Norah’s Educare Centre situated on the East Rand close to Putfontein is an Early Childhood Development (ECD) Centre focused on learning in a safe and nurturing environment.
The NPO was started in 1998 in Barcelona squatter camp by Norah Moriri. They moved to a plot in Putfontein after Mr. Potgieter donated a piece of his land to the pre-school in early 2000. Norah started the school to provide quality education to vulnerable and orphaned children living in the area, where most of the community are unemployed and the HIV death rate is high, leaving many children without parents. Child headed households are common, younger children being cared for by older siblings.
Norah’s Educare Centre caters for children who are orphans, SASSA (Grant) beneficiaries and whose parents are low-income earners. Their programme has been extended to assist child headed households in the squatter areas of Etwata, Barcelona and Daveyton. They assist where they can to alleviate poverty though job creation, skills development and provision of food parcels to various households.
The Educare Centre consists of 4 classes, accommodating children aged between 3 months and 6 years and has a staff compliment of 8 teachers and 8 additional staff, including a security guard, gardener and a cook.
The respective classes comprise of a creche for babies, Grade RRR, Grade RR and Grade R. They aim to educate the 86 learners in a stimulating environment focusing on holistic uninterrupted development, preparing them for primary school.
Staff salaries, food for the children and food parcels for the community programmes are some of the challenges they face. RADA was introduced to the Educare centre in June 2021 and decided that it was a place we could assist and support going forward. With the help of sponsors, we are now providing food to the school and the extended programme in the squatter area on a monthly basis and will continue to assess and assist with the needs of the school, its teachers, the learners and the community.
