In 2007, Khomanani, a local association with links to the French-speaking community, announced its ambition to create a facility to care for young children in Vlakfontein. In South Africa, a large number of children under the age of 7 – the age of compulsory schooling – are looked after at home by their families or other members of the community, or are left to fend for themselves. Yet it is recognised that the first years of life are crucial in psychomotor development, laying the foundations for future learning.
This is how the crèche came into being shortly afterwards, thanks in particular to a family of expatriates in Johannesburg who financed a large part of the equipment so that the memory of their 6-year-old daughter, who died tragically in a car accident in Namibia, would be associated with this project for change. Their little girl was called Gabrielle.
Since then, year after year, the French-speaking community has continued to support the crèche.
