Fund Preschool for 51 Children in South Africa

Hello Fundraisers, donors, supporters, friends and family around the world!

I hope you are all having a lovely start to June! Since my last report sadly fundraising has been rather more challenging than I expected. I have also been very busy as we now have 53 children in our beautiful educare centre and they love to keep me entertained and busy!

You already know we are in the heat of the township and while we have to overcome security from break-ins and challenges of life in a South African township, this location is so important to myself and the fellow mamas as we need to be here, we need to be in sight and we need to be easily accessible.

Since the amazing volunteers from TMF USA and Action Change visited and transformed our space last year, we were also given a secure store room. Every day we move everything into this space, and since we had one break-in with nothing available to take, they left and nothing since. While one day in the future we would love to raise five thousand five hundred dollars to fully secure every corner of our school, I know with the fundraising challenges this needs to be put back in our pipe dream box for now!

Anyway, we did raise a little so we were able to fix the leaking roof and fix the doors and locks that had been broken in previous break-ins. We have finally got doors that close, door handles and a lock, and we hope now the thieves know about our store they won't break the doors again. We recently partnered with another charity that trained one of our mamas to cook on a budget, and they are helping to supply some basic ingredients monthly which is helping us out massively.

My focus with the other mamas now is to upgrade the second of three rooms now the children are loving the room renovated by TMF. We also were gifted our first TV screen and DVD player and a few educational DVDs, and wow how the children are loving their first introduction to technology!

And now this takes me onto our 8 children still awaiting a scholarship. We sadly didn't get any response to our appeals and fundraising. Years ago our mamas of this community came together to build this safe haven after a heartbreaking tragedy where a three-year-old girl was left alone playing on the streets and was killed. These mamas are still here today looking after our playgroup aged two to three, while I, also a mama in the community and a trained Grade R teacher, look after teaching our four to six-year-olds.

As a community we are fighting every single day to prevent that from ever happening again, which is why my number one focus right now is getting eight specific children off the streets and into our classrooms.

These 8 little ones come from families living in extreme poverty, crowded into single-room shacks with 6 or more people. Their parents are mostly single parents who are uneducated and trapped in unemployment. Every morning, they have to head out to search for any odd job they can find, which leaves children as young as two years old with nowhere to go but the township streets.

We have the space to protect them, but we also need the scholarships to ensure we can keep them safe and provide every child with a lovely breakfast, warm lunch and snack daily. We provide them with a uniform and a safe future, and all for just $45 dollars a month. We have 6 months left and 8 children in need to join us, so we hope you can help us by sharing our project. Maybe we can at least raise $2,160 to keep all 8 children in our school from today until Christmas. Ideally we would love 8 people to donate $45 dollars a month so these children can stay with us throughout, but for now we will happily raise what we can to keep them safe.

We're also excited to announce we're joining the amazing GlobalGiving's upcoming bonus day that kick's off on the 15th July! It's a reall special opportunity to raise some funds so we can move from away from survival mode. Please save the date, shout about it and share with your friends, family and networks because every donation of $100 and above will be proportoinally matched from a special pot of money from GlobalGiving. 

Thank you once again for being on our side, taking the time to donate, fundraise and engage in my updates. We really value every single person and we would love to welcome you to visit us here in Cape Town anytime!

Trina x

Hi everyone,

I’m sitting at my desk today looking out at the playground, and I just had to share this moment with you. The sun is streaming in, the school is buzzing, and I honestly can’t stop smiling. It’s one of those days that makes every struggle worth it.

We’ve just had our big graduation, and seeing our older ones head off to big school was such a bittersweet moment—I’m so proud, but I’ll miss their faces! But as they move on, we’ve welcomed our new little ones for 2026. Our family has grown to 46 children now, and seeing the "newbies" settle in with their wide eyes and big dreams is just the best. We’re especially excited to be running a full Grade R class this year!

I have to tell you about the "miracle" room. For the longest time, we had this one classroom that was just heartbreaking. After a bad break-in, thieves stripped the metal taps and cables, causing a massive flood. We couldn't afford the fix, insurance said no, and it was so dangerous we just had to board it up.

Well, the TMF volunteers and Tyrone from Action Change spent October turning that around. They didn't just fix it; they transformed it. Phil donated a laptop, and with a new monitor and speaker, we did something we’ve never been able to do before: we played educational videos. You should have seen the kids' faces is pure magic.

We’ve also had some lovely surprises lately. A crew from Virgin Atlantic and a family from Ireland visited us while on holiday in Cape Town and ended up sponsoring some of our little ones! Plus, we’ve got new books in the library and fancy dress outfits that have made playtime look like a tiny carnival.

But, as always, the reality of keeping them safe is our biggest task. To stop the break-ins, we’ve been "thief-proofing" the place. We’ve replaced all the metal taps with plastic so there’s nothing worth stealing, and we’ve built a secure internal cage to lock up our fridges and computers.

The big goal now is the "Trelli-door" project. They’ve been amazing—sourcing off-cuts and donated materials to bring a $14,650 security quote down to $5,500. It’s a massive saving, but still a huge mountain for us to climb. Once the school is truly secure, our next dream is to turn the old classroom into an indoor/outdoor play haven with astroturf and plants.

We still have eight little ones from single-parent homes waiting for scholarships. I’m so desperate to get them into class so they don’t lose out on this year. For $40 a month or $480 a year, you aren’t just giving a child two meals and an education; you’re literally taking them off the street and giving them a safe place to grow. Please help us and share our program with friends and family and hopefully together we can get them into our safe space very soon!

Looking out at the sun over Siyakhula today, I feel so much hope for 2026. Thank you for being the reason we can keep these doors open.

With so much love and gratitude,

Trina