Footsteps Educare, South Africa- Renovation

Hello everyone!

For the past few months I’ve been working at Footsteps Educare- a school in the township of Dunoon outside Cape Town in South Africa. Our school consists of 5 teachers, up to 70 children, and three classrooms. The children are aged 0-6 and so the classrooms are split as follows:
0-2 years
3-4 years
5-6 years

The two larger classrooms are shipping containers that were donated over 10 years ago to the school. Although they have been a great alternative for classrooms for over a decade, these containers are now deteriorating and are no longer safe for the children. We are beginning to raise money to make necessary changes to the school in order to render the classrooms safe again. The proposed changes are as follows:
1. remove both containers
2. build structurally sound classrooms that will last far longer than a decade
3. turn the current nursery into a kitchen to help the teachers prepare meals for the children more efficiently
4. expand the outside yard as currently there isn’t enough room for all children to play outside at once.

These changes will improve the school exponentially and in turn, improve the working conditions of the teachers which leads to better education for the children. Every teacher wants a happy and safe environment for their class and these renovations will help us to achieve that in every classroom. These changes will also allow us to take in more children which means fewer kids on the streets of Dunoon each day. 

When it comes to foreign currency, a little really does go a long way out here so even if you’ve only  got the smallest amount to give, it would be greatly appreciated by the staff, children and families of Footsteps and by the community in Dunoon.

Below are some of the little faces that made my time in Dunoon so special.