For 73 year-old, Nomalizo Pikashe, moulding and taking care of children is a never ending passion.
Pikashe from Nomzamo, has been running and sharing her skills at Emfundisweni Pre-Primary School since 1994.
The mother of three says her passion for working with children began in 1990. After arriving in Cape Town from the rural areas of Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape, Pikashe, knitted and sold clothes to make a living.
Pikashe came to the province in search of greener pastures but found the going very difficult.
One day she was spotted by a lady who introduced her to different creches and later volunteered her time.
This was the beginning of good things for Pikashe, and 28 years later she is still dealing with children.
“When I arrived in Nomzamo after being relocated from Waterkloof, I had about 50 children to look after. At the time I had no water, no toilet but only one shipping container which was also utilised to cook and as a classroom,” she recalls.
“After seeing the different children we had over the years, I also had to do a garden to help with nutrition. Children come from different backgrounds with unique challenges, so at Emfundisweni we try by all means to cater for all these children,” she said.
Pikashe believes looking at children holistically helps them to do well at school and to attend to their different challenges.
She said her dream is to see the pre-school having different departments such as psychology and speech therapy to cater for all kinds of children they deal with on a daily basis.
“My main interest is to see children developing themselves into better human beings that can change the society they come from. No money or anything would please me other than to see social changes in our communities for the better,” she said.
Pikashe urged the young ones to get educated if they are to have a meaningful impact in life and society in general.
She said she feels proud when she is stopped on the street by children she used to teach at Emfundisweni to tell her about their progress in life.