- PAINTING OF THE KITCHEN
The Makabongwe children and staff had the surprise of their lives, when returning to school from the July holidays. Our school kitchen had been transformed into a marvelous mystical mural! We are beyond grateful for the love, time and effort of Willemien who took time off to come and make our kitchen even more beautiful. Indeed, uThixo (God) lives at Makabongwe.
2. MANDELA DAY
What an honour to have been blessed by the surrounding communities on Mandela Day. We were blown away by your support and for your belief in doing good. Our first day of school was beyond amazing. We had visits/donations from City Hospital, Headway and Tyson Properties Durban. The children were very excited and what a way of welcoming them back to school for the third term. Thank you to; Tyson Group for the fun, cuddles, laughter, chalk drawing and our delicious individually packed lunches and treats! To City Hospital for your donation of stationary, food supplies and money towards fixing our windows. And lastly, to Headway Pre-Primary for the MASSIVE amounts of clothes for our jumble sale! A big shout out to our sponsors and donors, we simply can not do what we do without amazing people like you.
3. Nozincwadi Mother of Books
Mam Gcina Mhlophe and her crew came to Makabongwe to upgrade our Resource Centre. They arrived, they painted, they sang, they ate, they sang some more and they gave us educational games and brand new library books. We are so grateful Mama, words cannot express the excitement of our new beautiful library, especially all the books by South African authors!
4. MAKABONGWE SPORT DAY and JUMBLE SALE
Sports day is such an important day for our little people. Every single child gets to participate in the fun filled activities and races. And of course, everyone is a winner at Makabongwe so each child received a colourful medal! This is always a super fun event for our children and staff who cheer on (loudly!) as the events take place. Even the parents had a turn – thank you to those who participated in the Mom’s Race. Every practice we had, was filled with so much laughter, joy and excitement. A huge thank you to the staff for all the effort you put into making this day a successful one.
After all the fun was done, we had our jumble sale. Thanks to Headway Pre-Primary School for donating the gorgeous clothes that we sold to the staff, the parents and some of the local community members.
5. WORKSHOP-INNER CITY TEACHERS
On the 29th of July, Makabongwe Pre-School was asked to host a workshop for inner-city teachers. Kate Baker did a practical session, where the teachers who attended got to make instruments from recycled materials. We then had a Pastor talk to the teachers about what it means to be a “Family in the classroom”. Caversham and African Enterprise orchestrated this. What an excellent way to connect ECD educators and the best part was ending off in prayer – for the teachers, for the schools and for our beautiful country!
6. CHELSEA PREPARATORY SCHOOL
Thank you to Chelsea Preparatory School for the donation of sandwiches for the kids at MAKABONGWE Pre-School! Such a blessing and great that your pupils made them themselves! Thank you for your kindness and generosity!
7. LANCER’S CLINIC
On Wednesday 30th August, Lancer’s Road Clinic visited our school.
Sister Lunga and her fellow nurses made sure that all the clinic cards were present and checked. And those children who needed de-worming were given their tablets and those who needed vitamins drops were given these as well.
Thank you Sister Lunga and your team for this wonderful work. It also helps with working parents who might not have time to go to the Clinic and it also ensures that all the Makabongwe children are up to date with the clinic visits and vaccinations.
8. SKHUMBUZO- THE STORY TELLER
We also had Skhumbuzo Maphumulo visit us and tell the children some very unique and funny stories. We had 2 sessions- 000 and 00 from 09h30 and Grade R from 10h30. Thank you so much to Skhumbuzo, his props maybe simple but he always manages to capture the children’s interest from beginning to end of each story.
9. DUT STUDENTS
The DUT students came and did a ball skill workshop with the children. They introduced the new and fun ideas and demonstrated them to the children.
The DUT students came for a second visit and taught the Grade R children and teachers about being deaf and how to do some simple sign language. What a great relationship we have with DUT and they always teach our children something new and exciting!
10. SPRING DAY
Spring has got to be one of the best days to celebrate at Makabongwe, it represents new life, joy and love. It is the time of year when everything is colourful and bright. The children dressed up in such bright and funky clothing and even the teachers got involved – wearing flowers in their hair!
11. WORKSHOP- HOMEGROUND
In September, Kate attended a conference hosted by Home Ground Church in Westville. The conference was called “ibandla malivuke” Let the church arise! With speakers such as Raymond Perrier from the Dennis Hurley Centre and Rene August from Cape Town, it was a fantastic time, meeting new people and hearing all about how desperately our country needs prayer and communities to come together to help those in need.
12. HERITAGE DAY
We are called the rainbow nation for a reason. We celebrated Heritage Day at Makabongwe on Friday 22nd September with singing and dancing and colourful attire and of course, there was food! What a wonderful day celebrating the heritage of ALL our children at MAKABONGWE! Thank you to the parents for playing your part and to the incredible staff I have the privilege of working with thank you for always going over and above your call of duty!
13. Brigitte and Ursula
Just before break-up day our favourite overseas teachers, Brigitte and Ursula came for another visit. This time they bought some of their students from their school. It was a day filled with fun, play and of course lots of hugs! Thank you for your continued support of Makabongwe!