Tablers pitch in to revamp creche
The project was accepted by Toti 85 as a long-term project and split into two phases
AMANZIMTOTI Round Table members have been hard at work revamping a local pre-school.
“We were approached by one of our new tablers, Matthew Cohen regarding a crèche that was in desperate need of assistance,” said Amanzimtoti Round Table president, Vincent Tutt. “Matt and his wife have been supporting this crèche for about two years whenever they were able to. He felt it was a worthy project for Toti 85 to take on.”
Emafuzeni Lighthouse Crèche is a non-funded daycare centre in KwaMakhutha. The crèche is run by a local woman. There is no set payment from parents who leave their children there and they only pay what they can afford. The crèche houses about 55 children, who are taught the basics of reading and writing and are fed.
“The project was accepted by Toti 85 as a long-term project and split into two phases. The first phase being the baby crèche revamp and the second phase the older children’s crèche revamp,” said Vincent.
The first phase was started over the weekend of Mandela Day. The baby crèche needed a complete revamp and rebuild. “Thanks to Robby Ducasse and his generous donation from Philani Valley Build-it, we were able to rebuild some of the walls, lift the outer walls, re-plaster all the walls, replace the roof, replace the windows and doors, and build a decent outside brick-walled toilet.
We employed local labour and builders to assist us with the project and it was great to see the Tablers jump in and help with carting water, mixing cement and carrying bricks.
The school has no running water so this posed a problem, but one of the local residents offered for us to collect water from her Jojo tank. M Projects also kindly let us use a water tank trailer for the project.”
To solve the water problem in the future, Morne De Heer received a generous donation of R2,100 from Aquapumps to buy the school a 2,200-litre Jojo tank, which was delivered and installed last week. “Just in time for all the rain we are seeing now,” said Vincent. “The school will use this water for washing up and to flush their newly-installed toilet.
Thank you to Morne and Aquapumps for their donation and dedication to changing the community.
The first phase of this project has been extremely rewarding to both the Tablers and the little ones at the school. To date about R30,000 has been injected into this project. Thank you to everyone who has contributed and helped, especially Philani Valley Build-It.
The school still needs a lot of work and requires learning material for the children. We urge the community, if you able to assist in anyway, to send us a mail at totitable85@gmail.com.”
