-resourced environments that are currently available for our young children are dismal and constitute, in truth, a human rights issue. 

The women who run and manage small educare centres all around townships of South Africa have often started them to meet the needs of their own community, yet they are faced with overcrowding, lack of training or qualifications, and little to no resources. Children mostly sit around a room not doing anything constructive or stimulating. Their most precious years and most rapid brain development are being compromised. The exposure and exploration of new concepts, ideas and connections is crucial, yet this time is lost and wasted. Opportunity to play is one of the most important and profound experiences a child can have in order to create the neural pathways required for optimal brain development. Children in low socio-economic environments do not get sufficient exposure to these life experiences. 

The fact that so much advocacy still needs to happen for people to be aware of the huge disparities that exist in our country is shocking. This all seems pretty crazy to have to make others aware, but the degree to which it is overlooked by our government, educational institutions and the wider populace is concerning.  – We probably need to say this in another way.

Our theory of change – “Creating Circles of Support Around Young Children” is best described in an illustration to make the whole visible. Each “node” is a critical sum of the part, and each node is vital in the whole functioning at its best. 

Please click on each node to find out more about the work we do and the little heavenly place for children we are working on making a daily reality.