Little Flowers start to bloom
2008-06-26
Maggie Follett
A philanthropic partnership between the Wellington East NG Kerk and the Coast Hills Community Church in California, USA, has facilitated the establishment of another container crèche in Mbekweni. Dubbed “Little Flowers”, the core of the Mfuleni Street crèche complex consists of three containers, a basic one which was being used to house the existing crèche. The other two were exported to South Africa from the States, courtesy of the “Cargo of Dreams” outreach venture. The brightly-painted, insulated containers arrived just over three weeks ago. One boasts a pre-installed, state-of-the-art kitchen and toilet/washroom unit, while the other was piled to the roof with every possible item required to build and set up the crèche, including trusses and roofing, floor tiles, doors and windowframes (plus putty, glazing and burglar bars), little toilets and hand-basins, tables and chairs, sleeping mats, toys (many of them hand-made), nappies, formula, first-aid supplies and educational aids. Both containers were delivered complete with electrical fittings, and a generator was supplied with the township context in mind. Everything (as well as the necessary funding to ensure their safe arrival on our shores) was donated by 600 members of the large Californian church community to the Wellington East congregation, for use in their township youth upliftment programme, of which pre-schools form an integral part. This international church community exchange initiative was established by the visionary Marius van der Colff, a South African who spent several years living in the USA. Three years ago, the well-connected van der Colff hit on the idea of using containers to house crèches in disadvantaged areas, and so the “Cargo of Dreams” container-crèche concept came into being. “Little Flowers” is the third crèche of its kind to be established in partnership with Cargo of Dreams. After being transported from Cape Town harbour, the containers were temporarily stored in Wellington Industria, until they could be moved to their final home in Mbekweni. The entire complex process was smoothly effected thanks to generous donations of money, equipment and time on the part of various companies and individuals including Marius Mostert of Afristone, J van der Sluys Construction, Pikkie Mareé Transport and Triomf Steel. Despite the inclement weather, construction of the crèche complex began on 9 June as planned. The roof was erected over a week-long period by Danie Theart, Marius Mostert, Christo Gerber, Reg Cowie and Marius van der Colff, with assistance from Americans Andy Schiller and Mike Sloan. Mbekweni residents and parents of pre-schoolers attending the crèche will be able to continue with,plastering and painting.
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