africa_pre-school

January 2026

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 16:20:01 GMT

Maxixibeni

Dear donors, friends,

The Maxixibeni community in the Eastern Cape now has a brand-new preschool!

As always, Billy and his crew were outstanding in delivering the school over appalling roads, and particularly in the wake of the tragic death of Billy’s long-time friend and business partner, Ernest, who died in a car accident two days after Christmas. For the eight years that REACH! has been delivering preschools to the Eastern Cape, Ernest was the main driver and supervisor, always working with a smile and willing to go the extra mile to make sure everything went well. He was a loyal, decent human being, and we miss him terribly.

Because of Ernest’s funeral, the container was delivered to Gonubie three days late, and we were under pressure to get it prepared in time. The volunteers were outstanding. They rallied and supported and adapted, and thanks also to great weather, got the job done in record time. Thanks to all our volunteers, and a special thanks to Brendan Bonney who designed and led the mural painting!

We were greeted in Maxixibeni with celebrations of song and dance, and a generous spread of traditional food and drink, including sour milk, umqombothi (local home brewed beer from fermented sorghum), sweet potatoes, chicken, and home-baked bread. Chief Nosizwe and her council of village elders made clear their deep appreciation for what we are doing to help their community, and we look forward to supporting them in the years to come.

We are very fortunate to have developed a good relationship with Zikhona, the teacher from last year’s school, who has become our direct connection to the community. We communicate with her almost daily, and she keeps us updated on developments, teachers’ needs, and she also distributes any money we send to the teachers for things like buying data for their phones so they can send her pictures and videos. Zikhona also introduced us to Siyabonga, a local mechanic who will be taking on the role of much needed maintenance on all the schools, and also building the new play structures which he can build for less than we have been paying, and to our specifications. We are grateful to have them both on our team, and look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.

Mandindi remains our lead instructor at ITEC and our translator whenever we visit. When funds allow, we will support a 2-year, level 5 training course for five of the teachers, and continue with basic training for the rest. Caroll Warmberg remains the head of ITEC, and we appreciate everything that she and her team do to support us, as well all the good works they do elsewhere.

Thanks to you, and in particular Generations for Global Giving, we are able to purchase, convert and deliver one school a year. However, as we grow, the cost of maintenance and teacher training increases. To meet these needs, and to prepare for the future, we continue to submit grant applications to foundations and businesses both here in the US and in South Africa. If you or anyone you know might be willing to help, please email me at ralphp@reachforsa.org or visit www.reachforsa.org

As we start looking towards the January 2027 project, we want to thank you all for your continued support, interest, and enthusiasm. None of what we do would be possible without you. It takes a village. On behalf of all the teachers, students and families of Mahasana and Amajingqi, Thank you!

Ralph and Shelley

Reach! update October 2025

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 13:23:40 GMT

Dear donors, friends,

We are pleased to share the most recent report for your records (see attached) and even more pleased that we are beginning to see positive traction in the Mahasana ECD programme. In terms of basic teaching concepts, the teachers in Mahasana lag way behind those in Amajingqi. It has taken a whole new approach to help them grasp the fundamentals. Now that they are beginning to understand, the process is gaining momentum. With time, perseverance, money, and patience, the goal is to help them and their centres qualify for government stipends and support, and make the program more sustainable.

We have chosen the new school for January 2026. It is called Maxixibeni, and was started by the teacher who sourced all the building materials and summoned the help of the community to build it. It is still unfinished, but one has to admire her commitment and hard work. She and her community will thrive with a new container filled with supplies and toys. We are excited to give her and her students a new home!

We have 8 volunteers signed up for our January trip, and after a late cancellation have space for at least 4 more. All you have to do is get yourselves to the East London airport in South Africa, pay $750 for food, accommodation, and transport for 11 days, and you will be a part of a team that paints, builds, prepares a container that we deliver to the rural Eastern Cape where we meet the teacher, students and community. It is a unique, fun, heartwarming and worthy way to start your new year. We’d love to have you along. The project runs from Jan 2-13, all information is available on the website, or contact me with questions at ralphp@reachforsa.org .

With every school we deliver, we provide two toilets and a play structure with swings and a slide. Since a large part of the expense is taken up by travelling, we do two schools at a time. This year we will deliver to Maxixibeni (new school) and to Hlabizulu (last year’s school)

This year we committed to fund the teacher training for the group of Mahasana teachers. Since they have so little prior education and experience, the training has taken longer and has cost more than we anticipated. We are therefore asking for help in raising the money for the toilets ($4,000 for 4 toilets, 2/school) and play structures ($1,500 each.) We have already had one play structure donated. If you or anyone you know would like to contribute and be part of the REACH! family, please visit our donate page on the website ( www.reachforsa.org/donate ) or Venmo REACH! at @reachforsa. Most of these children have never seen, much less played on a swing or a slide before. Think of the difference it will make in their lives. Thank you in advance.

We are also in the process of submitting Grant proposals. We are looking for funding to cover the next 5 containers over the next 5 years, as well as the cost of ongoing teacher training, and container maintenance. After nearly eight years of being involved in these communities, we shave developed a reputation and are getting requests for assistance from many other areas and people trying to improve the lives of their communities. There are so many good people living there trying to make a difference, and it is so hard to not be able to help them all. What we can do is help as much as we can, where we can. Every little bit helps. We encourage you to spread the word, and invite anyone you know to visit our website and learn about what we do, and consider getting involved. It takes a village. Thank you!

And to those of you who contribute regularly or on a monthly basis, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. None of what we do would be possible without you. Thank you!

Regards

Ralph and Shelley

REACH! report January 2025

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 08:01:46 GMT

Dear donors, friends,

On January 10 ^th 2025 we delivered our 7 ^th school, this year to the Hlabizulu School in the new community of Kumahasana in the Eastern Cape that lies to the north of Amajingqi. Kumahasana is run by Chief Nosizwe, who inherited the title from her late husband, per Xhosa tradition. After seeing the work we have done in Amajingqi over the past seven years, Chief Nosizwe approached Chief Dumalisele and ITEC and requested similar support for her community.

Currently there are eight ‘schools’ being run in Kumahasana, all of which we have committed to provide with new containers, and to support ITEC in teacher training. At a recent meeting to discuss early education, more than 100 parents attended, testament to the involvement and energy among the local families. We are very excited to be involved. We will also continue to support Chief Dumalisele and the Amajingqi community, and next year will return to deliver one last school. It is possible that we will need to deliver second containers to some schools since the numbers are beginning to outgrow the space per the Department of Education policy.

Our group of 12 volunteers arrived in East London on the 2 ^nd January, and were put straight to work. Painting, carpentry, block-making… toys and manipulatives were categorized and boxed for transport. In seven days, the container was transformed, and on the evening of the 9 ^th it was loaded and ready for delivery. All supplies were loaded into the trailer, and early on the 10 ^th we set out for Kumahasana.

We were met by the usual excited singing and ululating and dancing. Teacher Zikona was overcome with joy, and told us she hadn’t slept for her excitement! She is a remarkable figure in the community, having graduated high school and returned to not only teach early childhood, but to run dance and music programs for local teens. We are blessed to have her, and will be collaborating closely with her in the future.

