Yesterday Lexie left Stanford, moving back to Cape Town. She was the heart of our day care centre but after all what happened, she had to leave. It makes us sad and at the same time very frustrated to see one of the nicest person we ever met leave. Lexie, you will always be very welcome in our home.

Missing you already. Stanford has lost more than just a wonderful person. Will they notice?

To get the facts straight:

We opened without the proper permission, yes, this is true. But there were 10 children sitting in a wendy house on a farm next to the main road with no security and no protection from the upcoming winter. We had no other choice. And to be quite honest: until then, we never thought that somebody would oppose a none profit day care centre simply because of not wanting children in the the direct neighbourhood of their one bedroom guest cottage.

The municipality approved consent use.

It is simply not right, that Ms Whittaker was there to „upheld the law“. Sorry, this is absolute rubbish. She put in an appeal against the municipality’s decision only after we refused to accept her ridiculous demands (eg. Children are not allowed to be outside in the afternoon, not even in summer).

Only then she used her right to appeal and stopped us from running the day care centre. And by using her appeal she succeded in closing African Giggles. It has nothing to do with the law or with the upholding of such.

Stanford: lots have been said about the charme and nature and bird watching etc here. Its a place were people spend time, money and energy on piano funds and art classes. And to make sure that alien vegetation is removed.

Its not such a good place for a children day care centre,
Jens v. Wichtingen

Dear Ms Zille

we are a German founded company running in Cape Town for almost 15 years now. Please have a look at our website for more information.

OUR PROBLEM
About 2 years ago we started one of our social involvement projects. African giggles – kindergarten for Africa, based in Stanford, Western Cape. We purchased a building in the middle of town, employed teachers and enrolled children from mostly the nearby township. Children were given montessori education, free meals and care at no or minimal charge (R50/month, if the parents could afford it). At the same time we secured the parents dignity by involving them in daily work, e.g. cleaning, reading stories etc …

Please have a look at what we did up to now here, at our website.

WE HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT EDUCATION IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SOLUTION TO SOLVE ALL PROBLEMS OUR WONDERFUL COUNTRY IS FACING.

We are being confronted by two neighbours, complaining about the noise children make. These two neighours run small holiday cottages next to our property and are worried that having a kindergarten next door will decrease the value of their holiday homes. They have lodged formal complaints to the Overstrand municipality and after these were turned down, they appealed against this decision. And now because of this appeal, African giggles – kindergarten for Africa will not be able to operate as planned.

Provincial government is working with this case for almost one year now. We were first told to get a result in March, then August, then November … now we were told that a decision will be made end of January 2010.

We request assistance from the DA before but did not get any. Our open letter, dated 7th of May 2009.

To be quite honest: we feel taken for a ride. We invested, we wanted to do good. But because of burocracy, we lost all. We did not get any support from the people in charge – except empty promisses.

Up to now, we did not receive nor claim any funds from government or social services. All running costs and also the legal fees were carried by Cape Studies and its owners, Mr Jens von Wichtingen and Mr Daniel Stemmet. Right now we are standing at R500 000. We were approved by the Overstrand municipality – reasons here. But due to the appeal of Ms Bea Whittaker, Stanford which we believe is totally unjustified, we are forced to closed down.

Can you help us? The DA has a chance to get involved and assist us in running a good project. Up to now, the DA ward councellor Allan Berry was more assisting the opposing side, namely the people that do not want a day care centre next to their holiday cottage.

We understand the legal process and that it can take longer. But there is a provision within the Stanford Zoning Scheme. If the owner of a building disputes the existence of the contraventions, council may arrange a special hearing and appoint a advisory committee.

Demand to close the kindergarten was issued Mr Boshoff, Gansbaai Administration, T: 028-384 8300
DA respresentative for Stanford, Mr Allan Berry (laywer) is representing the appealants in ongoing legal battle, so there is a conflict of interests.
More information can be obtained from Ms Ferreira, the assistant area manager in charge of Stanford, T: 028-341 8500
Bottomline:
We invested about R500 000 plus the building´s purchase price of R1.5M to do good to the community of Stanford and especially its children. We now need your help to keep on running.

Ms Zille, please: if you do not want to get involved, OK. We know you have many more and most probably more important things to do. But here are about 30 children that do not get a fair chance and simply because of a person that feels disturbed by childrens laughters next to her guest cottage (yes, Ms Bea Whittaker does not even live there!!!). Ms Zille, the DA ward councellor was not very helpful. Could your office be?

