Yesterday the children of Ehlanzeni moved into their new Preschool building as the 'Steve Davison Preschool' was finally open for business!
Steve, Mike and I joined George the Headteacher of Inchanga School, a few other staff, the teachers of Grade R and 1 and the parents and children to celebrate the opening. It's not the official opening (we didn't have a cake for a start... ) but that will take place in December. But the children were desperate to move from the draughty old community hall with its broken windows, holes in the roof and floor to the new building.
Whilst there's no electricity in yet and the windows were only finished yesterday, there are desks and doors that lock and there's water, so that's enough to start with. There's plenty of land to expand as well, thanks to the generosity of a local shop owner who donated the building and land surrounding it.
For the rest of this year there are 2 classes there - Grade R and Grade 1, for the first time yesterday they had their own space and classroom, before they were sharing. The joy on the children's faces and for the parents was obvious. The children had all arrived really early ready to learn. From January there will also be Grade 2 children learning there.
This school was finished off by Lionsraw back in the World Cup. It was great seeing the team work on it during the school holidays but that's nothing compared to the excitement of seeing the buildings in use! Steve gave a speech, as did George and several others.
This preschool is important as it's in a good setting. Before, the parents and small children had to walk up to 2 hours up a mountain to get to the main school. It's too much for small legs and also for the some of the Gogos to make it every day and as a result some children were just not going to school. This school is in a perfect place for them to get to. Having this school means these children will get the best possible start to their education.
