ECD centre opens at Bethanie

NAMPA
BETHANIE – Deputy Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Lucia Witbooi last week opened an Early Childhood Development centre at Bethanie, sponsored by the Anglo-American Foundation (AAF).

The N$1.1 million centre has two classrooms, toilets, an office, kitchen, pantry, inside play area and outside playground.

Named Vrolike Voetjies, the centre is the brainchild of a mother and daughter, Maria Meyer and Nadia van Rooyen, who started the small school in 2011 in a corrugated iron room in their backyard.

Van Rooyen, a Bethanie native and teacher in Oranjemund, started looking for sponsorships for a proper centre and three years ago, knocked on the door of the foundation.

By then, Meyer had acquired a piece of land across her home from the Bethanie Village Council.

However, when AAF came on board late last year, the land was returned to the council as the foundation does not support projects owned by individuals.

The centre now belongs to the village council, but is managed by the mother and daughter with the help of two caretakers. The school is tasked with paying its monthly municipal dues to the council, while the 38 children registered at the centre each pay N$100 per month.

Witbooi lauded the partnership between the ministry, the foundation, the local authority and the community. She emphasised the importance of early childhood programmes and interventions.

“The foundation should be laid correctly if we want healthy, productive citizens,” she said.

It is also vital to have trained educators, Witbooi added, stating that the ministry provides training, though not at the desired speed due to limited resources.

She described the facility as a huge boost to the village’s development and urged parents and community members to assist with its maintenance and small donations.

The AAF has developed ECD centres in the Hardap and //Kharas regions at a cost of N$5 million over the last five years.

Witbooi and the AAF’s Richard Cook earlier on Wednesday inaugurated an ECD centre at Koës. This centre was built by the ministry while the foundation erected the fence as part of an ongoing public-private partnership.

Cook said the foundation’s dream is to construct ECD centres in each village and town in the South.

“Though Anglo-American is no longer involved in mining activities in the South, it wishes to plough back to the communities in a worthy manner,” Cook said.

ECD centres at Noordoewer and Grünau were opened last year, while another at Maltahöhe will open next month. Centres are under construction at Lüderitz and Hoachanas.

Cook also called on the involvement of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in the ECD phase.

“There should be a directorate or even a ministry just for early childhood development as it is such an important phase,” he suggested. - Nampa

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Katima Mulilo: 19° | 37° Rundu: 17° | 33° Eenhana: 18° | 33° Oshakati: 20° | 31° Ruacana: 19° | 33° Tsumeb: 17° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 28° Omaruru: 18° | 31° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Gobabis: 17° | 28° Henties Bay: 16° | 19° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 10:54, High tide: 04:57, Low Tide: 22:58, High tide: 17:16 Swakopmund: 15° | 17° Wind speed: 29km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:55, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:14 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 33km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 10:52, High tide: 04:54, Low Tide: 22:56, High tide: 17:13 Rehoboth: 18° | 29° Mariental: 22° | 32° Keetmanshoop: 21° | 34° Aranos: 21° | 31° Lüderitz: 15° | 29° Ariamsvlei: 23° | 34° Oranjemund: 15° | 21° Luanda: 27° | 30° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 24° Mbabane: 15° | 23° Maseru: 12° | 28° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 29° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 28° Cape Town: 17° | 23° Durban: 21° | 25° Johannesburg: 18° | 28° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 18° | 30° Harare: 15° | 31° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.96 | EUR to NAD 20.52 | CNY to NAD 2.63 | USD to NAD 19.03 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.8 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 134.34 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 19.03 | USD to ZMW 24.97 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 73909.5 Up +0.41% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1516.02 Down -0.13% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12981.98 Up +0.34% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 28224.37 Down -2.87% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - 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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 211.71/OZ UP +0.96% | Copper US$ 3.98/lb DOWN -0.0015 | Zinc US$ 2 447.90/T DOWN -0.35% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.06/BBP UP +0.78% | Platinum US$ 898.08/OZ UP +0.36%