This NGO in South Africa came by way of a friend in New Zealand! My friend was originally South African and was a supporter of Knynsa Educational Trust. It's amazing how many fine NGOs we can discover once we women start chatting. I was incredibly impressed with Knynsa which not only provides services to pre-school children but also empowers women staff to expand their professional skills. Enjoy reading about this program on South Africa's beautiful coast.
You probably never heard of Knysna, South Africa, and neither had I until
I launched Women’s Giving Tree. It turns out that Knysna is a beautiful
town along the Garden Route on South Africa’s southern coast.
A resident notes, “As in all South African towns, the affluent residential
areas lie within view of all who pass through. More than half of the town’s
population dwells in poor living conditions on the outskirts of town where
the dwellings are substandard and services, up until the last few years,
have been little more than basic.”
In 1993, the Knysna Educational Trust (KET) was established to help upgrade
early childhood development centers (ECD) in the town’s disadvantaged communities.
Unfortunately, as informal settlements around Knysna grew, no provision
was made for additional educational centers. As a result, many unemployed
and uneducated women opened their homes for child care but failed to provide
much educational stimulation.
KET, consisting of 8 Trustees and 4 members of staff, seeks to bridge
the gap in the foundational years of children up to six years old by assisting
27 partnered edu-centers to comply to regulations as set out by Department
of Social Services, Education and Health. KET has sought to upgrade early
childhood development in the following manner:
partnering with South Cape College on teacher training;
providing skills development opportunities as the need arises, e.g., bookkeeping,
IT literacy for teachers and principals at early childhood development
centers;
offering basic conversational English to children at affiliated centers;
upgrading preschool buildings and equipping preschools with educational
books, games, posters and playground equipment;
sourcing sponsorships for healthy feeding programs and endeavouring
to establish vegetable door gardens at each of our edu-centers.
As a Board Member at KET observes, “We are in the process of empowering
principals and practitioners by providing training and skills in order
for them to effectively teach learners up to six years old. We help
them upgrade their buildings in order to comply to regulations, ensure
skills learnt in training is implemented in the classroom, assist in finding
the necessary resources and materials. We have made it our mission,
not just to hand over educational items, but through skills development
to uplift the selfless individuals who are committed to the task at hand.”
You probably never heard of Knysna, South Africa, and neither had I until
I launched Women’s Giving Tree. It turns out that Knysna is a beautiful
town along the Garden Route on South Africa’s southern coast.
Comments
adelaide lor said on Monday, May 24, 2010:
We are very proud to be part of The Woman's Giving Tree. Thank you for this great opportunity.
Love
The KET Team