LEARNING FROM THE VERY BEGINNING – EARLY-CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
SAMARA FOUNDATION
Our project partner and founder of the Samara Foundation, Louisa Feiter, is our most important point of contact in the field of early-childhood development. Her work focuses on the very poor rural region of the Eastern Cape of South Africa, where only a few organizations are active and where there is great need for support.
Day-care centers there are often operated by women from local communities who manage the child care. The Samara Foundation assists these women by offering continuing-education content for the child minders and financing maintenance work on the buildings which are often in need of upkeep. Louisa Feiter is our contact with these day-care centers, and the Umckaloabo Foundation has been supporting her since 2017; she has a major impact on the young people and families of the region and serves as a safe haven for many children.
JABULANI DAYCARE CENTER
The Jabulani Daycare Center in Cape Town is truly a project of the heart for its founder, Cynthia Isaacs, who took on caring for the first child as a spontaneous decision.
Word got out quickly, and soon she was taking care of so many children that she gave up her job and turned her home into a daycare center. Today, she and two daycare teachers look after around 30 children who enjoy the best possible early education with the simplest means, and they can enter school well-prepared and with self-confidence. We have been supporting the Jabulani Daycare Center for many years. In 2025, we made a commitment together with the Peter and Luise Hager Foundation to give this initiative the ability to plan its important work securely in the years ahead.
MASIFUNDE EDUCATION CENTER
Early-childhood education is also an integral part of the work of the Masifunde Education Center in Walmer Township. In early 2025 we were able to dedicate a state-of-the-art daycare center here based on Montessori principles; the site was built with the help of the Umckaloabo Foundation, among others. At this center, the children from the Township can enjoy not only playful learning but a sense of esteem and orientation.