Lydia is a 29-year-old dynamic, enthusiastic, caring Principal of Nthuteng ECD and Aftercare situated in Lakeside Estate, De Deur.
She attended the Gr8Start Early Childhood Development Programme from Lusa Community Chest, sponsored by BSI Steel. Lydia attended the training 6 months ago and shared her story with us.
What a delight to chat with her and experience her effervescent energy and positive feedback!
Lydia has been living in De Deur for 21 years thus she knows the community well and saw a need to take care of the children in her community. “My love for children comes naturally to me, it is my calling”.
Seeing children who had nowhere to go and were playing in the streets during the day while their parents were at work was an issue for Lydia. She decided to start her school as an aftercare centre four years ago. Later she thought “I have so much energy why not take the little ones and prepare them for school.”
Lydia says that she has 37 after care children and a small class of 5 ECD children at the moment.
Lydia enthusiastically shares her Gr8Start Programme Journey. She was referred to the Gr8Start program through Evelyn Tshumane, the Social Worker from De Deur and it has made a tangible difference in her ECD.
“It has made such a difference to the way I teach. It showed me that each child is different and each child has a different pace of learning. We need to be patient with them. I learned breathing exercises to do with the children to calm their nervous system. I learned that children need love and safety and good nutrition to promote their health and happiness. I learned waste is not waste and how to create things with my own hands with recyclable materials like toys, teaching aids and visual aids. I now have a programme for each day, I have learned how to communicate with parents during this programme, to treat other people differently. And this has gained me the respect of the parents. This programme has changed my life,” Lydia explained.
“The Lives of Children are like the lives of Butterflies”. Lydia says that children undergo a metamorphosis while attending her school as time goes by. She believes it is her care and dedication to the children that brings about this change. Parents come to Lydia and thank her, saying their child has changed. Additionally, from learning to read, write, pronounce words, differentiate the letters of the alphabet, these little people learn sharing, caring, how to treat others, morals, and respect which they then teach other children in the community. The teachers report that they have no more complaints as the children now mind the rules and do their work.
Lydia’s message to other ECD and after care Teachers is: “If you should have the opportunity to attend this course, do so. You are going to learn a lot! The skills that you learn in this course are invaluable, they will capacitate you with the knowledge of how to teach children with different learning styles; auditory learners learn by listening, kinaesthetic by movement and visual from seeing. The instruments and learner aids you make with recyclables will give them the mathematics, reading and language skills as well as small and big motor development to ensure they are school-ready. Your children will not get bored, in fact with the skills you gain from this course your children will be so stimulated and engaged they will not want to sleep during the day.
Lydia says she dreams “of having the biggest ECD in De Deur and my own Private School and I pray that God will strengthen me to pursue this Dream. My heartfelt gratitude and thanks to the gracious sponsors BSI Steel who made this Programme possible.”