Support Early Childhood Development in Rural SA

There is always so much Happiness and Excitement working not only with the Nourish creche - but also through the RISE Creche outreach  ( supporting 6 pre-schools/creches in our surrounding communities. ) It has been a special few months as we have experienced an outpouring of love support and donations for these creches.... many of whom are run by community volunteers who take no salary and care for anything from 15 - 80 children daily, keeping them clean, fed, safe and stimulated. 

One of our special Creches run by a caring but strict lady called Limmy is Bhoikhotso - set half an hour on a bumpy dusty dirtroad deep in one of the rural community villages. Limmy has 59 children that call Bhoikhotso their safe space, and even though they dont have much the children happily sit under the big tree in the yard and sing songs and recite the alphabet...

Thanks to generous donors from Holland ( who i wont name here) we have gotten the funds to build Bhoikhotso a playground complete with Jungle gym and swing set. The photos speak for themselves, the children LOVE it. Happiness truly is the freedom to play. We remember our basic human rights, the right to food, water, freedom.... the right for a child to be a child. 

thank you to every sponsor small and big, for helping us find a childs life, their freedom, their childhood. 

Supporting Early Childhood development sometimes gives one the most special moments of joy, and one of those moments was being at our Nourish Creche graduation, on the 10th December... where 14 little children from our creche "graduate"to big school - on to Grade R (the first year of school in the SA schooling system ) this requires them to know their alphabet, and basic counting, and of course, compulsory in this country... to have your first school uniform. The children are only between 4-5 years old, so seem so tiny to be going on in their uniforms... and their performances to show off to their parents their songs, and skills is almost too adorable to describe. 

The event is not only for the graduates by a sort of year end/Christmas celebration for all the children in our creche, so special outfits, lots of dancing, and a total cuteness overload. We even adapted the tradition of doing little fashion shows, to match the Nourish recycled ethic... and all the little ones made their fashion show outfits by upcycling plastic into skirts and hats. The parents turned out in full force to watch with pride, amidst much ululating and dancing. This creche is a special place for us to help educate these children, and its so great to see the pride on the parents faces... children that we have helped give a headstart in life.. children we believe in... that are now part of our Nourish family, and  that we know can be the leaders and champions of the future! 

As the year ends, i want to thank each person for their support - for Sponsoring a child, a school uniform, or the graduation... and for the difference this makes,not only to me... but to the little seeds that you are watering, that will one day become a mighty tree... Changing the future of South Africa, one little graduate and champion at a time!