Upper Klipdrift Primary
| PSEC has had the opportunity over the past 18 months to support and fund the Klipdrift Primary school in the Eastern Cape. PSEC saw the opportunity with this small farming community school and has been involved in the funding of a number of initiatives including the installation of computers and workstations for the learners, new facilities including jungle gyms and the general upgrade of the school buildings, stationary for the children and the general funding of the day to day operations of the school. At present Klipdrift has 30 children enrolled at the school and are mainly children or relatives of the farm workers in the Camdeboo Conservancy. A number of these children live with their grandparents on the farms whilst the parents work in town or in bigger cities. Klipdirft also has a number of orphans, who are looked after by kind relatives or friends of the family.Very often these guardians receive no financial aid from the parents. The two teachers at the school are Hanli Rose-Innes and Theresa van Vuuren who are members of the community. Both teachers transport kids to school daily, travelling as far as 19 km in some cases to collect and carry the 15 children who are transported to and from school. Hanli Rose-Innes teaches the grade R, grade 1 and grade 2 groups (20 in total), while Theresa teaches the grade 3, 4 and 5's (10 in total), ranging in ages from 5 to 13. They follow the Eastern Cape Education Department Curriculum and both teachers in theory receive salaries from the department, although Hanli last received a salary in July 2007. Last year she had to wait 4 months for a salary. The school has recently been declared a "no school-fee" school due to parents being unable to afford school fees. The school is as yet to receive any financial aid from the government. They employ a "cleaner" and a grade R teachers' aid and are hoping to let her attend courses so that she can run the grade R group. They currently have only 6 grade R's and need 10 before the department of education will pay towards a salary for her. The extra curricular activities are best described by Hanli Rose-Innes in her letter to PSEC. "There is another school in our valley, called "The Biggs Primer, on De Vrede Farms, and they have 35 pupils. The two schools combined forces last year and entered a developmental hockey tournament in town. They competed against the other town schools and won the tournament. We are hoping to start with tennis next year, as both girls and boys can play and there are lots of opportunities for talented young players from disadvantages backgrounds. We stage a concert every second year, and were very proud of the singing and acting of our kids in last years' concert. We have a weekly singing session and teach the children Afrikaans, English and African songs. The parents have suggested having a bazaar. Games stalls, face painting, cakes and pies, braaivleis and pap-en-sous will be on offer. The parent community are genuinely overwhelmed by your donation, and this is a gesture from them to not just sit back and take everything as a hand-out, but to also help to generate funds for the school. One mother is going to roast one of her chickens and raffle it out! The parents are very involved in helping at the school premises. The fathers all helped to dig holes for the trees, and help with the watering of the plants over weekends during hot weather. We have also noticed a change in the pupils considering the way they dress. Since they received the school clothes, their shoes are now shiny, their hair neat and their general appearance better. They are so proud to be part of this school, and work hard to show it. Thanks must go to PSEC and all those involved for their contributions and efforts in touching the lives of these children. |
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Upper Klipdrift Primary