MISSION:
Advancing our core belief that early nurturing and education is the foundation for realizing potential, our mission is, by empowering women through training in early education, and elevating them to positions of leadership, to provide effective, source-based, sustainable pre-schools to help uplift neglected rural communities throughout South Africa.
(Seattle based 501c3)
CHALLENGE
WHY HERE, WHY NOW?
Research shows that the first five years are the
most critical in early childhood development.
We are guilty of many errors and many faults,
But our worst crime is abandoning the children,
Neglecting the fountain of life
Many things we need can wait
But the child cannot. Right now is the time;
His bones are being formed,
His senses are being developed
His blood is being made
To him, we cannot answer, “Tomorrow”,
His name is “Today”.
Gabriela Mistral, Nobel Prize winning poet
Older classroom with dirt floors.
In 2018 The World Bank deemed SA the world’s most unequal society.
Half the population of 57 million live on less that $5/day.
An independent base-line study In Amajingqi revealed the reality to be even worse: Illiteracy is a staggering 87%.
In 2016, 7% of the population graduated high school. 89% of households earn less than $100/month.
But with 45% of Amijingqi under 15 years old, there is enormous potential to be realized by investing in early education.
“If we are to break the cycle of poverty, we need to
educate the children of the poor.”
President Cyril Ramphosa,
SoNA 2018
SOLUTION
WHAT/HOW WE DO IT:
REACH! - ITEC-Chief Partnership
REACH! for SA: In partnership with ITEC, the Chief, and the local communities, REACH! has identified nine different locations in the Amajingqi region where we will open preschools.
The schools are built from modified shipping containers. Each one comes with a water catchment and collection system, two waterless toilets, a play structure, and funds to convert old classrooms into kitchens.
ITEC (Institute of Training and Education for Capacity Building) involvement: Simply put, ITEC provides the trained teachers, REACH! provides the classrooms, playgrounds and toilets. Under the leadership of Caroll Warmberg and her team, ITEC is a nonprofit organization based in East London, SA that works to create opportunities for learning and development by empowering change agents for children. ITEC runs a training facility in East London for Early Childhood Practitioners (Pre-school teachers), offering men and women from rural, underprivileged areas the opportunity to uplift their communities through early education. ITEC has been in operation since 1987 and has deep roots in the Amajingqi region and strong ties with Chief Dumalisile. ITEC raises their own funds and writes their own grants.
Chief Sibongile ‘Ngwenyathi’ Dumalisile of Shixini Great Place serves as the leading leader of AmaJingqi within the Xhosa Royal Kingdom, an area of approx 161 square kilometers with a population of about 11,000. A visionary and a humanitarian, he is leading an initiative to transform AmaJingqi into a self-reliant and sustainable community, (with funding from the European Union he has already established an extensive Macadamia plantation) with an emphasis on character development and fulfilling human potential. He has spearheaded a thirty-year rural development plan in partnership with the Department of Energy, Water and Environmental Affairs, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Social Development, Department of Rural Development and Land Reforms, National Department of Agriculture, Coega Development Corporation, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Department of Trade and Industry, Indibano to Harvest and the University of Johannesburg.
