Background Information
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. This border adjustment did have an impact on 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 have had to immediately initiate a proper food program. Luzille, our principal took us to a bulk food store to purchase food for 6 weeks. We have made arrangements with the store to deliver the identical shopping list every 6 weeks. Cost of the dry goods is approximately CAD 450.00 per 6-week cycle.

South African Tourism has finally 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 and counters. With the food program in full swing this was a much-needed upgrade. In my opinion, the food program has been one of the most important things we have implemented. To me, the children looked much healthier and alert. We have ordered another cafeteria table and benches to be made, as two are not enough for the size of our enrollment.

Nov 2007
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.

Dec 2007
Our relationship with Sabi Sabi has continued to strengthen over the years. Sabi Sabi recently hired Peter Mabila who will liaise with the local community and assist us to continue mapping out our future plans. Peter's 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 charity.

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.

Marianne Schaubeck

Continued on current updates
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© 2008 African Preschools Society