Pooh Bear Educare – Our 1000th Facility!

3 x 30m² prefab classrooms and jungle gym

Impact achieved

· Five years ago, Breadline Africa set an ambitious goal – to take their infrastructure tally of just over 400 to 1,000 units in just five years to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of their founding. On 17 February 2023, the launch of the 1,000^th infrastructure unit was celebrated at Pooh Bear Educare in Delft, Cape Town.

· Michelle Davids established Pooh Bear in 2009 and is passionate about caring for the children in her community. As enrollment numbers grew, she applied to make use of nearby land and approached Breadline Africa for assistance to build a new centre.  In 2018, they received a 60m² prefabricated classroom, a 6m container kitchen and a 6m container toilet facility.

· In partnership with GROW Educare and with funding from MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet, Breadline Africa was able to provide another three classrooms and a jungle gym in 2023.

· Prof Jonathan Jansen, Professor of Education at the University of Stellenbosch committed to helping the pre-school to install artificial grass by making the first donation and invited other guests to join him. Prof Jansen went on to say that research in education agrees on one thing: “the investment in the foundation phase and in early childhood has positive benefits over the long term.”

· The mayor of Cape Town, Geordin Hill-Lewis, is a staunch supporter of Breadline Africa and during his address, he thanked the organisation for inviting him to these events: “I love attending them. It is wonderful to see! In an earlier speech, you said ‘may this be a place of safety for these kids’, that is absolutely our commitment [as the City of Cape Town] that we are trying to build a safe, cleaner and more inclusive city, where these children can grow up and have a wonderful future.”

· MySchool MyVillage MyPlanet General Manager Pieter Twine said that the establishment of the new facilities at Pooh Bear Educare is thanks, in part, to the millions of programme members who give back – at no cost to themselves – with every swipe of a MySchool card at partner retailers. “By nominating organisations like Breadline Africa as the beneficiaries of their swipes, our programme members are helping transform one small piece of South African society at a time and making a massive difference to communities across the country, every time they shop”.

· Breadline Africa director, Marion Wagner said: “Through our infrastructure and in collaboration with partners like GROW Educare Centres, we aim to create measurable impact in addressing school readiness and access to safe pre-schools. According to the ECD Census 2021, nearly 70% of South African children under six are not enrolled in any early learning programme. Equipping pre-schools together with our partners, will make a significant difference in preparing our children to succeed in school and into the future. Education is a path out of poverty.”