1998-2000
For 2 years, staff and clients of Reservations Africa hand delivered school supplies to Lillydale B, a rural community on the outskirts of Kruger National Park and the surrounding Private Game Reserves. At the time, volunteer teachers were running a preschool from a one room church. In the course of a day, up to 130 children passed through this makeshift preschool. As the building was not secure and did not have storage facilities, each night the volunteer teachers had to take home all the supplies that had been delivered.

2000-2001
In November 2000, Reservations Africa made a commitment to the community to build a preschool. The local Village Chief donated land and we launched a series of fundraisers for 2001. By the end of the year, we had raised close to CAD 40 000.00

2002
Construction began in early 2002 and our lovely 10-room school was officially opened on May 16, 2002. Our principal, Luzile Xhosa organized the opening ceremonies and it was truly a day we will never forget. At the opening ceremonies, we made a commitment to the community to provide ongoing funding to sustain the school and continue to make improvements.

2003-2004
The staff of 8 (1 principal, 3 teachers, 2 cooks, 2 security guards) are now receiving small monthly salaries. This caused allot of excitement when we took them to the bank to open up their first bank accounts.

In August drilling began to source a borehole (well) After 2 unsuccessful strikes, we hit an aquifer 10 metres from the school water tank. Application was made to the local hydro company to electrify the school, which meant we could use a state of the art electric pump to supply water to the school. In many ways the water/electric project was harder to complete than building the school as this was time consuming and expensive. By July 2004, we had electricity and running water. Cost of this phase of the project was CAD 21500.00.

Once we had running water, we brought in top soil  and a vegetable garden was planted. School was repainted.

South Africa Tourism committed to training a tour guide from Lillydale B. Once trained, it is our intention to start village tours.

2005
Playground equipment made out of recycled products was purchased and delivered to the school. The courtyard is now full of swings, slides and climbing equipment. School was repainted a 2-tone colour and a local artist painted beautiful murals on the front of the school.

2006
Our next project to build a new preschool in the rural area of Sodwana Bay, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa. At the moment, "Sunshine Preschool" operates from a 2 room shack and 75-100 children ages 2-7 attend this school. We have partnered with KZN Wildlife, which will oversee the construction for us.

2007
On this annual visit, we discovered the provincial borders were adjusted slightly and now Lillydale B was in Mpumalanga rather than the Limpopo province, which did impact our preschool. In the past, the Limpopo province provided maize for the lunch program. With the vegetables from our garden and the maize we were able to provide a nutritious lunch for 120 children. Mpumalanga does not have such a program therefore we immediately initiated a proper food program. We have made arrangements with a bulk store to deliver the groceries every 6 weeks. Cost of the dry goods is approximately CAD 450.00 per 6-week cycle.

South African Tourism has fulfilled their commitment to train a tour guide from Lillydale B Fanake Sibuyi, and we have made arrangements for him to start driving lessons for his professional rating. We are moving closer to being able to offer village tours to the guests of the game reserves.

In June we hired a local carpenter to upgrade the kitchen with new kitchen cupboards, counters and another cafeteria table and benches. 

In November, Sabi Sabi sent a rather large staff contingent to the school to repaint the interior classrooms and to do general repairs and to assess the septic problems. Sabi Sabi recently hired a community officer who will liaise with the local community and assist us both in mapping out our future plans. The community officer assistance is immeasurable, as he speaks the local language and has a complete understanding of the needs of the area and also the most effective way of getting things done. We are most grateful to Sabi Sabi's commitment to our preschool and the community of Lillydale B.

2007 has been a great year for our charity. Our June 15 golf fundraiser in Victoria raised over 30 000.00, thanks to Lynn Orser and her volunteers for the dedication and hard work to make this the success it was. TOPAC's golf tournament in Toronto raised over 7000.00 and a big thank you to Mrs. Edith Baxter, Editor in Chief, Canadian Travel Press, Firdosh & Chisty Bulsara and their volunteers.

2008
The new school year began on Jan 14 and the current enrollment is now 158 children. Needless to say, the school is operating over capacity at the moment as it was originally built for 120 children. Two new classrooms will need to be built if this enrollment remains high. Our food budget has gone up considerably due to the increase in numbers of children as well as the increase in cost of food. Our monthly budget for the food program has gone up to approximately 625.00

As of April, the province of Mpumalanga has now officially registered our school and in the future this should be a benefit to the teachers by providing curriculum assistance and on occasion some subsidies. At the moment it's a bit vague, but all indications are that it will benefit the school in the long run.

Our septic problems have now been fixed and what was originally thought to be a very expensive problem turned out to only cost about 1700.00, thanks to Sabi Sabi donating as much equipment as possible. French drains were installed and everything is working properly now.

The school year ended Nov 21 and we are saying goodbye to about 60 kids that will be attending Grade 1 at the local public school. Sadly, the public school has always been overcrowded and lacked even the basics. This year, thanks to Joan Firkins, Rotary International District 5020 Governor, and the local Sabi Rotary Club, the public school now has electricity and running water. Funds were provided from Joan's District with matching grants from Rotary International. We are most grateful, as this was not an easy feat for Joan and the Sabi Rotary Club to accomplish.   

2009 
Mazinyane Preschool With the sudden passing of our beloved teacher, Elizabeth Madaka in December, 2008, our principal, Luzile Khosa was faced with a tremendous amount of challenges. Not only did Luzile and Elizabeth work together, they were best friends for many years, and a huge loss. We met Luzile and Elizabeth the first time we went to the original preschool back in 1997. Luzile was faced with making the entire funeral and memorial arrangements during the Christmas season, and the daunting task of finding a relative to take care of the 2 children. Luzile also needed to find a replacement as the school year was to begin January 15 with an enrollment of 246. The decision was made to hire our trained tour guide, Fanake Sibuyi as he is wonderful with children and eager to have a career opportunity. His goal is still to be a tour guide, but with the economic downturn, this is not an easy feat at the moment. Fanakie was present at the school on a daily bases just as a volunteer and he will add a strong positive male role model to the school. We are fortunate to have the caliber of staff that we have. They are all caring and it's all about the children. 

Our enrollment has doubled since we opened in May 2002. The school was built for 120 children and we are severely overcrowded. Plans are now in place to extend the fence, build 2 more classrooms and upgrade the kitchen with an industrial stove. The fence extension was completed in May at the cost of 2400.00. On our annual visit, we met with our local contractor and have made the commitment to build the new classrooms. 

In October a Rotarian group headed by Joan Firkins traveled with me to Lillydale B. It was a busy three days as they repaired the cafeteria ceiling and repainted the room. The charity purchased an industrial stove at the cost of 1800.00 and Sabi Sabi looked after the installation. 

Kwa Zulu Natal Sunshine Preschool Project 
This project has been a huge challenge for all. Due to the fact that the community is quite remote and there are no major building supply companies in the vicinity, it has been decided that we would purchase 3 pre-fab classrooms. KZN Wildlife has sourced an excellent company that can deliver these classrooms very quickly. Eskom, the local utilities company, has finally done their site inspection and have confirmed the cost to hook up to the electric grid. Not including classroom or playground equipment, based on the rate of exchange as of Apr 23/09, cost will be CAD72000.00.

Marianne Schaubeck

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