Early Childhood Development & Teacher Training

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.

We call the crèche Tiisetso, which means perseverance. 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 them 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.

In 2010 we established a Teacher Training Facility on the Ikya property, the Botshabelo base. 2 classes of grade 0 children are brought to this base in the morning to be taught by 2 qualified teachers who are concurrently training 3 teachers. Our aim is to establish a 'model' crèche and a training centre for teachers and for trained teachers to be empowered to be able to establish cottage schools in their homes.

“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)