A group of pupils from the International School of Basel in Switzerland, who have raised funds and privately paid for the opportunity to help the less fortunate in South Africa, arrived in Hout Bay on Friday October 14 to lend a helping hand to the Siyazama creche in Imizamo Yethu.
The creche accommodates about 92 children in three classrooms and by Monday October 17, the group was hard at work.
Workspace DIY at the Hout Bay Harbour, a social enterprise looking for opportunities to connect people with the outcome of benefiting the community, was able to connect the pupils with Dulux who sponsored the paint and professional preparation work to be done at the
creche. The pupils painted the school, replaced, the front door, planted trees, built a sand pit and provided funds, paying for an electrician to refurbish the wiring, the building of a new entrance roof and the repairing of some plumbing.
This is the second international school to visit Siyazama, the last school being the American Community School of Amman in Jordan who excavated a metre deep trench along the back boundary of the creche to install an agricultural drain.
This underground drain is successfully draining away excess water which previously leaked through the middle of the children’s nap area.