Kindest regards
Jens von Wichtingen

Dear Mr Beyleveldt

Maybe you remember speaking to me on the phone about our day care centre African giggles in Stanford. However, meanwhile we were forced to close because our neighbour, Ms Bea Whittaker did not – even after lots of negotiations via your municipal manager Mr Zybrands – agree to withdraw her appeal against the municipality´s decision to grant consent use. Ms Bea Whittaker did not even want the kids to play outside in the afternoon. We closed down, the children are back in the township on the street, three people lost their jobs and I just try to get over that huge disappointment.

We tried to do something good. We believed Stanford needs another kindergarten. We spent a lot of money getting the building and later on, setting the kindergarten up. We were not aware that our neighbours (Withaker Trust & Maggie Dampier) have objections about the noice children make and about their decrease in property value being of such big importance to them – we actually really believed, everybody would welcome our initiative.

With some kind of shock I now had to read that Ms Whittaker was awarded “woman of the year”.

Article here

This cannot be true! The woman who puts all her efforts into closing a non profit kindergarten for children from financially underprivileged families is made “woman of the year”? In South Africa, 2009?

A person that states her reasons in her appeal against the kindergarten as follows:
- Decrease in monthly income
- Decrease in the value of the property, Decrease in the selling price of my hospitality business as a going concern, I feel that the day care centre will affect my business.
- Such a commercial enterprise will impose a considerable noise nuisance on adjoining neighbours from increased vehicular traffic and use of the outdoor space by many children. This will adversely affect neighbours quiet enjoyment of their properties.
- Commercial use will adversely affect property values in the adjoining area

I cannot say how much this hurts. How is it possible that Ms Bea Whittaker is awarded “woman of the year” if she is the exact and only reason that 15 children had to leave a fantastic day care centre?

Again to get the facts straight: we were granted consent use to run the day care centre. Ms Bea Whittaker appealed against this (reasoning above). Only because of this appeal, we were forced to close and send the children away.
Ms Bea Whittaker is awarded “woman of the year”.

I am looking forward to a logical explanation,

kind regards
Jens von Wichtingen

Hello Allan Berry

On behalf of all the teachers, supporting staff, the children and their parents we would like to congratulate you on your victory in the by elections for ward councellor Stanford/Voelklip.

You are now in the position to help us getting African Giggles – kindergarten re-opened, in the interest of many deserving children – lacking any form of education at the moment.

As our DA councellor you obviously agree to the need for a privately sponsored upliftment educational programme for the children of our area.

Your intervention convincing the only two appealants against the already granted consent use would be another example of the DA´s commitment to the upliftment of our local communities.

Looking forward to your response,
Daniel Stemmet

African Giggles – kindergarten
T: 028 341 0906
postbox@africangiggles.com

Congratulations. You closed a very nice kindergarten. 15 children had to leave. You caused lots of pain, tears. But yes, your reasons are very important. For all to read them and to not forget them, here we quote you:

Decrease in monthly income…, Decrease in the value of the property, Decrease in the selling price of my hospitality business as a going concern, I feel that the day care centre will affect my business.

Such a commercial enterprise will impose a considerable noise nuisance on adjoining neighbours from increased vehicular traffic and use of the outdoor space by many children. This will adversely affect neighbours quiet enjoyment of their properties.

Commercial use will adversely affect property values in the adjoining area

Go well, Stanford.

10 June 2009

The Anglican Church
Morton Street
Stanford
7210

Dear Father Gabriels

African Giggles Kindergarten opened its doors in June 2008. We felt that there was a fundamental need to create a school that was child centered, multi-racial and open to all members of the Stanford Community.

Cape Studies, our main sponsor, was shortlisted – one of the four best language schools in the Southern Hemisphere!!!

Award ceremony and the announcement of the winner will be begin of September in London. So hold thumbs please!

Stanford’s best-known landmark, the St Thomas Anglican Church on the market square is being restored at the moment.  Unfortunately the funds obtained from the Rowland and Leta Hill Trust are not enough to cover all the restoration costs, and another approximately R35 000 is needed to complete the restoration work. This Sunday afternoon, 10 May, at 16:00 (4 pm) a benefit concert to raise more funds took place at the Birkenhead Brewery.  The Pro Musica Choir from Hermanus performed, and Bea Whittaker in duet with Sandra Odendaal.

