THE shelves of Penguin Kidz Preschool in Betty’s Bay are stacked with books, puzzles and crayons.
The playdough is a homemade recipe, and the desk dividers have been personally crafted by a good-hearted volunteer.
Sometimes parents struggle to pay the R200 monthly fee, but teaching continues unabated.
Behind the scenes, staffers anxiously wait for donors to honour their promised monthly contributions.
The school, which caters for 38 children, is run by principal Zaan Cilliers, two teachers, two assistants and a cook.
It functions as a non-profit organisation and is one of only a few affordable options in the area.
Cilliers said Penguin Kidz, operating from a municipal building, has recently been registered with the provincial Education Department and has adopted its curriculum, but it receives no funding from the department yet.
It does receive R7 500 a month from the provincial Department of Social Development, and Cilliers said they have to work sparingly with it as R3 333 goes towards petrol, and R1 800 towards rates.
The rest of the money is used to feed hungry children.
“About 80 percent of the children are from single-parent households, and we don’t discriminate. We take care of children with learning disabilities. We have been operating since 2007 and, if we don’t, the children will have nowhere to go,” Cilliers said.
“We literally work off donations and every month we host fund-raisers. Even the park we have was built by a foreign sponsor.”
The school is situated in Mooi Uitsig in Betty’s Bay, which is a predominantly coloured community adjacent to hundreds of holiday homes.
There are not many employment opportunities in the area and Cilliers said mothers often have to wait for residents to visit their holiday homes in the summer months when they can find work as domestic workers.
Every morning Cilliers transports children from Rooi Els and Pringle Bay and the surrounding areas, where there are no public pre-schools.
Although the ocean is visible from the school, Cilliers said many children had never been to the beach until a school outing last year.
“It was so sad to see them afraid of the water and waves. The children wake up to the smell of the ocean, but last year they felt the sand between their toes for the first time.
“But that is why we do what we do. Everything we expose the children to is exciting for them.
“They truly appreciate everything,” Cilliers said.
Unlike most schools in the country, Penguin Kidz does not have holidays.
The school is open all year, except for two weeks in December.
Rosemary Fowkes, a retired teacher and volunteer at the school, said she was inspired by Cilliers and the generosity of others, as the initiative was what the country needed.
Account details for the school if you would like to donate are:
First National Bank, Cheque Account