For Mandela Day, Kameeldrift welfare organisation Kamcare, with the help of several organisations, set out to help an early childcare centre in Refilwe Ext 1 to finally install safe and hygienic toilets.

Kamcare was joined by Enviro Loo, the company that designed and built the toilets, We Buy Cars, who sponsored them, and the Round Table Pretoria Collective (who brought blankets for the centre’s learners), as well as the facilitators of the project, GROOTfm 90.5 and Die GROOT Ontbyt.

Roelien Potgieter, station manager of GROOTfm 90.5, said at the launch of the three toilets that there is ‘cathedral thinking and planning’ behind a day such as this Mandela Day.

She explained that, like the cathedral builders of old, community builders lay the foundation of something they might not see the culmination and the fruits thereof, but still they make the effort, start the projects and see to it that it is sustainable.

“All the partners in this project wanted to help the little ones. This is an example of partners and a community thinking and looking beyond themselves, the same exact way that Nelson Mandela applied himself to ‘cathedral thinking’. We believe such acts of compassion can one by one change communities,” said Potgieter.

Mo Jacks of Enviro Loo explained the workings of the environmentally friendly toilets to the staff and gave some rules for sustainable use to the teachers and children.

School principal Selina Sello said the donation of the toilets now makes it easier for the school to apply for registration with the Tshwane metro and Gauteng Department of Social Development, and thus for applications for possible subsidies.

She is a mother of three and started the centre in 2019 when she was finding it hard to find a job after finishing school.

“I had a vision from God to start something to pour all my love and care for little ones into. In Ext 1 here in Refilwe, there was nothing of this sort, and I tried to close that gap.

“This is a story of hope and I decided to call it Ebenhezer, as in the Bible, it is a beacon of hope for the community,” said Sello.

Her dream is to enable her teachers to get bursaries to be trained and registered as teachers.

“We appreciate the help of Kamcare as they have enabled us for four years with collaboration to go forward in being better trained ourselves and with an education crate of tools we can use,” she continued.

Anneke Mills, spokesperson for We Buy Cars in Centurion, said that it is their wish for all children to be safe at a school that has hygienic toilets.

“We also want to restore dignity to schools and communities with such a gift and believe we can also educate the children from a young age about hygiene with such donations.”

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