Help for gutted creche
But much more assistance needed if preschoolers are to return next week
HELP has been pouring in for a Motherwell creche that was destroyed by a blaze on January 2, leaving staff devastated and racing to set up some sort of structure to house children by next week.
Following a plea on social media, Nelson Mandela Bay residents have been contributing chairs, doors and window frames to the Sinethemba Pre-School in Motherwell NU8.
However, the creche’s teachers say their next hurdle is finding a vehicle or someone with transport to help them collect the donations.
They are also hoping for further donations of furniture and any building materials to help them rebuild.
The preschool caught fire the day after the new year started, and teachers Fikiswa Joyi, 63, Nontutuzelo Slamse, 55, and Nkululeko Mooi, 65, arrived on the scene to find their beloved creche razed to the ground.
“We were heartbroken and in [a state of] disbelief. I was unable to sleep that evening and in the days to follow. It was a very difficult time,” Slamse said.
On the day of the fire, a group of unidentified boys were seen playing with firecrackers in the vicinity of the zinc school and it is suspected these may have been the cause.
Strong winds fanned the blaze which destroyed the creche and its contents.
NU8 community members close to the school contacted the fire department, police and teachers, but by the time the police and firefighters arrived they were too late to save the structure. Slamse said the creche’s intake for last year was 80 children, aged between one and five, but that they were expecting even more when the preschool was due to reopen on Monday next week.
She was worried as to how they would accommodate the children now.
Joyi said: “They are mostly learners from around the area who are all dependent on the school. There was a school [nearby] but it’s been closed.”
She said parents had already started to drop off their children at the teachers’ homes when many returned to work yesterday.
Children had also approached them, asking: “Ma’am, where are we going to go to school?”
“We have nothing, we need chairs, tables, building materials and a fence,” Joyi said. Last week, Candice-Leigh Hayden, a previous employer of Slamse, made an appeal to Bay residents by publishing a Facebook post that expressed the school’s need for assistance of any kind.
In her post, Hayden brought awareness to the role that the creche plays in the community, saying: “They not only look after and teach these children but also provide them with a daily meal while at school.” The post has had more than 300 shares. Parents of pupils are planning to hold a meeting to discuss how they can contribute and assist in rebuilding the school.
For more information, contact Nontutuzelo Slamse on 078-707-0990.
We need chairs, tables, building materials and a fence