Businessman Patilizwe “Pat” Mdoda has added “philanthropist” to his growing profile by coming together with some sponsors to build a new Early Childhood Development (ECD) centre in his childhood village where he grew up. The ECD centre is located in Ncembu, KuTsolo village in the Eastern Cape, where Mdoda grew up and attended his first grade in a mud hut.
The initiative to build the ECD centre was fuelled when Mdoda and his family responded to the president’s Special Project of Early Childhood Education.
The school has an administration building with a library, a sick bay, a computer lab, and a secure room for valuable school supplies. It has a classroom building with two classrooms that can each hold up to 30 learners, and a storage room.
The centre has a service building with a kitchen and storeroom, four children’s restrooms and one adult restroom, and an additional overflow classroom that can hold 15 learners.
“The facility is ready to use with furniture, equipment, and appliances already installed. The Mdoda family is committed to ensuring that the facility provides top-class children stimulation and tuition and has committed to funding the training of two educators in the modern methods of educating this foundation education at LEGO,” said Mdoda.
The centre’s principal, Bongani Combi, said: “This is an important task and we as Ncembu Primary School are extremely grateful for the opportunity that Mr Pat Mdoda and sponsors gave our school, having to watch the building of this incredible Childhood Development Center for our learners was very priceless.”
To honour the annual Nelson Mandela Day, the new Childhood Development Center will be formally inaugurated on July 18, 2023, on Mandela’s birthday.
A handover ceremony will be held at Ncembu Village to commemorate this day, and distinguished dignitaries and members of the community are expected to be in attendance.
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