The children flooded the container, trying on dress-up clothes, playing with manipulatives, learning new games, while outside the soccer balls provided much laughter and fun for all ages. The energy and excitement were infectious!

The local community leaders had arranged a spread of traditional food, including chicken feet and sour milk that Mandindi described and invited us to sample! Then, Chief Dumalisele’s brother (Chief being called away to Pretoria on business) and Chief Nosizwe took turns to thank us for our continued support of their respective communities, and expressed their gratitude for all we are doing. When we asked if were indeed making a difference, the reply was overwhelmingly yes.

The following day, Shelley and I and Mandindi drove to the other schools to meet the teachers and assistants, to inspect the schools and to give them a Christmas present of cash, thanks to the very generous donation of long-time supporters Rick and Bonnie Gromlich. The teachers were teary-eyed with gratitude. We took inventory of each schools’ supplies, made lists and the following day back in Gonubie, we purchased what was needed and Mandindi will deliver on her next visit. Also, we inspected the maintenance work that had been delayed for months due to unseasonably wet weather. Rust was ground away, metal was primed and painted. Leaks were fixed, damaged roof and water systems were repaired. Two schools that were donated by Standard Bank and The Oppenheimer Foundation back in 2015 and then left, had fallen into bad shape. We have been supporting these teachers and students over the years and have now also undertaken the maintenance of those schools. It is a sad, though common sight to see. People and organizations come into communities, build a school or community center, put their name on it, and then leave, never to return. Without the resources or means to upkeep them, they fall into disrepair and are soon abandoned. It is small wonder there is a certain level of distrust. Together with ITEC, I believe we are changing that.

Shelley and I love what we are doing, and with your continued support will keep helping to build these communities one preschool at a time.

On behalf of these communities, we thank you all once again, we could not do this without you. It takes a village.

Ralph and Shelley

(Tax-deductible letters will be sent out shortly)

Update: August 2024

Wed, 25 Sep 2024 12:55:23 GMT

August 2024

W ith the Olympic Games in Paris well underway, one of my favorite parts is watching the little background stories on various athletes, their early years, their struggles, their setbacks, their journey to the biggest stage of all. As diverse and varied as their stories are, there is always one constant: the support that surrounds them. Sometimes it is a spouse, or girlfriend, boyfriend, coach or grandmother. Other times there is a whole extended family, a community. But always there is somebody who believed in them, often more than they believed in themselves. And perhaps, in hindsight, that is what made all the difference.

And so it is with our philosophy at REACH! We have no doubt that every child that passes through our preschools over the years, born and raised in a mud hut, walking many dusty kilometers to school every day, often hungry, some without parents, raised by a sibling or relative, has the potential to achieve great things, to live a full and prosperous life, to contribute in some way to the greater good, to add value to their community, their country,

to make tomorrow better than yesterday… only they don’t know that it’s possible, or how. All it takes is that someone to believe in them, to show up and say it’s possible, you are possible, and maybe that’s what makes all the difference.

News from ITEC is that the government subsidies for the teachers have been processed and approved and should come into effect next month. To those of you who committed to a monthly contribution for the teachers, we, on behalf of all the teachers, the children, the families, the community, and particularly on behalf of the chief who called specifically, THANK YOU! It may seem like a modest sum, but it has meant the world to them.

The maintenance work on the schools has been delayed again due to an extended contract that the contractor is obligated to fulfill. He is preparing to start within the next few weeks and we will keep you updated. The harsh sun and salt air have resulted in quite a lot of rust and leaking particularly around the windows, and we anticipate more work than originally expected. Please, if you or somebody you know would like to help by contributing financially, please visit the web page at www.reachforsa.org and go to the donate page. Every contribution helps, and every dollar goes directly to the construction, supplies, maintenance of the schools. Please help spread the word, and thank you in advance.

The 7th container is bought and paid for, and funds wired for the conversion. The volunteer group for this (Jan 2025) trip is confirmed, the site is being prepared, the teacher and children are excited, and we can’t wait to share it all with you. Negotiations are underway with a neighboring community to start providing schools for them too! We will keep you updated.

Child and teacher assessments are due out next month, and we will forward as soon as they come in.

To each and every one of you, thank you for your ongoing support. Shelley and I, on behalf of the Amajingqi community thank you. It takes a village.

March 2024

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:24:06 GMT

REACH! Update March 2024

Schools are back in session, and children and teachers are thrilled with their new classroom and classroom materials.

February saw the delivery and installation of new toilets and ‘Jungle-Jims’ at Vulindlela and Vulandi schools (Schools 5 and 6)

We are currently developing a functional and ongoing maintenance plan for all of our six schools as well as two schools supplied by Standard Bank years ago whose teachers we also support. Several windows require rust remediation, involving grinding, sanding, re-painting. Also some leaking roofs and broken windows will be repaired. Repainting the murals will be done on a school by school basis using volunteers each year.

This month also sees the beginning of vegetable gardens at each of the schools. Seeds and tools are being purchased, patches of the fertile ground are being cultivated and fenced off, and the sowing of autumn crops like beans, carrots, beetroot, radishes and turnips begins soon.

Our volunteer page and application on the website is being updated. The January 2025 trip is already full. The web site is also under an upgrade, and still functioning while we add new photographs and information.

Fundraising for the 7th school, the maintenance plan, and ongoing support of ITEC in their assessment and training programs is under way for 2024. We’ve received a generous commitment from Generations for Global Giving run by Eileen and Howard Putter, loyal supporters and strong advocates of REACH! since the beginning, but we still have a way to go to reach our goal for this year. Please direct anyone you know who might be interested in supporting us to visit www.reachforsa.org

The first wire for teacher stipends went out in February thanks to those of you who have volunteered your support. The teachers are extremely grateful, and wish you to know that your generosity is helping feed them and their families, and keeping them in the classroom. We are still looking for two more volunteers to commit $100/month from March to December so we can cover all eight schools. Please visit the donation page and click on the monthly subscription. All donations are tax deductible of course.

On behalf of the Chief, teachers, students and the Amajingqi community, we thank you for your support, none of this would be possible without your generosity. It takes a village!

Regards,

Ralph and Shelley

January 2024

Wed, 06 Mar 2024 14:12:18 GMT

REACH! for SA

January 2024 update

We are proud to announce that our sixth container was successfully delivered to the Vulandi school in Amajingqi on January 9th, 2024.

With plenty of help from the wonderful volunteers from the Zoe Jelinek Foundation, we were able to take advantage of a short window of good weather to get the beautiful container murals painted (designed by Finn Jelinek, see pictures), and all the interior carpentry and painting done. After the truck got stuck delivering the container to our work site the night before we were due to begin painting, there was a lot of concern that we wouldn’t have enough time and even if we did, the roads to Amajingqi would be impassable. Fortunately, four good days of sunshine followed, allowing us to finish the murals, and to dry the roads enough so that we had little problem getting in.

We were greeted by the community with much ululating, singing, and beating of drums. The Chief was there to welcome us and to voice his gratitude for our continued support and development of his community. When the container was set and levelled, the doors were opened and Shelley and her team began filling it with supplies and instructing the teachers and children of all ages curious to play with all the dress-ups and manipulatives, most of which they’d never seen before.

