Portia Moekwa
Nominee's Province:
North West
Project Name/Description:
Founder, Ratanang Day Care Centre
Moekwa’s blessing in her community came twenty-four years ago when she observed the urgent need to open a daycare centre that’s solely focused on the needs of children, with the first enrolment being her daughter.
To this day, parents in her community are still grateful for Moekwa’s services, allowing them to focus on work while knowing their children are in safe hands.
Moekwa says: “My love for education pushed me to ensure that every child I crossed paths with would have access to education and the necessary resources to allow them to thrive, irrespective of their financial background. Every year over the past 24 years, I have enrolled up to 10 learners who did not have to pay a cent in my centre.”
With an Adult Basic Education and Training qualification obtained at an early age, she continues to run her centre with skills that ensure that parents have better confidence in her services, and what she can do for their children.
“Providing care to children from different backgrounds has allowed me to teach children how to be thoughtful and care for each other.
“As part of the mission of ensuring that no child is left behind, I believe that differently abled children deserve to be educated in ways that will allow them to thrive just as their abled peers do,” Moekwa says.
For more than two decades, Moekwa has educated autistic children and those with ADHD, and they have all left the centre having gained the skills to actively participate in all activities, focus on their learning, and equipped for successful primary school careers.
In between, Moekwa managed to obtain a bachelor’s degree, and later a honours degree at North-West University, which she passed with distinction in record time.
“I aspire to continue learning and encouraging all my children, those that I have birthed, those that I have taught, and any young person that I may encounter, to persistently pursue their dreams and always remind them that ‘Thuto ga e golelwe’,” concludes Moekwa.
