Organic kids up ahead!

Escalating food costs, low levels of nutrition in rural areas and pressure on the environment has made MEC and Mankosi Community in general, keenly aware of the need for taking radical steps towards self sufficiency, environmental understanding and conservation and food production.
We are very excited about the future of the MEC Organic Classroom Project and about starting abundant food gardens at all the preschools in our cluster once the Mdumbi garden is set up and flourishing. The hands-on learning that the children will continue to experience, will benefit them in a holistic way. Learning about nature and gardens and applying the skill to feed oneself and one’s family is a priceless life skill.

The beneficiaries

• Preschool learners
The harvest of the Mdumbi Education Centre garden produce will be used for the preparation of their daily meals. They will also benefit from the Organic Classroom Project.

• Afterschool learners
The learners of the Organic Classroom project will learn about organic farming and organisational skills.

• Educators
They will gain training in organic farming and new teaching skills.

• Community

The key objectives of the MEC Organic Classroom Project are:

• To ensure that each child gets a healthy, nutritious, fresh meal a day
• To enable young children to learn about growing food, nutrition and agriculture in a sustainable and organic way.

Initially the garden was going to be 7m x 4m enclosed by a fence. We were going to erect one large tunnel with shade cloth for walls and roof – size 6m x 3m. However, Mdumbi Backpackers generously donated a portion of their land for our use! The new garden is approximately 15m x 3m.

The garden is located behind the Mdumbi Backpackers restaurant, close to the Mdumbi Education Centre to ensure easy access by all the learners, teachers and facilitators.
At the moment we are busy with the hard landscaping of the garden.

One of the first things, was to erect a proper fence to ensure that the cows, horses and goats that roam freely in our community will not be tempted by a “free lunch”. This will be covered and strengthened with shade cloth, especially to protect the garden against the raging coastal wind we experience.

We will then purchase and erect an organic hydroponic gardening tunnel to protect crops and enhance productivity.

Next steps:
• Shade cloth for fence
• Purchase organic hydroponic gardening tunnel
• Plant seeds and seedlings
• Complete organic classroom curriculum

Week 1: Cleaning space and leveling gardening area as well as creating keyhole learning bed.

Week 2 - 4: Creating composting area, starting mulching process and digging holes for wind break banana trees

Week 5: First Organic Classroom Lesson!
One of our gardening experts, David Brewis, explained to the preschool learners what is currently happening, including mulching, composting and what kinds of veggies we are going to plant. It was a roaring success and the children were very excited!

Going… going … great! Mankosi Preschool Project

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.
John Cotton Dana

MEC preschool started today with a bang! 37 beautiful little future leaders of the world took the first step into a brighter future. The programme is run by 3 local teachers, Nolutho, Kholiswa and Nokubonga, from the Tshani Community. The attendance has been outstanding so far, as the children enjoy stimulating lessons, activities and games throughout the day.

We were also very fortunate to have had our Preschool Education Consultant and good friend Melissa Butler here twice this year to train all our teachers and to make the program even stronger and more fun with her Professional Development programme. Thanks again, Melissa! We miss you already and hope to see you soon.

Furthermore we are currently in negotiations with the Mankosi Tribal Authorities and community. They have offered to build permanent structures for the 3 other preschools part of the Mankosi Preschool Project.

One of Mankosi's sub-headmen visited the preschool to see what our children are doing, and also joined a Professional Development afternoon. It was inspiring to see how excited he is about not only the children, but their education and bright futures!

The 3 developing preschools still have a lot of obstacles to overcome, but the 9 teachers are amazing, passionate and working hard. Nolutho visits one preschool each Wednesday to train and help them. Every Tuesday she also hosts Tuesdays @ 2— a professional development session for all 12 teachers. We are now furiously fundraising for their salaries, as they are currently still volunteers.

Some other exciting news, is our new volunteers from New Zeeland, Judy and Roger Hogg. Judy has been helping out in the preschool and will be very involved in the following activities during her two year stay:

Developing our theme boxes, improving and expanding the health and life skills lessons, as well as outdoor language play, setting up the organic classroom project and hosting parent workshops.

With Judy’s help we will be able to take our preschools to the next level of excellence!

Our objectives for 2010—2012 are:

· train 12 teachers to effectively and sustainably manage 4 preschools

· develop and introduce relevant curricula and teaching methodologies

· improve access to nutrition, health and social support for 140 children

· to actively educate parents and care givers about early childhood

· to ensure long term financial sustainability for 4 preschools.

"Education is not the answer to the question. Education is the means to the answer to all questions."
William Allin

Some other exciting news, is our new volunteers from New Zeeland, Judy and Roger Hogg. Judy has been helping out in the preschool and will be very involved in the following activities during her two year stay:

Developing our theme boxes, improving and expanding the health and life skills lessons, as well as outdoor language play, setting up the organic classroom project and hosting parent workshops.

With Judy’s help we will be able to take our preschools to the next level of excellence!

Our objectives for 2010 - 2012 are:

· train 12 teachers to effectively and sustainably manage 4 preschools

· develop and introduce relevant curricula and teaching methodologies

· improve access to nutrition, health and social support for 140 children

· to actively educate parents and care givers about early childhood

· to ensure long term financial sustainability for 4 preschools.

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
Henry Brooks Adams

Organic Kids up ahead!

Escalating food costs, low levels of nutrition in rural areas and pressure on the environment has made MEC and Mankosi Community in general, keenly aware of taking radical steps towards self sufficiency, environmental understanding and food production. We are pleased to announce that we will be starting our Organic Classroom project in the months to come. We hope to have abundant food gardens at all the preschools in our cluster as well as at MEC. The hands-on learning that the children will experience will benefit them in holistic ways. Learning about nature and gardens and applying the skill to feed oneself and one’s family is a priceless life skill.

The key objectives are to create a school garden that will enable young children to learn about growing food, nutrition and agriculture in a sustainable and organic way.

The garden will be located next to the Mdumbi Education Centre Pre-school building to ensure easy access by all the learners, teachers and facilitators. It will be enclosed by a fence and shade-cloth to ensure that the cows, horses and goats that roam freely in our community may not be tempted by a ‘free-lunch’. It will have containers/beds and will follow the principles of crop rotation. There will be a section dedicated for an organic compost heap. We will grow seasonal vegetables, as well as herbs, berries and fruit.

If you want to see what else the preschool has been up to, check out our video clips on www.Youtube.com (search TransCape Education).

To be updated shortly