‘Beautiful chaos’ is how it’s best described. Children everywhere trying on Spiderman costumes, little girls playing with dolls, building blocks, doing puzzles, kicking soccer and rugby balls, riding tricycles amidst the goats and dogs, playing doctor… each and every one of them filled with a new curiosity and excitement, and the teacher who said she couldn’t sleep she was so thrilled about her new school!

The following day we all drove out to the first school, delivered in 2018, and spent the morning re-painting the mural and repairing some leaks and broken windows until an afternoon thunderstorm brought our work to a premature close. Leaving the paint and some supplies for the community to finish up, we spent the rest of the day driving to the other schools, delivering supplies, inspecting their condition, and giving some money to the teachers who we learned are not being paid by the department of education. (See notes at the end)

Significant maintenance work is needed on several of the other containers, and we are in negotiations with Billy (our go-to-guy who sources, converts and delivers the schools) for his crew to go out this year and grind away the rust, and to prime, paint, and caulk all the windows. We plan to spend some extra time each year re-painting the murals one school at a time.

We spent a second night at Kob Inn where we were joined by the Chief for dinner, as determined as ever to help uplift his people and secure funding for his ambitious Rural Development Plan.

Our group drove back to Gonubie for one last night before going our respective ways. Shelley and I would like to thank Ingrid, Monnix, and Finn Jelinek from the Zoe Jelinek Foundation for making this years’ project possible, and to all their friends and family, so generous in spirit, humor and good will.

Fundraising is also well underway for the seventh school scheduled for delivery Jan ’25. If you know of anyone interested in getting involved, please direct them to our website:

www.reachforsa.org

Regarding the teachers: Unfortunately, we learned that the teachers are not being paid by the government, and remain at their jobs out of commitment to the children and because the job gives them some modicum of purpose and dignity (and the promise of some money from time to time) We find it unacceptable that this is happening, and are determined to help. $100/month will put food on the table for a teacher and her assistant, and their families. There are nine schools we are supporting (though we have only delivered six containers) Shelley and I will commit to one school, and are asking for eight more volunteers to commit $100/month from Feb-Dec 2024. It is tax deductible of course. If you are already donating on a monthly basis, please indicate if you wish your donation to be diverted to the teachers. Please respond to me at this email if you are willing to help, and we will set up an automatic withdrawal into REACH! account to be wired monthly. Thank you, on behalf of the teachers and their families, in advance.

From the Chief, the teachers, students and community of Amajingqi, and from Shelley and I, we thank you all for your support, we couldn’t do any of this without you. It takes a village.

Sincerely,

Ralph and Shelley

November 2023

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 13:28:53 GMT

Reach! Update

November 2023

Dear donors and friends,

Last month I spoke about the Rugby World Cup, and how it brings hope and inspires dreams in so many young fans and aspiring players.

I know many of you, or most of you reading this are not big rugby followers. That the South African “Springboks” just won the RWC and now stand alone as the only country to have won the coveted cup for a 4th time, is really about so much more than rugby.

For a country where not much is going right, politics is rife with corruption and nepotism, the infrastructure is failing, the ANC is failing to lead and uplift as promised so, so many times, we have no regular electricity supply… this victory brought hope and unity and pride like nothing else could. The scenes all around the country last Saturday brought tears to even the most cynical, the most pessimistic. It was something to behold!

We at REACH! believe that it is also so much more than providing a dry, safe place to learn, so much more than providing learning materials and a play structure and supplementing the teachers’ meager salary.

It is about providing fertile ground for dreaming, for feeling for the first time that there could be more to life than their parents and grandparents had; that others see that they have worth and talent and potential just like everybody else; that they are not forgotten, or destined to be hewers of wood and carriers of water for the rest of their lives.

In the same way that Siya Kolisi, the Springbok captain, rose from the squalor and hardship of a township in the Eastern Cape to stand on the pinnacle of sporting achievement because someone once saw his potential and gave him hope and gave him a chance, somewhere in a container school in Amajingqi small hearts and minds are daring to see beyond life as they know it.

Our plans are almost finalized for January and the Zoe Jelenik Foundation funded sixth school. The container is converted and ready for us to beautify with murals and supplies!

Included are some pictures of the children during the last assessment and teacher training clinic for this year that REACH! and ACB jointly finance. Thank you for your part in this.

 We are starting fundraising for our seventh school scheduled for delivery in January 2025. If you know of anyone interested in adding their support and joining our 'village', please direct them to our website: www.reachforsa.org

We will keep you updated on our January trip.

Thank you one and all for your ongoing support, we could not do any of this without you.

Regards

Ralph and Shelley

October 2023

Wed, 15 Nov 2023 13:18:11 GMT

Update

REACH! October 2023 Update

Dear donors, friends, families,

As some of you might know, the RWC (Rugby World Cup) is currently being played in France, and after the last of the opening rounds this weekend we will know which eight teams go through to the quarter-finals. South Africa (The Springboks) are the current world champions having beaten England in the last RWC final in 2019, and look set, barring a miracle from Scotland against Ireland on Saturday, to play France in two weeks.

In a country as small as South Africa with such a passionate rugby culture, there is an incredible atmosphere running through every city, town and neighborhood. On game day you will find South Africans gathered in vociferous support wherever there is a tv. In even the poorest areas you will see groups surrounding a tv plugged into a car battery on the sidewalk, watching their heroes do their country proud, for several of the current squad grew up in conditions like theirs. Children run around playing rugby barefoot in the dust, mimicking their favorite players, Kolise, Mapimpi, Moodie … They can see what is possible, and so they dream.

And so it is that we try, in our small way, to create an environment where children might also feel that something more is possible, and to dream. Of becoming a doctor, or engineer, or a teacher. There are no World Cups to inspire them, no crowds to cheer them. But to know that it is possible, because people they don’t know from a place they’ve never heard of, believe in them, hope for them, are rooting for them, might be the difference between getting up and walking to school each morning, or not.

Our sixth container school is bought, paid for, and converted. Arrangements have been made for delivery on 9th January, 2024, and will include two days of maintenance and painting on the first four schools which have begun to show the effects of the harsh South African sun.

We continue to help fund in conjunction with ITEC, the teacher training programs, the most recent in September: Emergent math and emergent literacy. Using materials from the Do More Foundation, practitioners developed thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving skills, built vocabulary and language skills especially in math concepts.

Using picture boards and themes, the children built cognitive skills focusing on understanding and use of language (mother tongue) to assist with expressing their knowledge and information of what they see and hear.

We have seen progress across all domains since we started the teacher training and assessment workshops earlier this year.

Thank you again for your continued interest and support, none of this would be possible without you. It takes a village.

Ralph and Shelley The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

Ndlelibanzi. January 2023

Tue, 07 Feb 2023 01:06:13 GMT

Ndlelibanzi, January 2023

We are pleased to announce that our fifth preschool was successfully delivered and stocked with supplies on January 11, 2023 in time for the opening of the new school year.

