South Africa has gone through a remarkable transformation in the last decade. Now we live in a society with basic human rights, freedom of speech and other such rights enshrined in the constitution. We have a government elected by the people and which for the first time in modern SA history actually has the majority of people’s interests at heart. Whilst enormous strides have been made to address the social ills associated with apartheid and while in an African context SA is a well off country, present public resources do not necessarily allow for governmental pre-schooling. Furthermore, because governments are more concerned about the "big picture" than in the details, people on the ground need to take initiative and change their circumstances. This is just one such story in a country with many such stories.

About two years ago a crèche was half built in Utha village - Djuma Game Reserve’s neighbouring village - and so it stood until we approached the village in the beginning of 1999. Mrs Doris Mkansi was instrumental in organizing the relevant parties, which included the chief, represented by his son, Mr K.D. Mabunda, and the civic crèche committee represented by Mr Richard Siwela. At this and several subsequent meetings it was decided to re-instate the crèche and try to find community support for it. To this end parents were asked to contribute R30.00 per child per month attending, community members that are financially better off agreed to contribute a larger amount per month.

Djuma Game Reserve undertook to pay for the initial development which included completing the building and constructing toilets. By February all was completed and the crèche started to operate. About 80 children attend daily (including my three-year-old daughter) and the crèche is becoming an important institution in the village. Not only are 80 children being prepared for school, but also three jobs have been created!

The value of this pre-school experience can be measured in many different ways, but perhaps the most poignant is the sense of joy and wonder on their faces when they first play with the donated toys. The toys would seem so ordinary from a Western perspective, but these kids come from an isolated community which is only now slowly entering the twentieth century, just as the rest of the world is entering the twenty-first century. This is not romantic isolation since these same children will have to compete in the greater national and global economy - as all people in the world have to: that is, earn and spend money. Thus it is important to prepare these youngsters for the world they live in; books, wind-up mice, talking toy phones and all! Yes, books. Most of these kids come from households that not only do not have books, but whose parents have never seen or been to a library ever in their lives.

Unfortunately, as in all things, lack of money for the operational costs of the crèche is threatening the project. Mrs Doris Mkansi makes do with less than R500.00 ($82.00) per month and some months as little as R300.00 ($49.00). Her assistants, Mrs W. Khosa and Mrs T. Ndlovu make do with even less. Given that not all parents are able to contribute the R30.00 per child per month, the crèche is only able to raise about half of its monthly financial requirements, about R1500.00 to R2000.00 per month including Djuma’s monthly contribution. About R1000.00 to R1200.00 of that is spent on food for the children and the balance is then divided amongst the three teachers. The dedication of these educated women has to be admired and ultimately rewarded.

We are in the process of trying to raise the necessary operational costs privately since the relevant governmental institutions do not have the necessary budget allocations and thus treat pre-school as a private or non-governmental institution. To this end we are approaching large, South African-based corporations as well as NGO’s.

Nwa-Tumberi Creche is a testament to the will of the people to create a better world for their children with the power of education.