The Pro Musica choir sang a variety of songs that ranged from the exquisite humming chorus from the opera Madame Butterfly to three well-known Afrikaans songs that had been interestingly arranged by the conductor, Annemarie Rautenbach to at some places be sung in 9 different voices!

The children and parents of African giggles joined in to support the fund raising.  Here are the pictures:

Almerie and Celine doing a Potjiekos Evening @ the kindergarten to raise funds for the kids. R15 per person

As usual, it has been a happy and exciting month at African Giggles. The children celebrated Easter by painting eggs, making Easter cards for their families, and with a fantastic Easter egg hunt. A special thank you to Christine and Alex for donating Easter eggs and hosting this Easter hunt at their home. They delighted and enthralled the children, and made Easter come alive with a personalized letter from the Easter bunny himself! Thank you so much Christine and Alex!

Thanks also go to Jack and Jeanette Hutton from Stanford Nursery for inviting us to explore their Garden of Eden, and the delicious homemade flapjacks and juice that they treated us to. The children loved the beautiful garden and the enjoyed seeing the Parrots, Love birds, budgies, fish, hamsters and of course our adorable friend, Pancakes the rabbit. Our visit ended with smelling the beautiful dahlias, Roses, and Inca Lilies. What a wonderful learning experience this was.

We have started Monkeynastix at African Giggles, and the children are loving it! Ceres continues to challenge us with her yoga classes, and Yanika’s music classes are a great favorite too. The teachers and pupils look forward to visiting the Farmer’s Market every Friday, where we learn about farming, healthy eating and the value of our money.

This brings us to exciting news. African Giggles will be following the Eco School system of school environmental improvement and environmental learning. This will be done through exploring themes such as; Resource Use, Nature and Biodiversity, Local and Global Issues, Healthy Living and Community and Heritage. The children will participate in fun and informative projects such as planting a garden, bread making as well as looking at types of buildings and their functions.

We look forward to the cooler months with all the exciting learning opportunities that autumn and winter bring. Watch out for us in the streets of Stanford as we collect autumn leaves and splash in puddles!
Thank you again to everyone in the community who supports and encourages our school!

Alexie, Elmarie, Ceres, Celine and the children of African Giggles

Christine and Alex invited the kids over for an Easter bunny hunt. Here are the pics.

Germany´s largest magazine on Cape Town, Kapstadt.com,  published an article about our kindergarten. Please download here (pdf) ARTICLE

please download our newsletter here

HELLO STANFORD!

Liebe Brigitte Jäger.

auf diesem Weg, vielen vielen Dank für die Geldspende. Wir haben diese in neue Spielsachen für unsere Kinder angelegt.

Nachträglich alles Gute zum Geburtstag,

mit den besten Grüßen vom Kap

Jens

WOW, Stanfordians know how to fight for a good cause!

The kids and parents would like to thank all of you for your support to keep African Giggles Kindergarten from closing.

Thank you very, very much! Whether you joined our march, helped to collect supporting signatures or made an encouraging telephone call, thank you . Hundreds of signatures were collected and the numbers are increasing by the day. If you support our effort, please add your name. Your signature might make a difference. Lists are all over town, just ask.

If this does not make any sense to you, let me explain the ‘African Giggles-Battle-For- Survival’.

We really hoped all problems were solved and the two neighbors happy. The kids could come to school and we could finally run our kindergarten. Well, unfortunately not. Our neighbor will not withdraw the appeal and we will now have to spend thousands of Rand on legal fees. Money which could have been spent in a much better way.

We thank the town for its overwhelming support. To uphold and to support local council´s approval of our school, we need your support more than ever.

here are the pics

Hereby find an extract from the motivation that was presented to the Local Authority to illustrate why the school was approved in terms of the town planning context of Stanford.

The reasons for the neighbour (erf 432 ) to appeal are clearly unfounded.

In these days of gloom and doom how encouraging it is to discover that there are people striving to improve the lives and opportunities of, and for others who, through no fault of their own, are born into poverty, hardship and little hope for the future.

You are to be complimented for your compassion and this practical project to better the lives of the less fortunate.

All strength to your hand.

