Ikhwezi Educare Trust

Ikhwezi Educare is a school for underprivileged children in the Xola Naledi township in Grabouw, an hour out of Cape Town on the way to Hermanus. The school caters for children living in the area, as well as other surrounding townships, whose parents are mainly fruit pickers.

Whilst at Izhwezi Educare the children learn to count and write their names, the days of the week, months and seasons in four different languages (English, Afrikaans, Xhosa and Sotho). One of the great advantages of attending the school is that it guarantees entry to the nearby primary school. Parents do pay a nominal fee of R60 (approx. £5) otherwise there would be too many children at the pre-school. However this fee doesn’t even cover the cost of the daily meals the children receive and the school survives mainly through donations. The schoo’ls annual income (which includes a small government subsidy) covers 60% of the running costs, and is spent on teachers’ salaries, children’s outings, school equipment, daily meals and utilities.

All the children receive a hot meal every day which the cook tries to make as balanced as possible, so that in a given week the children eat red meat, chicken, veggies and starch. The school consists of a metal container, which houses 2 classrooms and a Wendy house that houses another classroom. There is also a RDP (Reconstruction & Development Program) house which is part of the school, which was funded by the government. The small RDP house consists of a basin so that the staff and children can wash their hands, 3 toilet cubicles and in a separate little room in the RDP house is the kitchen. On my first visit to the school, Anna the cook was very proud to show me the contents of the fridge and the meal she was busy preparing for the children.