7 June 2012 is a date I will never forget! It is the day that the Department of Roads and Public Works (from Grahamstown) came to finish levelling the site for the new ILM – this means that we can now start building!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!! SCB would like like to thank Mr C Belden and Mr Z Nkosinkulu for their great efforts in helping us with this massive task, as well as all the guys who were involved in pulling this off – we really appreciate it and so does the community!
Right, site is level, bring on the building crew. Luke and his team tackled the site and foundations were dug!
May and June were great months for the children at ILM – they were all progressing so beautifully, finding just what they needed for their own development. I saw many bouts of super concentration and this was great to observe! Check out what the children were up to:
I was privileged enough (thanks to Sam Streak) to go and attend the South African Montessori Asssociation (SAMA) National Conference in Knysna at the end of May and it was an absolutely amazing experience! (Thank you SAMA for the sponsored membership for ILM!) To spend a weekend with 150 other Montessorians is w, w , w, Wonderful!!!! I met some really inspirational women and have formed new lifelong friendships. Ladies you know who you are….in South Africa and Nambia. Thank you for all your support and kindness 🙂
I had been in contact with a German volunteer who had done a semester at UCT and was coming to join us for the last 2 weeks of the 2nd term. I was looking forward to Fridolin’s arrival, as it would give me some extra time, which I really needed. When Fridolin arrived, I was well surprised………..he was a guy!?!?! But he loved the children from the 1st moment and they loved him right back!!!! With alot of our children not having fathers at home, it was super to have Fridel around, as boys definitely need male figures in their lives. Fridel worked with the children, Fridel played with the children, Fridel loved the children and he fixed the gate for us, checked our gutters, made a few veggie beds (with the children) and then he took 4 of our strong boys down the hill on a mission……….they were going to fetch HEAVY poles…….for Fridel to make us a see-saw!
Thank you Fridel – I don’t think you will ever be forgotten 🙂
Back to the building site at the new ILM…..between delivery truck problems and rainy weather, the progress has not been as good as we had hoped, but we are very happy and proud to show that our site now looks like this. Welcome to the layout of the new ILM!
We are still a few hundred thousand rand short for our new pre-school, so if anyone reading this would like to make a donation, just hang onto it for a few days more and perhaps tell your friends about our project. We will have Paypal up and running on our site within a week and that will make your life much easier!
Stay well and we will keep you up-dated on the progress and development.
Dawn and the abantwanas 🙂