After I was recently interviewed by a New York based photographic company it became clear to me that the world outside Africa have a blurred view of some of the real, everyday problems the normal parents face in their day-to-day lives. As with all parents they want the best for their children but reality is often far removed from what they want and what they can do.
Please don't get me wrong, - this is NOT a black/white race thing! I see the same thing in rural areas as well as in city/populated areas, - children goes to schools, private or government, black and white and after school there is no one at home to supervise and so they roamed the streets. Many parents leave home early in the morning and return from work often late in the day. What to do with the children in order to make sure the idle hand are not up to mischief?
It is people such as Mary-Jane that identified this problem and decided to do something about it. She had very little resources but that didn't detour her, she started a day care center that cares for more that 40 pre-school toddlers and young ones.
If you look at the picture above you will notice that although Mary-Jane don't own a lot she gives so much with all her heart. I also have to point out that on the day we visited the pre-school a lot of parents did not bring their children as they didn't want their children photo/video-graphed.
Not only does Mary-Jane play, care and do activities with the children, she and her helpers teach the children to read and write, paint and teach life-skills to them. The children get a warm plate of food at least once a day. Mary-Jane does all this with her own money. Her husband is working and they are doing all this with the salary he earns and small donations some parents contribute to the center. Some people are very poor and cannot contribute anything.
The love that i saw between Mary-Jane, her helpers and the children are heart-warming. One could really see that there is a very strong band between them and that the children are enjoying themselves very much at the care-center. With some-one like Mary-Jane watching over their children, I am sure the parents have one less problem to worry about.
Please don't get me wrong, - this is NOT a black/white race thing! I see the same thing in rural areas as well as in city/populated areas, - children goes to schools, private or government, black and white and after school there is no one at home to supervise and so they roamed the streets. Many parents leave home early in the morning and return from work often late in the day. What to do with the children in order to make sure the idle hand are not up to mischief?
It is people such as Mary-Jane that identified this problem and decided to do something about it. She had very little resources but that didn't detour her, she started a day care center that cares for more that 40 pre-school toddlers and young ones.
If you look at the picture above you will notice that although Mary-Jane don't own a lot she gives so much with all her heart. I also have to point out that on the day we visited the pre-school a lot of parents did not bring their children as they didn't want their children photo/video-graphed.
Not only does Mary-Jane play, care and do activities with the children, she and her helpers teach the children to read and write, paint and teach life-skills to them. The children get a warm plate of food at least once a day. Mary-Jane does all this with her own money. Her husband is working and they are doing all this with the salary he earns and small donations some parents contribute to the center. Some people are very poor and cannot contribute anything.
The love that i saw between Mary-Jane, her helpers and the children are heart-warming. One could really see that there is a very strong band between them and that the children are enjoying themselves very much at the care-center. With some-one like Mary-Jane watching over their children, I am sure the parents have one less problem to worry about.
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