From the shack to school…

When he leaves in the morning his grandmother to walk to school, he passes by 6 others huts which  together with his home are located in a backyard, along the only water tap and the collective squat toilet. His grandmother stays at home. Since the death of his mother due to Aids, she is also looking after his younger sister. Before the arrival of the grandmother he was on his own with the baby.

Finally he can go to school! Study! Play! Get out of the backyard, into life!

If only his stomach would not rumble all the time... At school he receives daily from the ministry of education some bread with jam and peanut butter, but there is not enough for all of them and for the whole day. How could it? Most of the 1.400 students do not exist officially; their parents have imigrated illegaly or the mothers have not registered their children before they died of TB, pneumonia or another illness. The headmaster accepts them all and the teachers look after them, but their means are limited, too limited to care for all of them and too limited to provide with necessary basics. There is not even a kitchen.

Sometimes he feels dizzy.

Then he wishes for a plate with colorful vegetables, with stamp and a big sausage, a glass of milk and a piece of sweet mango that are supposed to grow so nicely in South Africa. But not here in Katlehong.

This is a story, that reflects the life of most children attending the Tamaho and Mogobeng schools, since most of them live in shacks in backyards, come hungry to school and are mostly Aids-orphans who are looked after by their grandmothers or who have to live on their own. Have a look at the project in PDF-format and read how the two canteens help these children from Katlehong.

You want to support the children in Katlehong

• Yes, I want to become a sponsor of the Katlehong project (5 EUR or more per month)

Download the form to sponsor a project in PDF or MS Word format and post it back to Naledi Projects.

The project

Beneficiary: daily a healthy meal for about 2.500 children in the Tamaho and Mogobeng schools, salary for 8 employees and their family, garden space for about 8 volunteers

Scope of the project: construction and facilities for 2 kitchens and canteens, extension and putting into place 2 gardens, salaries for 4 cooks, 2 kitchen helps, 2 gardeners, purchasing of food

Duration of the project: January 2009- January 2013. During this period the schools will be able to find other local financing models and sponsors. Naledi Projects wishes to be part of it through its project sponsorships.

Project partner in Luxembourg:

• Direction de la Coopération of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE): confinancing
• Pharmaciens Sans Frontières, Luxembourg: Helping to submit the cofinancing request and transmitting it to the MAE

Local project partner: Lambano Sanctuary NGO

Costs of the project: 484,569.80 € (representing 5 € per child per month)

• MAE part: 323,045.87 €
• Lambano Sanctuary part: 24,935.06 €
• Naledi Projects part: 136,587.87 €

Contact:

Naledi Projects
Cynthia Wald
Tel. + 352 30 81 64
cynthia.wald@naledi-projects.org

Course of the project:

• November 2011: Visit of the project by Naledi Projekts
   
• Official inauguration of the canteen at the Tamaho Primary School on October 8th 2010 :
  
  Mme Karsandras, inspector from the Ministry of education, inaugurating the canteen
  
  Walter Vukethwele, director of the school, giving a speech, thanking Naledi Projects, the luxembourgish government and Lambano Sanctuary.
  

  As the school teaches in Xhosa, all the students and the teachers were dressed in traditional clothes
  

  The kids had organised a little contest to build a model of the new canteen.
  
   

• 
  October 2010: The children tell what has changed now that they have the canteen.

• 

  April 2010: Mogobeng Primary School received the "National School Nutrition Programme Award“ from the National Department of Education, South Africa. The school won a price of ZAR 60,000 (~6.000 EUR) for the best school nutrition programme in Gauteng Province of South Africa.

• 18th March 2010: The first lunch was served to the 1,180 students of the Mogobeng Primary School.

• Beginning of 2010: To assure the viability of the project after the official end of the project, a mini-bakery has been installed. It allows to bake bread for the pupils and to sell bread and pastries to the local community in order to create a new source of income. 
  
• 3rd November 2009: Official inauguration of the Mogobeng Primary School canteen. The director, Mrs. Marokoane, invited all directors from Katlehong, representatives from the ministry of education, former students, local business people and sponsors of the project and celebrated together with our partner Lambano Sanctuary, with us from Naledi Projects, with all the teachers and most importantly with all the children the inauguration of the canteen under a spring shower. The interesting speeches, the cheerful songs and dances performed by the children as well as the intensive and enriching conservations during the following days convinced us that the future of the project is in good hands.

• Beginning of November 2009: construction of the canteen at the Tamaho Primary School have started
• 16th August 2009: The directors of the Tamaho Primary School are happy that the construction starts soon:

Mogobeng primary school: Construction work is almost completed :

dining hall from inside	from outside

• 29th May 2009: Roofing ceremony in the Mogobeng Primary School

14th April 2009: The construction work for the Mogobeng Primary School canteen started.

• 26th January 2009: The Luxembourgish government (Ministry of foreign affairs) accepts the co-financing of 2/3 of the budget of the project.
• 26th May 2008: Pharmaciens sans Frontières hands in the project on behalf of Naledi Projects at the ministry of foreign affairs requesting the co-financing of the project.
• 18th April 2007: Naledi Projects presents the project to Pharmaciens sans Frontières.
• 3rd April 2007: 2 representatives of Naledi Projects discuss the project with the local project managers (school directors and members of the staff of Lambano) in charge, visit the schools, the existing infrastructure and the township.
• 28th August 2006: Lambano Sanctuary contacts Naledi Projects requesting support for the school canteen project.