Cape Town - More than 300 international volunteers are building extra classrooms and other facilities at two schools in Mfuleni.
The volunteers are participating in a “Building Blitz” organised by the Mellon Educate charity based in Ireland, founded by developer and philanthropist Niall Mellon in 2002 and established as a charitable company in 2004.
The two schools, Mfuleni Primary and Manzomthombo Secondary, were also joined by 100 volunteers from Old Mutual, the charity’s principle South African sponsor, with an objective to finish the project within seven days.
Education MEC Debbie Schäfer on Tuesday visited the sites to welcome the volunteers: “We warmly welcome the Mellon Educate volunteers to Cape Town once again. It’s wonderful to see the passion and commitment they bring to this programme.”
She urged the community to look after their schools, and said the department had been having issues of schools being vandalised.
Over the past five years, more than 1400 Mellon Educate volunteers have participated in Building Blitz programmes in 10 schools in the province.
Volunteers are building extra classrooms and facilities at two schools in Mfuleni as part of a ‘Building Blitz’ organised by the Mellon Educate charity. Picture: Sisonke Mlamla/Cape Argus
Volunteers are building extra classrooms and facilities at two schools in Mfuleni as part of a ‘Building Blitz’ organised by the Mellon Educate charity.
Picture: Sisonke Mlamla/Cape Argus
The volunteers are building six Grade R classrooms at Mfuleni Primary and one additional classroom, a library, an ablution block and a playground, along with general refurbishment. The school has 1215 learners.
At Manzomthombo, which has 1665 learners, they are building five new classrooms, two shelters, an outdoor gymnasium, sports field improvements, and security systems.
Mellon said it was not just schools they construct, “we also build friendships that last a lifetime. The rewards for your success are spectacular - both for you and the children whose lives you are changing. The joy and excitement on the faces of the children, the tears in their parents’ eyes, the look of hope and pride in the faces of their teachers, these are the people you will meet in Africa as part of a group of like-minded individuals helping to build a better future for those most in need”.
Mfuleni was one of the townships where teachers reported dealing with more than 100 pupils per class due to staff and classroom shortages.
Human Rights Commissioners
had to step in following calls from disgruntled parents over the quality of education.
Nokuphumla Lindo, a parent at Manzomthombo, said she was happy to see the project to build schools.
“Mfuleni is one of the townships with schools suffering from overcrowding,” Lindo said.
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