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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