Dear Friends of Golden Sunbeams,
It’s time again for one of our colourful newsletters. Over the past few weeks, we’ve had beautiful summer weather in the Cape region, our projects have been running smoothly, and we’ve been working on many different topics that were on our agenda.
January to March is our peak season, and lots of tourists visit Cape Town and the surrounding regions. Many of our sponsors and friends also come to South Africa during this time of year to check out one or another of our projects and find out about the current status of our work. We’re always pleased to see them!
Spontaneous help – great happiness
This was also the case at the beginning of the month, when our long-time supporters Conny and Josef Liebl, as well as Inge and Peter Thumann from Germany, were here. We travelled with them to Raithby and visited the Brak en Jan créche and the Helderberg Golden Sunbeams kindergarten in Macassar township.
The two couples were surprised and delighted by how well the two kindergartens had developed since their last visit. Quinton, the son of our late former principal Marinda, who took over the management of the Helderberg Golden Sunbeam kindergarten from his father Abraham Manuel last year, proudly showed us all the facilities.
During the tour, Quinton mentioned that the freezer was broken and that the small freezer compartment in the refrigerator was not large enough to keep the children’s food frozen.
Josef immediately offered his help and assured us that he would cover the costs of the new freezer. This allowed us to order a new one for the kindergarten right away.
Thank you so much, dear Josef, for your spontaneous and quick assistance!
A little prank with consequences
At our Loflands Day-Care ECD centre on the edge of the Rusthof township in Strand, the children were having fun climbing the entrance gate. Unfortunately, the concrete pillar couldn’t support their weight and collapsed.
We did not only have to repair the entrance gate, we also had to replace the concrete pillar with a metal one to restore safety to the school. Unfortunately, this was a complex and very expensive undertaking.
June, our principal from Loflands Day-Care is happy that we supported her with this investment.
MASKOT – an online tool for our ECD centres
Our long-standing partner organisation, Masikhule, has spent many years developing an online programme that is now available.
The online programme, MASKOT, focuses on early learning and provides subjects for children from birth. Masikhule has, as its goal, the presentation of practical, relevant and integrated early learning programmes for ALL. It presents learning materials for adults, supervisors and teachers.
ECD centres benefit from the topics, teaching materials, and classroom materials that MASKOT has to offer. There is an extensive library of additional activity ideas, for example, using waste products as valuable materials. Various developmental areas are stimulated and developed, such as gross motor skills, fine motor skills, basic concepts, and early learning skills. Many occupational therapy-inspired videos are also offered that focus on specific developmental areas and how to improve them. The content is continuously updated to ensure it is relevant, practical, and useful.
MASKOT stands for “Masikhule Keep On Track.” It has already been successfully integrated into the work of many of our ECD centres, enabling sustainable early learning.
MASKOT is a comprehensive app that provides kindergarten teachers with support and guidance on various educational topics, as well as game instructions, songs, books, posters, and much more for their daily work with the children. MASKOT can be used on a mobile phone, tablet, or computer.
Our principal, Nomalizo, never owned a cell phone, tablet, or computer. We have now purchased a tablet so that she can also participate on MASKOT for her Pre-school EmfundiSweni, in the township of Nomzamo. Since she has little experience with mobile applications, Masikhule is training her on the online programme even though it is virtually self-explanatory.
Chrizell and her team at the Covenant Kids Edu-Care centre have been using MASKOT for a long time and very intensively. Covenant Kids is a large school with approximately 60 boys and girls, and the team of kindergarten teachers only has one tablet at their disposal. Since Masikhule can track the usage behavior of the participating ECD centres, we knew that the tablet is in use virtually around the clock and that the kindergarten teachers are working with the online programme. For this reason, we have now purchased another tablet so that at least two kindergarten teachers can work on MASKOT simultaneously.
Speaking of Covenant Kids: The outdoor play area for the little ones is finally finished. A beautiful, large awning from Golden Sunbeams has been installed which provides shade for the children whilst playing.
Said and done
One of the exterior walls in our Playway Pre-Primary school had numerous small cracks in the masonry and looked worn and in need of renovation. We quickly sent Doctor, one of our trusted workers for many years, to Helderzicht to repair the wall and paint it a cheerful colour.
Clothes donations are welcome
A very heartfelt thank you also goes to the Fisch family from Germany! Just like last year, they donated two large boxes of beautiful children’s clothing to us, which we were able to distribute to our kindergartens. The result: shining children’s eyes and grateful kindergarten teachers.
We’d like to invite you to send us topics that particularly interest you and about which you’d like to be informed in one of our newsletters. Please don’t hesitate to email us at .
While you’re hopefully enjoying the first signs of spring—we heard about fantastic temperatures in Germany last week—we’re still enjoying the very warm rays of late summer sunshine in South Africa.
Warm regards
Yours
Britta & Claudia