700 children, 700 dreams, 1 school

10. January 2018

Soon opening of the help alliance project’s new primary school in Cape Town

Since the beginning of January, five-year-old Inamandla from South Africa has been warming our hearts with her charming smile. The giant poster featuring her portrait on car park 43 at Frankfurt Airport has been drawing attention to the upcoming opening of the new primary school as part of the help alliance iThemba project in Cape Town, which will offer 700 girls and boys the best education opportunities possible in the future.

Inamandla has a dream. When she grows up she wants to become a doctor and help people.  But Inamandla lives with her family in the Capricorn township of Cape Town in South Africa. There are more than 2,500 children without a school place who live in this socially and economically disadvantaged suburb. Many people are illiterate; the unemployment rate stands at 70 percent. This results in poverty, violence and hopelessness. Under normal circumstances, Inamandla would not have the opportunity to realize her dream.

But now there’s hope. Because at the end of January the new iThemba Primary School opens in the township. It offers 700 girls and boys from Capricorn first-class education and the chance to realize their dreams. That is what the huge poster on Car Park 43 at Frankfurt Airport is drawing attention to. Lufthansa InTouch, the Lufthansa Group’s competence center for customer service and long-time supporter of the help alliance iThemba project, has made this possible.

At the beginning of September, Lufthansa InTouch CEO Erik Mosch visited the construction site of the new school in Capricorn. “iThemba means hope, and that is exactly the feeling I had when I was there. Hope and confidence that these children will have a better future through education. This is also a success of the commitment of our colleagues from Cape Town and of our world-wide InTouch network.

For more than ten years, help alliance has been supporting the iThemba pre-school in the township, where there are currently 83 children between the ages of three and six. In addition to qualified English lessons, social skills will also be taught, which often fall by the wayside in the maelstrom of poverty and violence. As such, it is not only the children who will benefit, but also the parents and the community in general. An example of the positive influence attending a pre-school can have on children is illustrated in the following film about Colin Jr.

Yet the promising foundations that are laid during their time at the pre-school disappear again as soon as the girls and boys go to public primary schools in the township. The ailing school system in South Africa barely makes it possible for children from poorer areas to get a decent education.

“That is why we decided, together with iThemba, to significantly contribute to the construction of a primary school, so that the excellent work of the pre-school can adequately continue”, explains Joachim Steinbach, Managing Director of help alliance.

Susanne French, help alliance Project Manager and Lufthansa Purser, has worked tirelessly over the past few years to get this project off the ground. With success: The primary school already has the commitment of the South African Ministry of Education and is recognized and financed by the State. The provincial government made the building plot available and the operational costs are being borne by the Western Cape Education Department. The construction costs are primarily being borne by help alliance. It is one of the largest projects in the history of the charitable organization.

“The anticipation of the opening on 31 January as part of the Lufthansa Group Market Conference in the presence of LHG’s top management and the Minister of Education is huge”, says help alliance Project Manager French. But still many more donations are needed. “We have only just completed phase one. Our goal is to build a community college for the whole family, because we want to take a holistic approach”, explains the long-haul purser. It should, for example, offer evening classes and sports for young people. It is precisely this age group that is vulnerable. “We want and need to provide these young people with an alternative to gang violence, drugs and alcohol.”

Read more about the projects First-class Preschool Education for Children and Future through Education for Township Children in South Africa.

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