When eg first became involved with the crèche the children were under nourished and were housed in tiny cubicles. Lack of funds and space were constraints, the children were malnourished and limited learning took place. Now the children are well fed, clothed and concentrating on their educational development.

eg have provided the crèche with daily supplies of e-pap (a nutritious cereal which swells when milk or water are added to provide a healthy meal).

eg have funded numerous educational toys over the past years.

eg have donated a minimum of R60k (Rand) every year to aid the development of the crèche.

With eg’s help Namsie Lesito, Principal of the crèche has been able to:

• Secure space for the crèche to be run until approval is given to build on new land.
• Create more classrooms so that the children can be separated and educated according to their age group.
• Structure the children’s day, with tea, lunch breaks and sleep times, allowing the children to settle in to a daily routine.
• Send four of the caregivers on courses to improve teaching, which they have now completed.
• Build a small bathroom area for the children where they are able to wash and use the toilet.

Each child is now developed relative to their age group. They are taught the concept of colour, numbers, letters etc. Whereas before the educational activities mainly consisted of singing, dancing and nursery rhymes.

eg’s plan for the future is to support the expansion of the crèche and improvement of facilities and education.

The crèche is now at full capacity and cannot be made any bigger.

The 160 children the centre cares for represents a very small proportion of the children who are in need of care in the area.

One of the biggest goals is to get land approved by the council so we can start building a proper crèche with suitable playing facilities, toilets and classrooms.

Once the above is achieved Namsie will be entitled to more benefits (funds and food) for the crèche from the Department of Health and Safety.

• Sending all Caregivers at the centre on a teaching course will to improve the quality of education that the children will receive.
• We want to fund and organise more educational activities and excursions. The children rarely have the opportunity to go out of Soweto and we want to give them something to remember forever.
• We will launch our Sponsor a Child programme

“It is so important that we continue our regular fundraising activities for the Centre to expand the facilities they have available and contribute towards the children’s education. It is clear that their health has improved with the regular food supplied through our sponsorship. But the real difference we can make will come from educating these children so they can change their own lives when they are older”.

Elizabeth Gooch, eg's CEO speaking about Doornkop