Let's build a Jungle Gym!: 2011

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Jungle Gym: Tick!

The jungle gym has finally been built!! Thanks to the generosity of our many friends (and family)

we have finally: built a jungle gym, donated to a pre-primary bursary fund, bought children's toilet seats for a creche and we still have a little seed money over for the next project. A big thank you to everyone who contributed! Pictures and proper thanks to follow in a few days.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Proposed Jungle Gym Site

It's been a while since we've written about our plans for the jungle gym. We've been back in South African since November and just been spending time catching up with friends and fanily and finding our feet again in sunny South Africa. We've both been quite busy in the first few weeks of the year making arrangements for our Masters studies but now that things are almost on track we can focus on our project once again.

In December we went to visit our proposed jungle gym site. The 'Creche' or Pre-school which we are planning to build a jungle gym for is called 'Jehova Ngihlenge Creche' which is Zulu. It means 'Lord Help Us Creche'. It is run by an elderly couple, Mr. and Mrs. Sithole, who are putting their hard-earned pension money and time as retired people into running the pre-school.

Unfortunately we haven't yet been able to meet with them due to academic commitments on our part, but we hope to do so by the middle of March to discuss with them details on what they expect from the jungle gym. We are open to suggestions from them, and may even downscale our jungle gym plan and use some of our money towards other more pressing needs they may have. We're hoping to have plans ready to build the jungle gym during the easter vacation. (i.e. around mid- to late-April)

The pictures below show the site. Mr. Sithole has recently acquired an additional plot of land behind the main building of the creche which is where he would like to design an outdoor play area for the children, and our proposed jungle gym could form an integral part of that.

We'll keep this blog updated as much as possible, so our supporters can keep track of the project.

So Far, So Good:

Since we're raising money it would make sense to keep track of how much we've raised so far:

Sangju Braai 1:
Won 158 340

Sangju Braai 2 (including raffle):
Won 253 820

Pancakes at school:
Won 51 900

Donations:
Won 410 000

TOTAL:
Won 874 060 = R5700
(approximately = $780)

(as at 11/02/2011)

Our Goal: we would like to raise a minimum of R6000 = Won 930 000 or $825

This would cover our basic materials costs. If possible, we'd like to push that up to approximately R7000 which will help to cover transport costs and will allow us to employ someone to help us with the heavy labour.

Our aim is to have this project completed by the end of 2011.