Seeing the need in the community, the ladies set up a crèche and registered it as a Non-Profit Organisation (NPO). The creche is adjacent to Phinda, Mkuze, Thanda and Zululand Rhino game reserves where most members of the community work, the creche helps take care of children while parents go out to earn a living. The crèche has an enrolment of 50 children, with 6 staff members, 2 educators, a cook, a cleaner, a gardener and a security guard. There are 2 small flat room buildings used as classrooms, there is no dining room, so children eat in the very same rooms. Wild Impact with assistance from donors have been working with Sicelokuhle Crèche since 2012.
In 2020 during the Covid 19 pandemic, Wild Impact provided the crèche with masks and sanitisers, built a borehole and constructed a block of 5 Enviro Loo toilets. The infrastructure at Sicelokuhle Crèche does not meet the requirements of the Department of Basic Education’s standards for safe Early Childhood Development centers. Guidelines indicate that “there must be 1.5m² of indoor play space per child.” It is also indicated that meals should be prepared in a safe and hygienic environment.
Wild Impact is raising funds to construct a double classroom block, fencing and a play-area at Sicelokuhle Creche. The classrooms will help in reduces the overcrowding allowing for children to be separated according to ages to tailer their learning experience. The fencing will ensure the safety of the children and will help keep out loitering livestock. Play helps stimulate early brain development and improves children’s social skills, hence the need for a play-area.
KwaNgwenya community where the crèche is based is an extremely rural and dispersed community, which reflects the worst of these characteristics. KwaNgwenya’s population is around 20,000, there are 8 Indunas or Chiefs that preside over the area. The community has access to 9 primary schools with 8 pre-schools, 6 secondary schools, 9 crèches, 1 clinic, 9 mobile clinic sites and 19 sources of portable water.
KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) is home to 19.9% of South Africa’s population, making it the second most populated province, after Gauteng. KZN consists of 10 District Municipalities and the KwaNgwenya community falls within the second largest of these Districts – the uMkhanyakude District. Due to the landscape of this region and its numerous conservation areas, the main economic sectors of the District are tourism, trade and agriculture. The KwaNgwenya community is situated within the Big 5 Municipality, which is very poorly resourced. The Municipality provides limited water, sewage or sanitation infrastructures and less than 10% of households have electricity. Formal employment rates are extremely low, with male adults of working age often moving to cities and towns in search of employment opportunities, as a result, most homes are female headed. Wild Impact have been working in the KwaNgwenya community since 2000, focusing on improving Primary Health Care, Early Childhood Development, Primary and Secondary Education, and water infrastructure; providing tertiary level bursaries; delivering school based Environmental Education and supporting the development of the Hustle Economy program.
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