… There is so much talk about improving this community in local politics ( and I believe that neighbour is involved in communal politics herself) but while a good school is so obviously in the interest of the village, petty personal interest still prevails ( and as you elaborate the there is no conceivable damage to the neighbour). Perhaps the anonymity should be lifted and the neighbour be confronted more directly about this. At least they would have to sustain their attitude in public in the village then. …

… Tourism is a business that should benefit the community in which it operates. The neighbors of the school could support African Giggles and sponsor a local child. They could encourage their guests to get involved in supporting the school as well, and I know that this would benefit their business, because tourists want to get involved in helping the communities that they visit. …

… African Giggles is a multiracial, multicultural school, and most of the children are funded by the owners of the school. I can’t understand how anyone in good conscience can object to an education project that uplifts the local community. …

As a parent of one of the african giggles children i want to say that the little school is a beautiful, warm and loving place. It is no threat to anyone in this town, it is a place with good and true intentions and my daughter is happy with all her friends and teachers.

I think its time to focus on all these good aspects that a place like this brings especially right in the centre of town.
There is no need for the created drama and its time for the parties who have concerns, fears or problems with affrican giggles to just let it be and accept that this school is now opperating..it works well and its not going to close down.

I have been there on a couple of occasions, and have been immensely impressed with the way the school is operated.
The children seem extremely well supervised and taken care of. I was very relieved when African Giggles opened up in Stanford, as this small and intimate setting is exactly what I would wish for my children’s first school experience. Should the school be closed down, for whatever reasons, it would mean enrolling my children in a similar school in Hermanus, which I am loathe to do as I would love them to feel the same love and loyalty towards the village of Stanford as I do.
In my opinion, the loss of African Giggles would be a real step backwards for the village.

On the 21st January the parents and supporters of African Giggles Kindergarten will march (in true South African style) to show their support for the nursery school. This school has been approved by the Overstrand Municipality, however one of the neighbors has appealed this approval, and so the school is now ‘illegal’. The grounds for the neighbor’s objection is that they have a `hospitality business` that they feel will suffer if there is a school next door.

African Giggles is a happy school with wonderful pupils and teachers, and it offers children from all backgrounds a great education. How can anyone object to this? We think that such an objection is totally immoral.

Join our support march on the 21st , at 19 Morton Street at 15h00.

please find pics on following page

We are being confronted by two neighbours, complaining about the noise children make. They run small holiday cottages next to our property and are worried that having a kindergarten next door will decrease the value of their holiday homes. They have lodged formal complaints and after these were turned down, they appealed against this decision. And now because of this appeal, African giggles – kindergarten for Africa will not be able to operate as planned.

the last day of our year, Santa Claus came around with some presents. Afterwards off for the holidays ….

We will have a camping week from December, 8th until December 12th. Afterwards, the kindergarten will close for the Christmas holidays.

In January we will have the blessing of the building and the kindergarten, So be sure to check this space for more information.

The grounds of Stanford Valley were transformed today into an amphitheatre for an evening of music ranging from classical, light opera arias and duets, French Café, Neopolitan Songs, and many more.

A variety of performers entertained us, including the Cape Town based music collective Le Belle Voci, with Beverley Chiat, Violina Anguelov, Nicola Cencherle, Albert Combrink as well as local singer John Hardie.

African Giggles Kindergarten organised this event to thank the Stanford community for being so welcoming to the school, and to raise funds towards the funding of the sponsored children.

See some pics on next page

Dear Parents

As we approach the end of our second month, we can’t stop thinking just how quickly and smoothly the time has gone. We would like to thank you all for your continual support, it is much appreciated and never goes unnoticed.

We have not inherited the earth from our fathers; we are borrowing it from our children – Lester Brown

DRINKS FOR CHILDREN

What we feed our children will shape their future health, and what they drink is just as important. Children can survive without food, but not without water – it is a vital part of their daily diet, while commercial juices and fizzy drinks should not be given to children for a number of reasons:

 

African Giggles is a Cape Studies – language school in Cape Town – project.

Welcome to African Giggles! This information will help to orientate you and your child to the daily workings of the school and enable you to participate as much as possible in the life of our school.

soon we will have our official opening – here are some pics for the time being.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lots of work, but we found a place to run the kindergarten from. gonna be good

   

Oma Emma, 1921 – 2008

Ich werd´Dich niemals vergessen.