At Londolozi we are so lucky in that many of our guests return time and time again and because of this, we get to know them really well. This allows for great connections and friendships to be made with people from all over the world. Guests like, Allan and Anne and Trevor and Mary have visited Londolozi now many times and have become part of the family. We have made many special memories here with these guests and their last visit was no different. On 16 February, this wonderful group of people who always spend a lot of time in our Londolozi village whenever they visit us, gave the pre-school kids the best day of their school lives.
Salma Ndlovu beams with joy and excitement at this new technology she now has access to. Photo by Amanda Ritchie
We want children to be excited about learning and their kind donation has given us the opportunity to do exactly that. With the money donated, the Good Work Foundation has bought four tablets to be used by our little ones in the creche.
Salma Ndlovu, her mother Omelia Ndlovu, Sqelo Sibuyi and Felicia Khosa work and play together in the Londolozi pre-school. Photo by Amanda Ritchie
Londolozi as a partner of Good Work Foundation has outsourced the learning of its younger family members – the preschool children – to the GWF. We know that the GWF Digital Learning model is the way to achieve great things because we see it in action at all GWF learning centers! It is such a privilege to be a part of a model that we believe will play a significant role in solving one of the challenges facing humanity.
This sort of education is crucial in the modern world we’re living in and we hope that this addition to the pre-school will ensure these kids are even better prepared for the next step in their school careers. Photo by Amanda Ritchie
To that end the open learning curriculum is becoming part of what and how the children are learning at the Londolozi Pre-school. The Open Learning Programme is core to the curriculum at all our Good Work Foundation Learning Centres, giving access to digital education to rural Mpumalanga learners. The two languages of access in the world today are English and Computers and we believe children need access to these languages as young as possible. The internet, television, video games, iPads, iPhones, iTouch and all the apps that go with the technologies, monopolise our children’s attention and so we must ensure that education and the curriculum is relevant and just as exciting and as addictive as all the other influences.
One of the things that is so special about Londolozi is the family relationships entrenched in this place. Here, mother and daughter play together on the new tablets. Photo by Amanda Ritchie
We want children to have “wonder-filled learning” and of course they need to be digital! The apps on these tablets have been very carefully chosen by Chrispen Bvunbghe, who is the head of open learning at all GWF centres. He ensures that they are age appropriate and that they are going to give our children hours of digital learning and fun! We hope to ready these children for school by teaching them through different mediums. Their teachers have been trained to give lessons on the tablets in conjunction with running their normal lesson plans so that our Londolozi children are ahead of the rest when they get to school. And hopefully they will get to one of the 16 schools where the GWF open learning model is in place, thereby helping to continue to develop these children into incredible young men and women who will change the world and make south Africa an even better country!
Omelia Ndlovu, Mpumi Mkwanazi and Gogo Mo Groch receive the tablets from Chrispen. Chrispen is the Head of the Open Learning at GWF and has helped to choose all the apps available on the tablets for these children.
The young members of the Londolozi preschool are our future so to Allan, Anne, Trevor and Mary, thank you for your contribution to making South Africa a better place, for loving our children and for giving them this incredible opportunity to become children that are addicted to learning.
Wonderful story and photos. I didn’t realize that guests can visit the village, so I’m looking forward to it next time we come to Londolozi.
Visiting the pre-school is such fun. The children warm my hesrt. Thanks galore to the guests…no, family members, for thisgenerous gift so the children have access to the wonders of their workd. And thanks, Gogo, for your insight and dedication to education. Tutu Guffet
So many typos. I get excited and in a hurry when I read the Londolozi blog.
All involved with education in the pre school learn far more than we teach! Gogo Mo