Adorable Juniors Day Care
We had the privilege of meeting Principal Lidia Moletsi in 2018 when we ran a Pilot programme at the Toy Library for weekly play dates with surrounding ECD centres and day care facilities in our community. She started her Early Childhood Development Centre with only 6 children in her flat. She then joined the Smartstart programme and became an Ambassador of Smartstart. In 2016, she received more children, and moved to a cottage in Corronationville. By 2017, the numbers had doubled and she had to rent a house to accommodate up to 60 children daily with a team of 5 staff members. Principal Lidia has been an avid supporter of our vision to empower local crèches and ECD centres in our community from Day 1. She says “My teachers and children really enjoy attending the Toy Library. We have learned alot in terms of play based learning. During lockdown, they have shared food parcels with my parents and have been really supportive”
As a Club Leader for Smartstart, part of her role in community is to organise workshops and give advice to other day mothers on how to run the Smartstart programme. Her ECD also forms a showroom to them to see the setup. The Department of Social Development has inspected her premises, and she rates No 1 in terms of compliance to get started with her services. As an innovator, she has made her own shields, face masks and table dividers. She enjoys the support of her husband Benneth, who supports her services and is 100% involved with their daily activities.
We thank Lidia for her support over the years and we look forward to a continued partnership as we seek sponsors to enable the Play Session program to grow and impact care facilities with children such as hers.