At Kamcare, we believe that the care and development of children is of the utmost importance. We are deeply committed to supporting the holistic development of children of all ages—nurturing their physical, emotional, intellectual, and social well-being.

Fundisa ECD (early childhood development program):

In the rural Roodeplaat area, many children live in informal settlements under extremely challenging conditions marked by poverty, single-parent households, unemployment, and malnutrition. Most mothers work long hours in low-paying jobs, leaving their children in low-cost daycare facilities with limited resources and untrained caregivers.

Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in the area often operate from informal structures with unqualified staff and lack educational materials or play equipment. Children receive minimal stimulation, spending their days in cramped, unstimulating environments.

In response, Kamcare launched the Fundisa ECD Project in 2021 to support and improve local crèches. The project focuses on:

  1. Training and educating ECD teachers
  2. Providing healthy food and nutrition education (e.g., vegetable gardening)
  3. Supplying educational toys and materials
  4. Renovating facilities (e.g., carpets, paint, electricity, play equipment)

 

 

 Objective 1:Teacher Training

The development and education of the teachers are the most important objective since it influences the output and the sustainability of the program. For us it is about the relationship that we have with the teachers and to bring permanent change.  If the teachers are cared for, they will also implement the same care with the children.

Objective 2:  Providing healthy food

Food is the basic need of all people.  Since malnutrition is rife in informal settlements, it is very important to provide the children in our crèches with healthy food.  Kamcare trained and assisted all the crèches in our program on how to start their own vegetable garden.

Fortified maize meal are also donated to the crèches. 

Objective 3: Provision of educational toys and stationery

Most of the classes are not equipped and from the school fees the crèche owners receive they buy food, gas and pay salaries.  There is no money left to buy any education toys- and material such as puzzles, blocks, bean bags, posters, crayons, etc. It is therefore important for Kamcare to first train the teachers on how to make use of various educational toys before equipping these crèches with educational toys that stimulates learning and enhances growth.

Objective 4: Renovation, building and equipping of creches

Crèche’s are evaluated and based on their circumstances, needs and available funding, a few will get selected where the building and renovating of classrooms will take place.  Once a school is renovated, the classes get fully equipped with various education equipment and stationery.

 

To date, Fundisa ECD program reached:

  • 5916 children  
  • 210 crèches 
  • 118 educational grates given out
  • 1235 teachers trained
  • 10 ton mieliepap given out 
  • 7 crèches renovated 
  • 10 toilets installed

Entrepreneurial development:

After working for more than 15 years with entrepreneurship training, Kamcare’s focus is now on the crèche owners that are running their own businesses.  

This objective links closely with our Fundisa Early Childhood development program. 

If we receive BBBEE funding for Enterprise development, we identify a registered crèche owner and put them through a comprehensive business training course and mentorship program.  Funding are then allocated towards renovations of the crèche. 

A re Bale program:

A re Bale means “we read”. Since 2014, Kamcare has been running a literacy initiative called Reading Eggs at two crèches in our local community. This internationally recognized online English reading program is designed to develop children’s reading skills and improve their fluency in English—the primary language of instruction in schools.

Children living in informal settlements often lack access to electricity, televisions, or printed materials, which means they are typically not exposed to English at an early age. This language gap significantly affects their ability to succeed in school.

By participating in the Reading Eggs program, these children are given a vital head start. The program helps them gain confidence and competence in English, placing them in a far stronger position for academic success.


 

To date, 1,934 children have benefited from our reading training program.