The Ndlelibanzi (Wide road) community in Amajingqi lies about five kilometers inland from the coast and from our first school at Elalini, delivered in 2019. Parents, children and neighbors came running from all directions, welcoming their new school with traditional singing and dancing. Their natural rhythm and harmonizing are something to behold! After operating out of a leaking tin shack with dirt floor for several years, they were thrilled at the sight of the new container, freshly designed and painted by Sean Williams (Sean-Evergreen) with help from our volunteers Marlene Heyduck, Jen Cassidy, Sophia Cunliffe and our daughter Enya in a mural inspired by drawings of animals by A Child Becomes… students. While the crew maneuvered the container into place, we began unpacking the supplies and toys, and handing out t-shirts and donated shoes to all the local children.

Once the container was set and secure, Shelley and the volunteers, with the teacher, and our translator and ITEC correspondent Mndindi, began setting up the classroom to the delight of the children crowding around every instructor at their respective centers, eager to learn to use the tools and manipulatives they’d never seen before. The light in their eyes at the opportunity to learn something new, is the reason we do this.

Outside, while some of the older children played soccer with the new balls and rode the tricycles, Ralph met with Chief Dumalisele who drove out to be a part of the event and to address the community on the value of early education. A visionary who has developed a thirty-year rural development plan for his community, Chief has always promoted education as the cornerstone of progress. He works tirelessly under difficult circumstances to improve the lives of his people, and Shelley and I are determined to find ways to support him and his plans.

We were fortunate enough (and very grateful) to receive support from Health Goes Global, a non-profit run by Geneva Stolze and Hannah Akre that promote preventative health care in under-served communities around the world. ( www.healthgoesglobal.org ) They are already making a difference in Nepal and South America distributing toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, water purifiers (chlorine makers) and financial aid. They financed the cost of the water collection system on this school (a corrugated metal roof, the supporting structure, the gutter, downspout and Jojo tank that arrived separately and later), as well as a water purification system that I introduced to Chief and instructed on how it works to provide clean drinking water particularly during the drier months.

Inside the container, Shelley instructed the teachers and the students on the correct and most effective was to use the new learning tools, tactiles, manipulatives that we’d brought. One of the main objectives of our project is to promote a higher quality curriculum in order to give these children the best possible chance of acquiring more than just the early fundamentals, but a love for learning that will inspire them to not just stay in school, but to thrive.

Invited back Chief’s home for the customary welcome and thank you, we said goodbye to the community of Ndlelibanzi and drove the half-hour back to enjoy food and drink and an official thank you from Chief.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints and flights that needed to be caught, we didn’t have time to visit the other schools, however we are planning a visit in the future purely for this purpose, to meet with the teachers and students, to perform maintenance, painting, and upgrades now becoming necessary since it’s been five years since the first school went in.

Before we flew out, Shelley and I met with Caroll and Barbara from ITEC where we discussed current conditions, the state of the government (ironically there was load-shedding during our visit, a scheduled shut-down of the national electricity grid to ease the burden on a struggling, un-maintained system, sometimes for two to three hours three times a day!), plans, proposals, needs, and feedback on everything we are doing. REACH! together with A Child Becomes… committed to supporting ITEC in monthly visits to the schools to support teachers, assist in assessments, provide supplies, advance the quality of instruction. Here too, we want to assist ITEC in any way we possibly can to help improve the lives of the community.

As we prepare for the next school in 2024, we continue to depend on your generosity and support to provide schools and quality curriculum to the community of Amajingqi, and for that we thank you. We couldn’t do it without you. We would also like to expand our sphere of influence, to do more, to do better, and in the next few weeks I will be sending out a prospectus of the ways we hope to do this.

Again, to all of you, thank you for making this possible. It is hard to do justice with words alone for what it’s like to witness that light in a child’s eye when they hang a toy stethoscope around their neck, correctly assemble and memorize all the body parts in the puzzle, and acknowledge for the first time that maybe, just maybe, they can dare to dream.

June 2022

ralphp@reachforsa.org (Ralph Pooler) — Wed, 13 Jul 2022 13:36:05 GMT

June 2022

Dear families, friends, donors,
As the school year here in Seattle draws to a close and we are all preparing for summer, our students in SA are taking out whatever warm clothes they have and getting ready for the cold, dry months of winter. Streams and rivers run dry, water tanks are drawn down, firewood is scarce, and life generally becomes more difficult than it already is.

We continue to support the teachers with a monthly stipend in the absence of any government-paid salaries. We have a commitment from our long time donors Rick and Bonnie Gromlich until the end of August. If anyone is interested in committing a monthly donation from September through the end of the year, we, and the teachers, students and families of Amajingqi will be enormously grateful. Word is that government support is likely to kick in starting in January 2023. We know that supporting teachers indefinitely is not sustainable, however, we are doing all we can to help make ends meet in the meantime.

We/ITEC are busy analyzing the first student assessments and will keep you apprised as that info comes in. Please see attached videos of recent supervisor visits.

Thank you to everyone who donated shoes, we have over 200 pairs, enough to make the lives of all our students and many of their siblings a little more comfortable.

Thanks to the continued and gen erous contribution from Generations for Global Giving, Work continues on the fifth container and some maintenance work on the first two. Delivery is still scheduled for early January 2023.

The volunteer positions for this trip are tentatively filled. If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out the online volunteer form and get on the list in case there is a cancellation. Dates will be finalized in September.

Thank you all again for your continued support. Please visit our website and refer it to anyone who you think might be interested. Our work depends on your generosity and support.
Thank you, it takes a village.
Ralph and Shelley

Kuyashu Jan '22

ralphp@reachforsa.org (Ralph Pooler) — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 07:21:29 GMT

January 2022 update

REACH! update January 2022

Dear donors, friends and families,

After landing in hair-raising crosswinds in East London, we got straight to work! The container was already delivered to our work site ready for painting, and we spent the first 36 hours getting paint and supplies and plastic sheeting in anticipation of bad weather forecast for the entire next two weeks. The day before our artists, Aude and Patrick, we due to start, we were hit with a monsoon downpour that quickly filled the streets, breached river banks, and sadly took the lives of seven people in nearby townships. There followed speculation that the roads out to Amajingqi would be washed away, and our narrow window of opportunity to deliver appeared to be closing fast, if not already closed. Fortunately, that was not the case. Fair weather held, and Aude and Patrick got to work, and through ingenuity, flexibility, perseverance and hard work they created a masterpiece in only three days. A remarkable accomplishment for which we are extremely grateful.

The day before scheduled delivery we received word that the roads were passable, barely.

But bad news followed good. The night before leaving we received tragic news from Billy, our indispensable go-to guy, that his sister had just died on her way home from hospital after being admitted for pains in her chest, and then discharged. Despite the circumstances, Billy held true to his word and arranged for the container to go on without him. He would follow sometime in the weeks ahead to deliver and install the water catchment system and Jojo tank. We are blessed to have such a loyal, dedicated man on our team. We send him and his family our deepest condolences.

We set off early on the morning of the 13 ^th to find the container waiting for us as promised in Willowvale, along with Mndindi our interpreter from ITEC, and we set off in slow convoy down washed and rutted roads. Still the weather held. Green hills dotted with thatched huts rolled away in every direction. Goats and cows made slow travel even slower. From afar, as we approached the Kuyashu school site, we heard ululating, singing, and the beating of drums. Coming over the rise were greeted with a mass of bright color, bright smiles, and beautiful harmonizing that Africans do so well. What a welcome!

