Kingdom Kids Creche
he Kingdom Kids Crèche is just off
Sir Lowry’s Pass Road, take a sharp
right as you pass over the railway line
and through the old farm gate gets you there. Each day this safe haven provides loving arms, caring hearts and a warm meal to the more than 17 littlies between 0 – 2 years old.
Edith (Iddy) Edson is the principal, holding an Early Childhood Certificate from Boland College. What a remarkably selfless young lady! She manages the little school, getting paid as little as R20 – R50 per month from struggling parents, and shares the income evenly between her and the other three teachers. Her mother, Zelna, is one of these volunteers and says that Iddy almost always ends up using her share to buy food and nappies for the little ones whose parents cannot afford to.
The Kingdom Kids Crèche was adopted as
a community project by the Facebook Group, Somerset 1. Every time it rained, the little building at the bottom of an incline would get soaked, water flooding mercilessly over a cement slab about 15 cm higher than the door! Nothing on the floor would be spared as it all got soaked, leaving the room cold, dank and mouldy. Thus, upon adopting the crèche, the immediate concern was to get the babies off the wet floor and into a warm, dry building.
Click here to watch a short BEFORE video of the crèche - a view of how we found it…
After the initial post by Melony du Preez
on Somerset1, the combined power of social media and caring hearts went viral! The generous financial support of Natasha Anders, allowed the group to buy a Wendy House to erect that same Saturday. Bizweni Pre-Primary School donated 201 bricks for the Wendy’s foundations, while Nadine Strydom organised with Tempo Construction to collect and deliver the Wendy. Kenny Clark arrived with his team, some nails and buckets of enthusiasm, put up the Wendy and arranged with Herman van Zijl (DAVIDSON’S BOARDS, Strand) for packers to clad the inside. Anton van der Eijkel donated the next 200 bricks for the second Wendy (on the cards for the very near future), while Kenny promised to be involved in the construction
gratitude and feelings of being utterly overwhelmed by the love shown to them through Somerset1. In true ‘Teaching to Fish’ style, Iddy is in the process of registering the school with the Western Cape Education Department, to access vaccines and health benefits, and organisational support.
Ideally the future involvement of Somerset1 and the rest of the Helderberg community will assist the Kingdom Kids Crèche in putting up a second Wendy, as a sleeping room for the babies, and to build a bathroom (currently the volunteers and potty trained toddlers have to run to the main house through the soaking rain). Ideally a plumbing company will come on board to assist in this. A jungle jim and outdoor play equipment is planned for the next phase, as well as a secure fence to keep the babies safe from wandering neighbourhood dogs and from escaping on the busy Sir Lowry’s Pass Road.
This community project has been a reminder to us all of the unstoppable power of shared hearts and minds focused on a single goal. The social networking done through Facebook has served to share this single goal and mission, to communicate in an open forum and together create the meaning, drive and passion to improve the lives of those less fortunate. A reminder that the power of a community when positively shaped and directed, can and does make the world better.
T
12 - JULY 2014
A Community in Action
Community NEWS