Living in Masiphumelele during a pandemic

We recently asked Monica, an ECD parent to share her personal experience with us about living in Masiphumelele during the COVID-19 pandemic. We wanted to understand the challenges she has been facing with her family and how sending her child back to school would impact her and the learner.

Monica says that it has been challenging for them to make ends meet during this time but expressed gratitude for the support we’ve been giving her family during the pandemic. We have been providing ECD families with food packs and grocery vouchers to help them get access to food for their children. “Sending our child to Masi Educare was the best decision, during this Pandemic, Masicorp took good care of our families and we were able to put food on the table” she boasts cheerfully.

Another challenge that they constantly face is the lack of space in a densely populated community like Masi. The lockdown regulations forced the family to be confined indoors all the time, “It was not easy to keep the children indoors. I was always worried that they are missing out on important developmental stages”. Due to the boredom, the children wanted to play outside where space is shared, which was impossible without violating the rules of social distancing. She preferred her children to be back at school where it was safer and more stimulating.

Despite our ECD centres being closed, we sent out learning packs for the learners to keep the learning going. Monica says that she found the learning packs we sent out helpful in keeping her little ones stimulated. She had a whole new respect for the teachers when she finally got involved in the learning at home, “Being a part of what my child does at school was eye-opening, I can see and understand what the staff does every day with our children”.

Monica and her family have often found living in Masiphumelele during the COVID-19 pandemic to be traumatic but she is appreciative of the time it gave her with her children. She was quite pleased when the ECD centres opened, she could finally send her little one back to school again. In Masi Educare, we have taken all measures to keep the learners safe so we can provide them with the education they need.