After some early negotiations between teacher and headman over the exact location and orientation of the classroom, it was lifted off the truck, and set. The door was opened and the classroom filled with the excited chatter of little children! Shelley, Aude, Enya and Patrick oversaw the unloading of supplies and with the help of the teacher and her assistants set everything in its place, and spent significant time instructing them on correct usage and storage, things we take for granted. Meanwhile, Ralph addressed the gathered elders on our dedication to helping improve the community through the education of the next generation.

Unfortunately, it was also brought to our attention that the Department of Social Services, who oversee early education in SA, had not paid the teachers for several months. It breaks our hearts to see these dedicated women, already surviving on next to nothing, still showing up day after day to teach. Shelley and I immediately began formulating a plan to get them at least a little to tide them over until the Department of Education takes over in April. Whether anything improves remains to be seen.

When all was put in place and the door closed until opening day on the 19 ^th , we made a quick visit to our second school, just minutes away, to deliver supplies and meet with Victor the headman, and his wife. As the sun sank lower, we were requested to accompany the Chief’s brother, the Chief being away on business, back to the Royal homestead, where we were treated to home-baked pastries and cold drinks, followed by a heartfelt speech thanking us for our benevolence.

Tired, dusty, and fully satisfied with a good day’s work, we crawled the rugged backroads down to Kob Inn, a small fishing hotel on the coast, out of power and nearly out of water on account of the storm, but who nevertheless, in the ‘boer-maak-a-plan’ (farmer-make-a-plan) spirit of rural South Africans, still managed to serve cold drinks and a superb lamb stew for dinner.

In a quick visit to ITEC on our last day in East London, Shelley, with input from Caroll and Barbara, drew up a blueprint for an appropriate assessment plan for our schools in which teachers will be trained to start assessing students three times a year on critical areas of development, starting this February, in order to track their progress through preschool and beyond, and give us a measure of how effective our work is, and how and where we can improve.

It is with our deepest appreciation that we thank you all for making all this possible. We have already secured the fifth container and work will begin soon on converting it. In the meantime, we continue to work on finding better ways to support the teachers, secure high-quality delivery of curriculum, and implement a maintenance program to upkeep the schools now that the first one is already nearly five years old, and looking a little faded from the fierce African sun.

Please follow us on Instagram (reachforsa), and visit us at www.reachforsa.org for more information, if you’d like to notify somebody else of our work, or if you’d like to make a tax-deductible donation.

Thank you

Shelley and Ralph

2021 Summary and Thank you

ralphp@reachforsa.org (Ralph Pooler) — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 16:14:55 GMT

December 2021

Dear donors, families, friends of REACH! for SA,

As the sun begins to set on 2021, we would like to take a moment to acknowledge the incredible support we have receive d that makes this project possible, to give a brief summary of the year past and a glimpse at what lies ahead.

Unable to hold any significant fundraiser since our first auction over two years ago, we have nevertheless been able to continue our mission of changing the world one preschool at a time, thanks to your incredible generosity. From a substantial annual contribution from Generations for Global Giving, (a non-profit that supports a community center for the elderly in Lima, Peru) to donations made on our web-page, to monthly contributions from several of you who have been with us from the very beginning, to the sale of artwork at Seattle Grounds coffee shop, we were able to deliver our third school in January 2021, purchase, convert, and prepare our fourth school along with play structures, toilets, and classroom supplies for delivery on January 13 ^th , 2022, and also position ourselves to purchase and convert our fifth school for 2023! We can’t wait to share with you the expressions on those children’s faces! On behalf of Shelley and I, the Chief, community, teachers and students of Amajingqi, we thank you. We could not do this without you.

Many of you know teacher Aude who, with her son Patrick, both artists, will be joining us this trip to paint the mural on the fourth container. Most of the rest of the work has been done—windows and doors installed, floor laid, interior panels and painting. We will work in Gonubie, a suburb of East London where we rent living space, a workshop, yard, tools, pickup and trailer, and from where we will leave for Amajingqi on the 13 ^th Jan to deliver it in time for the opening of the new school year. On site we will install the roof and the water catchment system, and contract out the toilets, and play structures with slides and swings.

Our single biggest challenge remains how to deliver constant, quality curriculum to children who already face an educational deficit, through teachers who despite doing the best they can with what they have, do not grasp many of the critical concepts necessary to instill a fundamental love for learning that will keep children in the classroom beyond grade school. ITEC, our partner non-profit who do a fantastic job training mothers into teachers, are also limited to how much they can teach students most of whom haven’t graduated high school. We are meeting with ITEC in January to present some of our ideas and to brainstorm new ways forward. We will keep you updated.

Covid remains an obstacle in many people’s lives, though fortunately the new variant appears to have only mild symptoms, and the government has left restrictions unchanged. For our sake, and the communities struggling with the effects of the shutdown, let’s hope it remains that way.

It leaves us now to thank you again, each and every one of you, and to wish all of you a Blessed Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Omisoka, and may the New Year be filled with all the peace and happiness you deserve.

Warmest wishes and deepest appreciation,

Ralph and Shelley

RESPONSE:

Dear All of you on Ralph’s and Shelley’s “REACH! For SA” mailing list,

I am one of Ralph’s uncles in South Africa; a retired (but still working in an allied avenue) country veterinarian where Ralph spent his earlier years.

Thank you for your continued interest in, and generosity to, this fine project. Sure, our country – like most in the world – has its problems; but we also have a thousand more assets and advantages. Illiteracy is one of our major drawbacks and as a cynic I think our government averts wide educational advancement to maintain an unintelligent majority to keep them in power. But my aim in writing to you ain’t about politics!

It is simply to emphasize the adage “if you throw enough mud at a wall, some of it will stick.” This project of Ralph and Shelley’s is NOT simply throwing mud, no! It’s about throwing well fertilised, well seeded and watered topsoil at a sculpted wall so that flourishing gardens may be seen as a result! (See attached pic!)

The Vice-chancellor of our Rhodes University at Grahamstown, Prof Sizwe Mabizela, was as a little boy tending his father’s small herd of cattle in a rural area. Though fortuitous humble schooling - much in line with what “REACH! For SA” is providing – Sizwe (I can call him that since we are now buddies!) proceeded up the ladder eventually obtaining his PhD in mathematics at Pennsylvania State U.

So I encourage you all collectively, around Ralph and Shelly, to “GO, YOU GOOD THINGS!”

I wish you all a blessed CHRISTmas.

With thanks, awe and regards

Tod

We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give. (Sir Winston Churchill)

Update: September 2021

ralphp@reachforsa.org (Ralph Pooler) — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 10:56:42 GMT

September 2021
Dear donors, friends and families,

REACH! update September 2021

There’s an old Irish adage that says the further you live from a doctor, the sicker you feel. Well in our case, it feels like the longer we are away, the more our help is needed.

Some observations from our recent visit to Amajingqi, August 22-25th.

