Easter Newsletter 2024

Dear patrons and friends of Kinderhilfe-Kapstadt,

In the northern hemisphere, crocuses, tulips and daffodils, daisies and wild garlic are finally sprouting. Spring is awakening everywhere!

Renewal, joy and cheerfulness are spreading!

In Cape Town we experience the first wafts of fog in the morning. The weather is getting cooler, with the trees rapidly changing their colour, in the vineyards the grapes have been harvested and we are looking forward to a good vintage for 2023.

The children of Little Lambs are not aware of this. They enjoy coming to kindergarten, where they can play, do handicrafts, paint and run around in the playground. This year they are making an Easter basket, but for them the most important thing are the chocolate eggs, which come with the Easter celebrations.

The Easter egg hunt, as is custom in Europe, is unknown in South Africa.

This year Little Lambs is bursting at the seams with its 300 children and there are still parents who would like to place their children with us. Unfortunately, due to space constraints, this remains impossible.

In order to remedy this, Kinderhilfe-Kapstadt supports the organization “Funda Kunye”. Karen Temlett, the founder, has set herself the goal of locating small private kindergartens in the township of Imizamo Yethu. She aims at empowering principals by making it clear to them how important solid training is for them and their employees. It takes patience and energy for this to finally bear fruit.

Currently 11 kindergartens have joined her training and the demand is increasing steadily. The creation of jobs and a solid preschool education in small Kindergartens, as offered by Little Lambs, is a worthy cause which needs to be supported. Most of these Day cares are in need of various renovations, in order to allow for condusive childcare. This year, three additional kinder-gartens “Busy Bee”, “Brighter Days” and “Little Scholars” were renovated. Costs in 2024 for training and repairs come to R350,000 (€17,500).

The new afterschool care “Imizamo Yethu Learning Hub” is still closed. We have tried various way but our letters to the responsible authorities remain unanswered with no progress made lately.

Our last hope was a recent personal conversation with the deputy mayor, a member of the mayor’s committee for spatial planning and the environment. When we parted, his promise was that after the Easter holidays the plans will be approved. Only time will tell if he keeps by his promise.

In the meantime, the building was beautified with colourful murals, staff was hired staff, desks and chairs were bought, Wifi and internet was installed, registration form and the curriculum were created and a parent meeting was proposed, where parents can finally register their children. Plans for the re-vamping of the playground have been finalized, costs were evaluated and as soon as sufficient financial resources are available, the work can be assigned. As reported in the last newsletter, the playground is in a poor condition, with dangerous roots sticking out, big barren areas where no grass has been growing for years and lack of trees to provide more shade for the children during summer month. We are still short of approximately R100,000 before work can start. Please re-consider sponsoring for this good cause.

 

Good news can be reported from the Heuwel Speelskool in Calitzdorp, as thanks to a donation shortly before Christmas, 300 backpacks were purchased and distributed. What a joyful event this was for the children. In the meantime, Shelden, the headmaster, wrote a letter asking us for help in purchasing school uniforms. Some parents can afford this, but many children currently only wear the school T-shirt. Winter is just around the corner and it would be such an achievement if every child was the owner of a tracksuit, as the winter months are extremely cold in Calitzdorp, with no ways of heating the classrooms. Many children wear so-called flip-flops without socks all year round. A pair of sturdy winter shoes and a pair of socks will definitely make every little child’s heart beat faster. With your help we would very much love to distribute these gifts to these children.

Like for all children, the highlights of the day is the time they are allowed to ride a bicycle. Ever since introducing this at the Heuwel Speelskool much progress has been made and most children are now able to ride around the track without any assistance. Next to the bike track Klaus has already prepared the ground for the planting of lawn, which will be done as soon as temperatures cool down. The lawn will protect the children from accidents in case they fall off their bikes and it will definitely be an improvement to the playground, which consists mainly of barren and extremely hard clay soil. Costing stands at R18’000 = Euro 900.

This concludes our Easter report. We wish to keep you informed and trust you enjoyed the news around some of our project. All donations received are being spent on our projects, always with the intention of helping where the need is the biggest.

Please send any donations with a donation receipt for Germany and Switzerland to:

Dietrich F. Liedelt Stiftung

Hypo Vereinsbank (Hamburg); IBAN: DE04 2003 0000 0602 0695 44; BIC:

HYVEDEMM300, Reference: Kinderhilfe Kapstadt Ubungani Suisse, Thurgauer Kantonalbank, Hubzelg, 8590 Romanshorn, IBAN CH36 0078 4296 0996 4200 1, Reference: Kinderhilfe-Kapstadt

The Kinder Hilfe Kapstadt Trust

Standard Bank Constantia, Account 10-14-498-282-8 Branch Code: 051001, Swift: SBZA-ZA-JJ

Once again, we would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment, willingness to help and the financial support that is so important to us and without which we would not be able to pursue the path we have chosen.
We wish you a happy Easter holiday.

With heartfelt gratitude

Elke and Marlis