Early Childhood Development

Early Childhood Development (ECD) is a program that fosters greater educational learning for children in the local community of Olievenhoutbosch during their most vulnerable and impressionable stage of life. It is said that less than 25% of the children in Olievenhoutbosch between the ages of 0-6 attend some sort of pre-schooling. Missing out on these fundamental building blocks can severely compromise a child's educational success later on in life.

Our key strategy has been to establish a 'model' crèche that will become a training centre for teachers. We call the crèche Tiisetso, which means perseverance. Through Tiisetso we aim to establish good habits and develop productive patterns of behaviour for the children in our charge. We believe that this will create a steadfastness in achieving great educational success, despite the difficulties that many of these children face. We've seen Tiisetso become an inspiration to the community and a haven for the kids who attend. Tiisetso doesn't only see to the children's educational needs but also feeds over 100 children breakfast and lunch, as well as two snacks a day. With this we can ensure the children are getting good nutrition, which assists in their development.

“Learning starts in infancy, long before formal education begins, and continues throughout life. Early learning begets later learning and early success breeds later success, just as early failure breeds later failure.” (James J. Heckman)