By Emily Setona
QWAQWA – Bophelo day care centre in Makeneg was one of the twenty-three early childhood development (ECD) centres that received donations from multiple stakeholders as part of the Free State Department of Education’s quest to support the foundation phase.
As part of the 67 minutes of goodwill for Mandela the Free State MEC of the department of Education Mamiki Maboya alongside the Consul General of China in Johannesburg Qingjiang Pan spent their time on 31 July at Bophelo day care centre handing over donations, planting trees and giving this day care centre a much-needed face lift.
When addressing the crowd Maboya said the following, “When you drive through this particular area, you can really see that there are many more hills to be climbed. Much as we were able to climb the hill of freedom and democracy, but as Nelson Mandela had observed in his book The long walk to freedom he said; “Much as we have climbed this hill in 1994 but there are still many other hills to be climbed. Mayor we are here to support you and we are saying that together indeed, we can do more.
We are here today to celebrate our hero Nelson Mandela and we don’t just celebrate him but celebrate the principles and the values that he stood for. We chose this particular centre because Nelson Mandela stood for the poor, he stood for the vulnerable, he stood for those who were helpless. That is why we decided to come to this centre, and it is one of those twenty-three centres that we chose, we identified why? because they are centres that are not able to get funding from our department, not because the department doesn’t want to but it’s because the centre does not comply in many aspects.”
The government is determined to build a capable state that is ethical and developmental, and they want to make sure that this ECD centre complies and will be able to get funding from the department of education. The MEC’s team will be working hard to make sure that by the end of this year the centre is compliant and will therefore be able to get funding.
Education MEC Dr Mamiki Maboya accompanied by Chinese Gingjiang Pan,Morena Moremoholo Mopeli, Executive mayor of Maluti-A-Phofung Malekula Melato and founder of Bophelo day care center Azael Nhlapo.
For his part Pan said, “My colleagues and myself are very delighted to join you here at Bophelo day care centre to commemorate the International Nelson Mandela Day. This is actually my second time that I have been to this lovely area of Qwaqwa, the engagement with you has been so warm and encouraging, thank you very much for your warm reception. As Mandela once said, ‘There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children’. ECD projects undertaken by both government and non-government serves as the meaningful intervention in this respect.
Today we are honoured here to be part of the involvement and to express a small token of love and care by donating blankets to the day care centre. We hope it will bring warmth and comfort to the children in need. We always believe that we are living in a global village and that we are one community with a shared future, we need to help each other and join hand in hand to build a better future.”
Morena e Moholo Moremoholo from the Bakoena royal household was amongst the honoured guests present. Bophelo day care centre received 29 matrasses from the Red Cross, reach for recovery donated soft dolls, the Chinese consulate donated, blankets, sound emporiums, chairs and toilets for the children. The department of education donated 29 blankets, 29 chairs, 3 tables and more.
The Free state Department of Economic Small business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) donated four trees and the Free state department of agriculture also donated to this day care centre.
