Stormont Madubela Primary School is a school in Nyanga, Cape Town, that was recommended to FoodBank. In 2008, after our usual due diligence, FoodBank decided to support this small school with a big heart.
The school was established in 1987 when a small group of underqualified teachers and other willing adults decided to provide education to young children who could not afford to attend school.
The teachers worked on a voluntary basis. Plastic shelters, wooden structures and used shipping containers have served as classrooms.
Stormont Principal, Ms BN MatabataMs BN Matabata is the school Principal. She started as a teacher at the school in 1991, and became Principal in 1998. When she started at the school, she says, everything was ‘upside down’! The school lacked the most basic resources. A Department of Education subsidy was hugely welcome but not enough to cover the school’s needs. In winter, the roofs leaked onto the children; in summer, the sweltering heat in the containers was unbearable.
With determination, Stormont Madubela Primary School has slowly but surely put down roots in Nyanga. Today, the school has a staff of 10 teachers, a secretary, a cook and two caretakers.
But basic resources taken for granted by more privileged schools are simply not available at Stormont. ‘We have no textbooks,’ says Ms Matabata. ‘This means that most of our teaching is oral; we are theorising because we cannot show the children things – we need to tell them about things.’ The school is busy preparing for end-of-year exams. ‘We have to write all the notes on the chalkboard,’ says Ms Matabata, ‘because we do not have textbooks to give to the children.’
Textbooks are not the only concern. Basics such as stationery and furniture are needed. Sanitation is a big problem – the school has only 1 toilet for every 20 children. Next year, Ms Matabata would love to provide more toilets for the children.
Another major need is food. For many of Stormont’s pupils, the school meal may be their only meal of the day. It is here that FoodBank assists. FoodBank started supporting the school through the Lunch Buddies Program, but later moved to providing the school with dry goods to make cooked food, so that every child at the school could have at least one cooked meal per day. Between FoodBank and the Peninsula School Feeding Association, the school’s food needs are met. In the past 18 months, FoodBank has provided just under 50,000 kilograms of sandwiches, fruit and dry goods to the school.
Ms Matabata says that the best thing about working at Stormont is that she and the other staff members have learnt to do things for themselves. ‘At a government school, things are provided for you,’ she says. ‘Here, if we do not do things for ourselves, it will not happen. We have learnt to find our own way.’ Ms Matabata still has plans to improve the school, and provide more for the children. The school plans to build on its relationship with FoodBank. They also want to source other potential sponsors to assist with other needs. ‘We have learned how to ask for help’ says Ms Matabata.
Stormont Madubela Primary School has become a place of hope, opportunity and safety for 360 children. A place that ensures that every child has one warm meal a day, and the chance of a brighter future.
For more information about Stormont Madubela Primary School, contact the Principal Ms. B.N. Matabata on telephone 021 385 3661.
For more images of FoodBank at Stormont, courtesy of our friends at GivenGain, visit
- http://esphotojournalism.wordpress.com/2011/10/19/foodbank-sa-stormont-madubela-primary-school/ and
- http://www.lukemenzel.com/foodbank.html
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