Qalashe woman’s passion drives day care
A QALASHE woman’s love and passion to work with children has inspired her to start an institution where she will be in the company of tiny tots for most of the time.
Nokrimesi Ngalo, 39, started the Khanyisa Day Care Centre in Qalashe at the beginning of the year to get underprivileged children off the streets.
She currently has a complement of 12 children up to the age of five.
She has two local educators who teach the pupils in three official languages and relies on the community to maintain a vegetable garden which was started by Famsa.
The garden helps the centre to be more self-sufficient as not a lot of money comes in through school fees.
Parents are charged a minimum of R50 per month to have their child looked after and fed for the whole day.
Ngalo said the registered project was a dream come true thanks to the generosity and kindness of the residents in her area.
“I always had this thing in mind of having my own centre where I could play a pivotal role in teaching and preparing children for school,” Ngalo said.
“Last year, I went door to door, visiting households in my community to share the idea of starting a day care centre after I noticed so many kids playing in the streets.
“What prompted me further was their safety after there were rumours about kids being abducted.”
She said her idea received the thumbs-up from parents in the community.
“I received overwhelming support. The place [where the day care is housed] was given to me free of charge by a parent and others contributed desks and books.”
The centre provides a “home away from home” environment for the children and Ngalo said it exists to provide a safe, nurturing and developmentally appropriate environment.
“Our focus is to provide a stimulating early learning and care experience which promotes each child’s social, emotional, physical and cognitive development and we will go above and beyond their expectations in the services we provide,” Ngalo said.
“Our goal is to support the child’s desire to be a lifelong learner.”
Ngalo added: “We are still looking for contributions of any nature to improve our children’s learning experience”.
For more information or to make donations, contact Ngalo on 073-864-4504.
