Local créches in distress

More than 1 500 underprivileged North Coast children will benefit from a major drive over the next three years to feed, clothe and educate them.
The project, brainchild of the Ilembe Chamber of Commerce women’s forum, will spend more than R1.2 million extending a helping hand to about 20 crèches in townships and rural areas in Ilembe district.
The forum has partnered with Training and Resources in Early Education (TREE) to ensure that children in disadvantaged areas get proper education. They will work with TREE, using their facilitators to train teachers on emotional development, teaching skills as well as on how to run a crèche.
On a visit last week to Shayamoya Crèche in Nkobongo, forum member Lauren Abdo said she could not believe the bare state of the crèche and said it broke her heart to see children without even toys to play with.
The créches operating without government aid are desperately short of funds. One of the centre’s teachers, Joyce Dladla said they had been trying to get the crèche onto the social welfare database for months but were still waiting for approval.
“Yes we need educational supplies, toys, blankets and cots but all of those will not amount to much if we cannot get food to feed these 92 children who often come to us with empty bellies and without lunch boxes,” said Dladla.
Speaking at the forum’s luncheon last week, TREE director Bertha Magoge said: “The plight of children in our surrounding communities is dire and can no longer be ignored. We have to collaborate to make a tangible difference for many children in need in our province and country. Children born today will be 18 come 2030 and we must ask ourselves: What future does South Africa promise them?”
The Ilembe Chamber’s women’s forum is now on a mission to raise funds and collect toys, clothes and toys to rescue local crèches that need immediate attention.
For more information contact the chamber on 087 727 8630  or email them on reception@ilembechamber.co.za.