You may remember the story of Sekhona Doncabe (4 years old) and her mismatched socks from our 2019 Impact Report. We had chatted to her ECD facilitator, Zandile, about Sekhona’s amazing increase in empathy from the beginning of 2019 to the end.
We wanted to find out how Sekhona was getting on during lockdown at home so we caught up with her and her guardian this month.
We arrive at the Doncabe residence and it is clear that Mrs. Doncabe is very happy to be sharing the positive effect that Thanda has had on Sekhona from back when she started at Thanda until now.
“Thanda plays a very big role in our children’s lives,” she tells us. “Kids themselves learn a lot of things like feelings, numbers and colours. Sekhona can even see when you are not feeling well (sick) or if you are angry/sad.”
We ask her what Sekhona is doing now that she has to remain at home during lockdown and Mrs. Doncabe is quick to explain that Sekhona enjoys doing all the activities that are sent through from Thanda as part of the Education at Home Programme “Thanda provided us with papers and crayons to help with teaching the kids. We help with learning and drawing of shapes like circles, she can draw a square. We are moving along with confidence teaching the children with great help from Thanda” she says with a smile.
We also chat about Sekhona’s progress from the end of 2019 until now, with the first three months of the year spent at Thanda and then the move to the Education at Home Programme after lockdown started.
“The difference is enormous” explains Mrs. Doncabe, “What I have discovered about Sekhona this year is that she knows the sequence of things like cooking basics and she can count up to 20. It is very uncommon for a child her age to do so. I wonder how well she will do when she starts in grade R next year. Last year she could only count up to 10, this year she just flowed straight to 20 and she can go further. It’s just that she still can’t tell which comes first a 30 or a 40” she chuckles softly.
Suddenly, Mrs. Doncabe remembers something… “Oh! English!” she exclaims “I would like to thank you for teaching her English. Sekhona can name animals in English. She knows more than the grade 1’s in the house. She loves English a lot more than her home language. She translates everyone’s names from Zulu to English, she is so clever! She is very motivated in everything she does. Soon she will be teaching me a thing or two. Also, whenever I am quiet she says “you think too much, something must’ve upset you”. You can never hide anything from her. She will dig and dig to find out what is wrong. Sekhona is smart indeed.”
Mrs. Doncabe’s pride and love for her child is palpable and Sekhona’s development can be attributed as much to her keen involvement in her child’s progress, as it can be to the lessons learned through Thanda. An active and interested guardian is essential to a child’s developmental success.
Sekhona is a busy child but we managed to chat with her too!
She told us about how much she misses going to Thanda. When asked what she misses most she replied earnestly with “I miss my teacher and also Amahle” (Amahle is one of her classmates and best friends). She also told us about the books she has been reading and the games she has been playing at home, hopscotch is a favourite!
We were blown away by the number of times Sekhona’s guardian mentioned her child’s concern for the feelings and well-being of others. It’s clear that the empathy that she has displayed at Thanda, has carried through to her home life too and we were thrilled to hear these accounts from her guardian.
