Major Boost to Knysna Heritage Building & Child Education

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KNYSNA NEWS - You would never believe, on facing the simple front façade of 34 Queen Street, that it breathes so much history within. The simple symmetry in the two rows of wooden sash windows and the red-painted pitched corrugated-iron roof belie a complex, multifaceted past.

And yet today, after years of decline and neglect, the building's interiors smell of fresh paint (walls are a striking plum, aubergine, lilac), centuries of stained varnish have been removed from the original yellowwood floors to reveal once again the beautiful knots and grain of the wood, sash windows have been refurbished, and all the electrics replaced.

Welcome to the new office premises for Knysna Education Trust (KET), an NPO that provides essential support for early childhood development. After realising that they'd outgrown their Market Street premises, which was exacerbated by a lack of parking, KET undertook a protracted search and settled on Melrose House.

They invited another two NPOs, the Knysna Initiative for Learning and Teaching (KILT) and HERO, which works with traumatised children, to share the space with them. Both organisations enthusiastically agreed.

The result is an important collaboration between NGOs working together on programmes, projects and goals that are beautifully aligned. At the same time services, training and office space are shared, thus reducing programme and administration costs.

Having purchased the property from an owner keen to sell (Melrose House was last the site of a private school), KET's first task was to establish a vegetable garden that would supply nutritious greens to their most vulnerable preschool pupils.

With the help of gardener Angelo and initiative Growing Upwards, together with different collaborating partners, an enormous vegetable garden was magicked out of stone, rubble, alien trees, overgrown creepers, and inhospitable rocky soil.

Cabbages, pumpkins, mielies, green beans, snap peas, even creeping strawberry plants, today power up from the earth like triffids, some tall as Jack's beanstalk.

Today, thanks to the inspiring pro bono efforts of architect Andrew King and the enduring commitment of Cape Island Construction (CIC), the property holds a large new training room for KET's Further Education and Training College, a special room for counselling, a spacious meeting room, and a welcoming cafe-cum-kitchen for staff. There is also ample parking for vehicles.

And what of Melrose House's past? Built in 1880, it was on land originally part of George Rex's farm Melkhoutkraal. In its early years, the building was hired by the Colonial Office for use as government offices and a courthouse overseen by Knysna's first magistrate, James Fichat.

It then became a residency for a second magistrate. Standard Bank hired a room in the building (24 x 14 x 12 feet in size for the princely sum of 2£ per month) for its first branch. Then in 1902 Melrose House became an annex of the Royal Hotel.

Almost three decades later, in 1930, Melrose House was sold to the Catholic Church to serve as a convent for nuns, who then established a Primary School for Coloured children at the back of the house.

The nuns' quarters apparently were upstairs, reached by "a very creaky staircase of bare treads" Margaret Parkes relates in her book Vanishing Knysna. That steep narrow staircase, still creaky but flaunting its expertly sanded creamy yellowwood beams, is an appealing feature of the newly renovated building. Finally, the Catholic Church donated Melrose House to the Knysna Aids Council, joined later by FAMSA and Hospice.

It appears that the building's tradition of dispensing educational nurturing, charitableness, and empathy from within its precincts is to continue, considering that the Knysna Education Trust focuses on Early Childhood Development — preschool education from conception to six years old, a proven critical window in a child's development.

KET's goal is to ensure that in terms of cognitive, emotional and physical ability, preschool children in Knysna's poorest communities reach their age-appropriate developmental milestones.

They are provided with quality education, part of which involves the empowerment of black women and youth, enabling them to generate their own income and thus also uplifting communities.

Besides providing literacy and numeracy, and nutritious daily meals, to their preschoolers KET's roles also include accredited teacher training, and training and support for parents and caregivers.

Currently there are 4,500 children benefiting from KET's programmes at 111 Preschools run by 432 principals and teachers. With a policy of 'no child left behind', the organisation runs an Adopt-a-Child's Education programme, providing preschool access to young children, whose parents are unable to meet the education fees.

When KET, KILT and HERO are under the same roof in their newly refurbished Melrose House premises with the advantage of counselling and training facilities, they are well poised to offer psychological and social support together with quality education.

Street view of Melrose House, 34 Queen Street.

It is neatly encapsulated in their phrase Cradle to Career: supporting a child's journey along the continuum of education from birth, optimally preparing them for further tertiary and skills development opportunities, locally and nationally.

Ultimately KET wants to ensure that all young children have access to some form of safe care and quality stimulation during the day.

Presently 3,500 additional children below the age of six years old are needing access to Early Childhood Development programmes. KET relies on the generosity of local, national and international individuals, businesses, corporates and foundations. If you would like to help, contact us via our Facebook page or www.knysnaedutrust.co.za

The office areas have been spruced up too.