Keeping our school open for our kids

Nelson Mandela once said "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world". In a small coastal town on the southern coast of South Africa named Still Bay, we run a nursery school (pre-school) called Pikkewouter Nursery School aspiring to provide our children with that armour.

The pre-school is a self-run, self-maintained, self-sufficient non-profit organisation that manages to run without the support of the South African government. Our dedicated staff looks after children from the age of 1 through to children aged 6 years old from our local communities in and around Still Bay including Melkhoutfontein, an uplifting community with a turbulent and colourful past.

The children we teach and look after come from a wide range of demographic backgrounds, including families with disadvantaged circumstances. Pikkewouter runs solely on the good deeds of the community, fundraising initiatives, and with school fees from parents.

Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit South Africa and kicking in lockdown, it left our school in a precarious position where parents have been left without an income and unable to pay tuition fees, fundraising initiatives have been cancelled due to lockdown rules and social distancing being enforced.

This has created the unfortunate reality that our 10 wonderful teachers and assistants may face not being able to be paid. As well as repair work to the play areas and bathrooms for the children, classroom upgrades with heating and airconditioning, building a new classroom and replacing the classroom windows cannot be carried out.

With your support and by raising $18000 (R330,000) we can afford to stay open, provide security for our young learners to return to school by alleviating the pressure from some parents that may be left short on funding, allow us to be able to do critical upgrades to our school and allow our teachers to be able to support their families during this trying and confusing time.

We thank you for reading this far, and if you are not able to donate, visit us in a small slice of heaven on the Indian ocean, maybe spot a few whales relax on a stunning beach or just come say hi in our humble little school.

All the best

Dan