Its winter, and the countryside is dry. Jojo tanks are empty. Collecting water is traditionally left to women and children who have to walk further and further to find it. Nonetheless, we were greeted everywhere with wide bright smiles, singing and dancing, and children’s shrill request for sweets (candy). Schools only re-opened (from Covid shutdowns) at the end of July. We found teachers and children thrilled to be back, schools were all neat and well-kept, communities were hard at work putting up fences, cutting the grass, (many, unemployed due to Covid, have returned home from the cities) and generally taking pride in what have essentially become community centers.

In Amajingqi alone, in addition to the fourth school we’re putting up in January, there are three more pre-schools with teachers from ITEC all ready and waiting for a container, and a fourth in the nearby town of Dutywa (run by a friend of the Chief’s, a passionate and inspiring teacher who has 105 enrolled students, and another 40 being turned away because there isn’t enough room) who needs eight containers to meet his demand. And that’s without looking.

As uplifting as our visits always are, they are also stark reminders of how desperately inadequate the educational system is, particularly in rural areas, and how steep the climb is for these children if they are to have any hope of a fair chance by the time they reach grade/high school. It makes us realize how necessary and urgent our work is.

On a related note, the Chief has hired a young graduate from Pretoria University, (Mfundo Mlungu) to help manage and assist progress in the various aspects of his development plan, including education. With his help we would like to start building a data base to track the progress of students from our early education programs through high school, and use that data to help shape our way forward.

Providing classrooms, play structures, toilets and toys is a significant start to empowering young minds, and helping children feel valued, however, without an infusion of quality curriculum and instruction, they will continue to be faced with a developmental deficit.

While we continue to ask for your support so we can keep providing container schools, play-structures (jungle-gyms!), toilets and toys, Shelley and I, in conjunction with her doctoral dissertation research, are pursuing ways of getting quality curriculum into rural classrooms without undermining the teachers, who, bless their hearts, are doing their very best with the little education they have.

The fourth container is currently under conversion, photos soon to follow. Scheduled delivery, January 13th, 2022.

Thank you again for your continued support. It takes a village, and REACH! wouldn’t be possible without you.

Ralph and Shelley

August 2021 update

ralphp@reachforsa.org (Ralph Pooler) — Sun, 08 Aug 2021 15:33:17 GMT

August 2021

Most of you probably heard of the recent riots and looting in South Africa. Generally confined to areas of the country with high populations of Zuma (Zulu) supporters, namely KZN and Gauteng, our teachers, children and families in the Eastern Cape (predominantly Xhosa) were unaffected. Although initial reports claimed it was all politically orchestrated, it appears that it quickly became an outlet for years of simmering discontent with a government that has failed the people on so many levels: unemployment at a staggering 50% (higher among 18-25 year olds), corruption, lack of quality education and healthcare, and an ongoing pandemic. It reminds us how urgent and necessary our work is.

Without losing sight of the value of providing a dry, warm and safe place for children to learn, (work on our fourth container school has begun, scheduled for delivery in January 2022) we are beginning to focus also on ways to help increase the quality of the early childhood education experience, and one of our most pressing challenges is addressing the lack of parental/caregiver involvement. In many cases one or both parents have left to find work in the cities, leaving children with grandparents or siblings, most of whom have little to no education. The value of their role in early education is lost on them. Thanks to help from Generations for Global Giving, (a non-profit that provides support to the elderly in Peru, founded by Eileen and Howard Putter, part of our A Child Becomes… family) by helping parents/caregivers to recognize not only the importance of their involvement, but teaching them how simple daily activities, like planning (chores for the day) ordering (stacking plates by size), categorizing (food groups), counting, memorizing have a significant effect on early brain development, we intend to start changing the perception that it is only the teachers who are responsible for educating the children.

Regarding the pandemic: The Delta variant resulted in a third spike in infections, however numbers appear to be on the decline. Vaccination rates continue to be abysmally low, but moving in the right direction with about 5% of the population now vaccinated.

We are returning at last, after nearly two years!, on the 15th August, to meet with ITEC, the chief (who is recovering from Covid), the teachers, families and children to get updated on the progress, assess current conditions, re-establish relationships, and prepare for the delivery of our fourth school in January.

Thank you all for your continued support, we couldn’t do this without you. Stay safe, do good, be in touch.

April 2021

ralphp@reachforsa.org (Ralph Pooler) — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 13:58:28 GMT

REACH! update

Well, after several postponements due to washed out roads and summer thundershowers they were finally able to deliver the new (third) school.

The crew had the gutters and downspouts stolen when they slept overnight en route, so the water collection system will be installed next month.

You will notice that even though the children are taught a curriculum by teachers who have been trained by ITEC, and are by every definition Preschools, by habit alone they continue to call them Daycares, or Creches!. It is an ongoing conversation we are having. We feel that calling it Preschool will inspire and embolden the children and teachers to think of it as a place of learning and knowledge, a place where the seeds of the future are planted. Small things like this can help change the mindset in communities that for too long have been taught that they are followers not leaders, that they are hewers of wood and carriers of water not dreamers and thinkers, that their lives are determined by fate, not their own free will. We want these schools to be more than dry, safe places to learn curriculums. We want them to be places where children can feel they are worth something, that people they don’t know, half a world away, believe in them, that they can become whatever they wish.

Nevertheless, none of this would be possible without your generosity and support. So on behalf of the Amajingqi community, the teachers, students and Chief Dumalisile himself, thank you!

Khamisa. February 2021

ralphp@reachforsa.org (Ralph Pooler) — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 15:46:58 GMT

Our third container school is complete and scheduled for delivery on Tuesday! It is so hard for us to sit in Seattle waiting for updates and photos of an event we have been a part of every year since we started. As rewarding as the work of converting, painting and finishing the school is, the delivery has always been our highlight. To witness the joy and appreciation, to see the hope in the children’s eyes, to present the keys to the teacher and see her glow with pride, to be a part of the excitement, the hope, and the community just for one day are the reasons we do it. As soon as we receive pictures and videos we will forward to you. Thanks to your support and generosity we are already preparing for the fourth school, scheduled for delivery in January 2022.

As schools in SA prepare to re-open after an extended summer holiday due to COVID, many of the children in the community have not been in school, in person or remotely, for over a year. Many will be repeating the year, putting them even further behind when they move on to grade school and high school, making the mountain they have to climb even higher. Please spare a thought for them as we go on relatively unaffected with our I-pads and laptops, our Zooms and pods. If life and school was hard for them before, it is even harder now, making what we do that much more necessary.

Thank you all again for your involvement and support, we will keep you updated.

REACH! October 2020 update

ralphp@reachforsa.org (Ralph Pooler) — Sat, 13 Feb 2021 15:35:50 GMT

REACH! October 2020 update

Due to COVID, all schools were shut down earlier this year and are only now being permitted to re-open under strict health guidelines. Without computers and internet, teachers and parents have been doing their best to offer some kind of instruction over WhatsApp. Consequently, most children have been without any form of constructive instruction for several months. We created a Fund-a-Teacher program to help support the teachers and their families during this difficult time, made more difficult by corrupt officials in the government. Our July trip to visit the community and make preparations for the next school was cancelled due to COVID. We hope to return to SA in December, (COVID restrictions permitting) to prepare and deliver our third school, re-connect with the community, with chief Dumalisile, and the hard-working people at ITEC, the local non-profit that we partner with, who provide training and support to the teachers.

