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13th May-18

th May 2016

CARE FOR EDUCATION DOES IT AGAIN!

ALL THINGS COLOURFUL, ALL THINGS LEGOFUL

NOMPILO BUTHELEZI

t was a sunny Friday morning and all

the ECD educators came out to play.

EThekwini Municipality, Office of the

Deputy City Manager, Support Services

Unit in partnership with Ink Area Based

Management, Care For Education and

Hands on Technologies (LEGO SA) where

there to witness it all.

Pictured:Educators at the registration table with EThekwini Municipality staff member Senamile Mthiyane

Tea and muffins were served to calm the

eagerly excited group as they waited for

the insightful speeches.

EThekwini Municipality’s Deputy Head of

Human Resources Management Mr G

Vundla, opened up the day and welcomed

the educators to the 2016 Early Childhood

Development Launch.

EThekwini Municipality's Head of Human Resources, Mr G Vundla

He gave a brief speech about the important

role that these ECD educators are playing

in the lives of our children.

Next was an entertainment piece from an

iNtuzuma born young African man, a

storyteller from Izibuko Zethalane,

Mzwandile Ntombela.

Pictured: Mzwandile Ntombela (Storyteller)

He gave a brief background of himself and

how he valued his job and gift of

I

SUPPORT SERVICES

MONTHLY NEWS

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performing to entertain our future leaders

and promote reading and writing through

storytelling.

He awoke the crowd by performing an

interactive dance piece which saw

everyone laughing, dancing and singing

along to the tunes.

Pictured: ECD Educators singing and dancing along to Mzwandile's tunes

He then tested everyone’s listening skills

when he performed a story entitled

“Sisonke” which means we are together.

As he began “kwasuka sukela” (which

means once upon a time) the crowd replied

him back “cosi” (which is part of an

African tradition of storytelling, which

shows that everyone is now listening).

Pictured: Mzwandile Ntombela performing his story entitled "Sisonke"

They listened attentively as he switched

between various characters in his story and

marvelled them with his talent.

In between speeches, programme directors

Nompilo Buthelezi and Nokubonga

Khuzwayo, shared quotes and challenged

Mzwandile on storytelling, making it a fun

and mutual environment for everyone who

attended the launch.

Pictured: EThekwini Municipality’s Programme Directors Nompilo Buthelezi (Support Services) & Nokubonga Khuzwayo (INK ABM)

Some of the best quotes that the

programme directors shared were, “People

are hungry for stories. It’s part of our very

being. Storytelling is a form of history, of

immortality too. It goes from one

generation to another.”

They also shared, “Play is often talked

about as if it were a relief from serious

learning, but for children, play is serious

learning.” They stressed that this would be

a lovely quote for ECD educators to have

in their classroom as a reminder that

children are learning everyday as they play

in their little corners, in groups or in the

playground. They learn something new

every day and that is a huge achievement

for them.

Ms Linda Smith from Care for Education

and a woman who is behind the successful

donation of Lego Blocks to the Support

Services Unit over the past 3 years and this

year, donating an unbelievable number of

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60 boxes, was next to deliver her speech.

Pictured: Ms Linda Smith from Care for Education delivering her speech

She also spoke about education and

learning through play and the importance

of having highly skilled ECD educators

who have all the patience in the world to

handle the ever so energetic little angels

every school day. She informed the

educators that she will be doing a Lego

training to show the educators how to

teach the children things like counting and

shapes by the use of these colourful

magical blocks.

Councillor D Ngema gave a speech about

education in KZN and South Africa as a

whole. The importance of a healthy and

safe environment for the children to learn

and play as they spend most of their time

in school then at home with their mothers.

Pictured: Cllr D Ngema delivering his key note message

He stressed on each ECD educator to love

the children in their ECD Centres as if they

were their own and to encourage the

parents of the children to give them

support in the work that they do. He stated

“You are all highly loved and appreciated

for your efforts and dedication in ensuring

that these young lives get the best

education, because great education begins

in the foundation phase. If the foundation

is not stable enough, it will collapse. Let’s

teach children to be doctors and engineers

and not promote violence by encouraging

toys such as toy guns or rather teach them

about the right and wrong ways of using a

toy gun because policemen use guns, but

for safety and security reasons.”

Head of Area Based Management Linda

Mbonambi also delivered his message

addressing the importance of education

and the relevance of the Early Childhood

Development Launch.

He also thanked Linda Smith for always

willing to work with Veena Naidoo and

her team as well as her constant support in

the ECD project and donating Lego’s to

disadvantaged ECD Centres.

Pictured: Mr Linda Mbonambi, Head Area Based Management

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Last but not least, Support Services very

own Siyabonga Nkosi,

Pictured: Siyabonga Nkosi from EThekwini Municipality, Support Services

delivered a lovely vote of thanks to all the

speakers that were present, to the Support

Services crew for assisting in the

coordination of the launch, Veena Naidoo

for constant excellent planning and

executing of such events and lastly

thanked Ms Linda Smith for assisting with

the Lego Donation.

The delegates then proceeded to lunch

before the much anticipated Lego training,

where they had fun learning on how they

can make their ECD Centres education

better, using the Lego method to learn

Maths and English.

Pictured: Coordinator Support Services Veena Naidoo, Care for Education Ms Linda Smith and the ECD educators from the INK area

Lego Distribution followed the next week,

starting from the 16th

to the 18th

May 2016.

The Support Services team headed out to

the INK area in groups to deliver the Lego

boxes to the ECD Centres which were

present at the launch.

Pictured: Nkosinathi Dlamini (Support Services) and children from Thandolwethu Day Care

Mzwandile accompanied one of the groups

to the Lego distribution as he was set out

to perform story’s to the children when the

delivery was made.

Pictured: Mzwandile telling a story to the Jabula Day Care children

One story he performed was entitled

“Indoda Edelelayo” which means the rude

man. This story taught the children to be

kind to each other and the gift of sharing.

He also sang interactive songs with the

learners, the ‘Banana’ song, which taught

the learners how to wash their hands after

being to the toilet. This was the children’s

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most favourite song.

Pictured: Mzwandile performing the Banana Song to the Ikusasalethu Educare Centre children

The launch together with the distribution

was a huge success all thanks again to

Care for Education and Hands on

Technologies.

EThekwini Municipality staff and Ikusasalethu staff and children jumping for joy

EThekwini Municipality staff and Sthokozile Play Group staff

Pictured: Lihle Shandu with Ma Kwande children

Pictured: Children at Qiniso Crèche with their Legos

Pictured: Mzwandile entertaining the children at Sunshine Crèche

Pictured: Fun and joy at Sthokozile Crèche