Help Educate 22 Children in Zandspruit, S.Africa

Education has presented a challenge for the children of Thandanani in 2020.

Estimates in South Africa show that up to end September children have lost between 30 and 59 school days (depending on their grade) during the pandemic, and although schools are now back they will probably lose more between now and the end of the year due to social distancing measures e.g. half the class only attending school every alternate day.

So with the return of school attendance it’s definitely been a whole new experience for our Thandanani children, not only having to convince them to wear masks all day at school, but then having to continue with online lessons on the alternate days at home.

And it’s also been a learning curve for our house parents who have to keep track of who is at school on which day given that it varies by grade, and the fact that our children attend 7 different schools, not to mention trying to figure out which online class which child should log into on which day. And we’ve had to change our mode of transport because children that would normally have gone to school in a mini-taxi (16-seater microbus) no longer do so because of the risk of the virus in that environment, and in place of that we have decided to take them to school and back ourselves, with some schools being up to 20 kms away and the resultant cost of fuel and wear-and-tear on our vehicles.

But notwithstanding the challenges we remain upbeat because not only is education taking place, but we’re surviving the pandemic, and our children have remained virus free for which we are extremely grateful.

And of course we owe a debt of gratitude to you our supporters, and thank you once again for every donation whether big or small that has been helping us to survive the Covid-19 challenge.

Best wishes

Paul

Links:

• Thandanani House of Refuge