To experience the joy on the faces and in the hearts of that community for something as simple as a warm dry place to teach children, helps put life in perspective. As soon as restrictions allow, we will proceed with preparations and delivery for the third container school. If you’d like to know more, please visit our website, www.reachforsa.org We are entirely dependent on donations and fundraisers, every dollar raised goes directly to procuring and modifying a new container.

Update - REACH! for SA preschools and the effect of COVID-19

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 02:22:45 GMT

Update regarding REACH! for SA preschools and the effect of COVID-19

March 22, 2020

Update regarding REACH! for SA preschools and the effect of COVID-19

Dear donors and families,

As you are probably aware, the COVID-19 virus has reached SA and the Government has closed all schools, sealed most of its border crossings, blocked foreign visitors, and banned gatherings of more than 100 people.

What makes South Africans, particularly poorer South Africans, especially vulnerable are the fact that, 1: so many of them live in tightly packed townships on the outskirts of cities, without access to proper hygiene and healthcare, and 2: that the rate of HIV in South Africa is so high, putting those people in a particularly high-risk category without adequate access to treatment. Fears are that once the virus enters a township, it will spread like wildfire. Consequently, those who are able to return to their rural homes, are doing so, putting those communities at risk as well. It stands to reason then, that rural schools, including REACH! schools, have been closed at least until after Easter.

We are in constant communication with ITEC, who are still operating with a skeleton staff, continuing to provide those communities with information and advice.

Naturally, we will continue to send our monthly payments to the teachers who, even though they’re not teaching, and have no access to online instruction like we do, need the money more than ever. As if life for them isn’t hard enough already!

We will keep you updated as we learn of new developments.

Thank you for your continued support.

Ralph and Shelley

March 26, 2020

Dear friends and donors,

As of today, Thursday, South Africa is on full lockdown for 21 days. ITEC is closed.

Unfortunately, without the media coverage that we are accustomed to, the villagers, despite distribution of pamphlets and recommendations from officials, are generally treating this as life as usual. The fear is that some of the city workers will get through the security nets the army and police are putting up, and return, spreading the virus. I will keep communicating with Caroll, the director, the Chief, and the headman, and keep you updated on how things develop.

Stay healthy, stay home

Ralph and Shelley

Kulojingqi (Upper Jotela) January 2020

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 10:59:31 GMT

Dear friends of REACH! for SA,

With your support, on January 4th 2020, we delivered our second school to Amajingqi!

We arrived in East London on the 27th December, and with only a week to get the container ready, started work at once. For several days, (and some sleepless nights) we wondered if we were going to make it in time especially after Sean, our youngest son, and artist, fell sick with what appeared to be some kind of gastric flu. The unusually wet weather also put the condition of the road to the school site into question.

In the end, with a lot of help and teamwork from Alex (our oldest son, and engineer for Amazon) and Enya (our daughter), together with our friends Neil and Ava from Canada, it all worked out (See attached time-lapse video). The day dawned clear and with everybody in good health and spirits, we followed the container truck the four hours out to the school where, accompanied by Mdindi, the senior facilitator and translator from ITEC, we were greeted by crowds of singing, ululating locals.

With the site already levelled and prepared, the unloading went smoothly and Ralph and the boys got to work installing the roof and water catchment system, while the children and teachers, under Shelley’s leadership, moved what could be used from the old classroom, a tin shack with mud floor, into the new classroom already stocked with new supplies, all to the delight of the children and adults alike.

Unfortunately, our delivery clashed with the Chief’s brother’s wedding, and he was unable to attend. However, we arranged to visit him at his home the next day where in an informal meeting we met his new wife, his brother, and his royal council who expressed their gratitude for what we are doing for their community. We spoke about his planned trip to Seattle in the spring, his successful securing of funds to build an irrigation system for his macadamia plantation, our visit in July to show the schools to our donors Eileen and Harold Putter, and our plans for December to deliver the third school.

As the country continues to struggle to recover from years of failed leadership, it is evident that our work here is more important than ever. However, the children remain ever-exuberant in the face of such hardship, the community grateful, the local leaders optimistic, and our belief in our project stronger than ever. With your support, we can continue to build a better future, one preschool at a time.

The promotional video we have had made by straight8 films is due for release on the 14th Jan. We will share as soon as we can. Our new web site is due to be ready by the end of the month, and we are now registered as our own 501 (c) 3 non-profit, (tax id #: 84-3691659), no longer under the A Child Becomes… umbrella.

Thank you,

Ralph and Shelley

REACH! November 2019

Sun, 15 Dec 2019 08:00:00 GMT

Dear friends of REACH! for SA,

Thanks to your generous support, our first school has enjoyed a very successful first year and we are preparing to return to SA in December to install our second school! The container has been converted with doors and windows, and we will paint the exterior, finish out the interior, build the water catchment system, and in January 2020 deliver it to site where the ground has been cleared and leveled, and 26 excited students wait to move in! Their existing classroom, a tin shack with dirt floor, we will pay to have upgraded and turned into a kitchen. We are thrilled at what your contributions have allowed, and are continuing to allow us to do, and we’d like to take this opportunity to update you on our progress.

We returned in late August with a professional filmmaker to record a video to promote our project by showing the work we’ve done so far, and a view of where we are headed. (It is due out within the next few weeks, and we are excited to share it with you.)

Prior to our visit we had two new play structures with swings and slides installed at our first school and at the site of the second school. To see the joy on the faces of children who’ve never ridden a swing or a slide before, was something to behold! Because of the play structure, the first school has become more than just an early learning center, it has become something of a community center where parents and grandparents congregate to watch the kids at play and to help cook the daily meal in the kitchen. We have every reason to believe that each new school with provide a similar environment for each community.

Through a series of interviews, we got to listen to local opinions of how the school has changed their community: The 25 students are proud to go to school, and those who have moved on to grade school are easily identified as being ahead of the curve; the teacher is recognized and respected; grandparents finally get to watch their grandchildren given opportunities they never had. It feels like the people all walk a little taller.

We were fortunate enough to spend time with Chief and better understand his commitment to uplifting his people and the enormous responsibility he bears with such energy, optimism and faith, and to realize how vital he is to our project and how important our contribution is to his long-term vision.

We have ordered two new waterless toilets for each of the two schools, both scheduled to be installed before December this year. We plan to add playgrounds and toilets to each new school as we open them.

We are getting close to ordering the container for the third school, and we will visit the site in December to meet the teacher, students, headman and community. Opening is scheduled for Jan 2021.

We are thrilled to have the opportunity next July to Host Eileen and Howard and their family when they travel to Africa. We will take them out to the schools where they will meet the Chief, students and community and get to see the results of your generous support. None of this would be possible without it, for which we and the people of Amajingqi are extremely grateful.

