Hailing from a large family in Eastern Cape, Pheliwe Mbunje says her love of early childhood learning started young. When she was just 10 years old, she was tasked with taking her 8-month-old nephew to daycare near their village of Gaqa. She was instantly hooked! Thus, when the opportunity came to teach her own class of young learners as an adult, she jumped at it. Pheliwe completed Ikamva’s award winning Early Childhood Development Practitioners Course, based conveniently in Khayelitsha at Ikamva’s model ECD. She has continued to implement her skills and work toward being a stronger teacher–and hopes to one day open her own ECD center.
“Being an ECD practitioner does not mean that we just make sure children eat, play and sleep,” Pheliwe learned. “There is so much more to this job than what people think. We are here to develop and strengthen their young minds, stimulate their brains, and get them ready for primary school.”
Hear more about Pheliwe’s journey in this video about our Early Childhood Development programme.