About Us

Sunshine Educare is newly located in the Wolwerivier informal settlement just outside Melkbosstrand, Cape Town, South Africa.

The Xhosa name of “Mtha Welanga” (When in a dark, cloudy sky, a ray of sunshine breaks through) best describes this amazing facility which is an oasis of light in a place of darkness. It offers hope in a place that has none and a future in a place where no-one lives, everyone merely survives.

The school originally started off in a desperately undersized shack with one tiny window where 70 children from 1 to 8 were huddled in one dark, shared room. Soon, with the help of SAVE Foundation, we acquired a wendy house which allowed us to take the older kids out in a group to do educational activities while the babies and toddlers played.

By January 2014 we moved across to a cleared piece of land where SAVE and KILROY erected two beautiful classrooms. By November 2014, KILROY and SAVE generously added an additional 3 buildings. Two as new classrooms and 1 as a new restroom building where for the first time, the children can practice proper hygiene with toilets, hand basins and hand soap available at all times.

The school also serves as a “community centre” and is used as a meeting place for community meetings, or meetings with external parties such as social workers, the local government, etc. It has become a symbol of hope and possibilities. With the move, the community lost all access to services such as churches, shops, vegetable gardens and clinic. The preschool now wishes to grow a large supply of vegetables and offer the building on weekends as a community church.

The Ubuntu shop gives donated clothing, food and other items to the community in return for participation in our initiatives such as by volunteering their time to assist in the vegetable garden.

As most of our children are malnourished and vulnerable, they simply cannot cope with the demands of school. By the time they start High School, 95% of the children have fallen out. We currently have only 1 learner in Grade 12. With the preschool, we hope to uplift education levels and learning ability to see a significant rise in those figures. In a country with such ridiculous unemployment figures, we just HAVE to help these children have a fighting chance by at least completing their school education in order to be employable.