Elalini. Dec 2018 - Jan 2019

Fri, 04 Jan 2019 08:00:00 GMT

Dear friends of REACH! for SA,

With a plan and model mapped out for a rural South African pre-school, our challenge was to find an exact starting point; that one person to call, that one place to put a stake in the ground. It happened on the island of Mauritius, of all places, where my brother had lived for some time when he flew for Air Mauritius, and he and his family invited us to visit last December (2017) My wife had a serendipitous conversation with a man in the swimming pool, and after telling him of our plan, he promised to send us the number of a person he knew who worked in the Department of Education. I contacted her immediately on returning to Seattle and found her to be most helpful, however, since early childhood education doesn’t fall under the department of education, she referred me to an associate who was working on a rural education development project with a local chief to upgrade the standards of education within his district. He too was very helpful, but acknowledged that he wasn’t the person to speak to and put me in touch with a lady in East London who runs a non-profit training teachers from rural areas. Bingo!

Caroll Warmberg is the director of ITEC, (Institute of Training and Education for Capacity Building) an organization that already had nine teachers in the field, plus a liason who visited the classrooms once a month to monitor, per a contract with the local chief (Chief Dumalisile) but who were holding classes in mud huts and tin shacks without dirt floors. They would be delighted to have us involved. It was exactly what we were looking for.

We met in July, and travelled out to Amajingqi where we were introduced to the chief, (who gave us his enthusiastic blessing) the teacher, the children and the community, and shown the site where the school would go. Instruction is basic, mostly in their mother tongue, Xhosa, though some English is being introduced. The teachers are not bi-lingual, and trained to a rudimentary level, but are devoted and caring. The children were delightful, singing us songs, showing us their goats, and thrilled with the shoes we brought them. We left them with the promise that we would be back in December with a new school.

I found a supplier of containers in Durban, who would also convert, to my specifications, into a classroom, with six windows and a door, as well as deliver to East London where we could work on the painting and interior before delivering to site.

After keeping me updated on the progress, he loaded up and delivered on time. We had found a local contractor in Gonubie, (a suburb of East London, and the last stop before heading out towards Willowvale where the school would go) who was also a contractor, and was willing to rent us his house, his yard where we could work on the container, his workshop and all his tools, his pickup and his trailer.

We hired our youngest son, Sean, a graphic designer and artist, to do the exterior mural for the school, and with our daughter to film and photograph, we flew out in December to start work.

Two weeks later, it was ready! After one false start due to a broken down truck, we finally delivered the new school the four hours to the site, there welcomed by a joyous, ululating community who came running from their huts and their fields singing, banging on drums, waving and dancing. (See video) With the help of some locals we assembled the roof and water catchment system on site, set up the inside, and handed over the keys to the ecstatic teacher.

And all in the space of one year!

Before leaving, I ordered the second container from a local supplier who also agreed to convert as per the first container. We are all set to get going on the second school.

REACH!/A Child Becomes… Our South Africa Project

Tue, 04 Dec 2018 08:00:00 GMT

Dear Parents,

Compassion has always been at the heart of everything we teach here at A Child Becomes… Preschool. We nurture it, we practice it, we try to lead by example whenever the opportunity presents itself. It is widely agreed that compassion is a three-part concept: Noticing another’s suffering, empathically feeling that person’s pain, and acting in a manner intended to ease their suffering. St. Thomas Acquinas believed that compassion and suffering were interconnected; there couldn’t be compassion without suffering. Naturally, we’re not going to intentionally inflict suffering on our children in order to teach them compassion, but daily life does offer many opportunities in small and subtle ways; a scraped knee, a cancelled play-date, being kind to a new waiter in a restaurant. And we’ve found other ways of exposing our children to the struggles of others; we donate books to poor schools in Africa, we donate to the West Seattle Food Bank every year. Certainly yes, compassion starts at home, and in our school, but we, in our community, live largely isolated from children far worse off than our own. Children are quick to identify suffering in others, its built into our DNA, but their skills for alleviating it are limited to kind words and hugs, which in their world are often enough. But how do we teach them the skills to allevite suffering that requires more than kind words and hugs, children who are cold and hungry and can’t afford to go to school? To teach them, to demonstrate to them how its possible as a community, as village, is why I, along with my husband, have decided to introduce a new dimension to our curriculum, specifically aimed at teaching this.

For the past eighteen years Ralph and I have been fortunate enough to go back and visit his family in South Africa. It is a country of vivid contrasts, in natural beauty and cultural diversity. With fourteen official languages, it is appropriately referred to as the Rainbow Nation. Sadly though, the effects of history are still starkly obvious. Most rural children, if they have access to preschool at all, must walk several miles, often barefoot and hungry. When parents are forced into the cities to find work, they leave their youngest to be raised by siblings, sometimes as young as ten years old. Though the government has made grade school available to almost every child, the lack of preschools has resulted in a current national grade-school drop-out rate of a staggering 40%. It is beyond question that children who attend some kind of early childhood program are more likely to succeed in grade school and beyond. With millions of South African children between the ages of 2 and 6 without that option, their future looks bleak. Every year we return vowing to do something about it. This year we decided to act.

Our project involves opening a preschool in South Africa! Our goal is two-fold:

1. To offer an effective early childhood education to rural South Africans, uplift their communities, and give them a better chance to succeed in the future.

2. To offer your children the early opportunity to engage face-to-face, in a project of compassion, a community-to-community endeavor in which they are exposed to disadvantaged children on the other side of the world, communicate via regular video recordings, live face-time feeds, one-on-one interaction, and witness first hand, through their engagement and generosity, the difference caring and sharing can make half a world away.

We have made contact with, and received the support of, a program in the Amajingqi region of the Eastern Cape, where there are 8 grade schools, none of which are fed by an early childhood program. Attendance is falling, and the national drop-out rate is barely above the national average largely because children are entering grade school socially and emotionally unprepared.

The program, called the PSP, or Public Schools Partnership was initiated by the local Xhosa chief who rallied the support of his community, and who engaged a group of experts to research, and make recommendations to the Provincial Education Department to improve the quality of education in his region. Since Early Childhood programs do not fall under the remit of the Education Department, there is a void desperately needing to be filled.

Our plan involves securing and delivering a shipping container modified into a classroom to a site to be decided on our visit in June. The concept of a shipping container has already been proved effective; one company has just supplied its 300th unit. We are looking to employ a teacher with a Level 5 degree in Early Childhood, at least two years experience, who is computer literate and can use a smart-phone, is bi-lingual, and has basic administration skills. We will also interview and select a candidate in June.

Because all eight grade-schools have electricity and 3G coverage, we are confident that we can communicate regularly. We have the support of the Chief and local community, a grade-school program into which our students can graduate, and in which we can accurately track their progress. And operating it remotely, though we plan to make at least two school visits a year, we can rely on oversight from the school system in our absence. We invite you to share the energy, love, support you bring to school every day. We are asking you to start the conversation at home about how you might be able to help; are there some outgrown shoes you’d like to donate? And imagine, in ten years your child might want to go back and volunteer for a service project!

In closing, I’d like to leave you with this thought. Driving through the Amajingqi countryside, one looks out over rolling green hills dotted with mud huts, each with their own patch of corn or pumpkins, and tethered to a post, a goat or sheep. And everywhere, children, carrying stacks of firewood or buckets of water on their heads, pushing ingenious toys built from scraps of wire and tin cans, playing improvised stick and stone games under a tree. They greet you with bright smiles and a universal exuberance; there is a young light inside each of them, the same light I imagine you see in your child as they prepare for school each day. It is our vision, our goal, with your help, to introduce them to one another.