Cape Town - Gift of the Givers is set to commence with the R5m upgrade of Paterson High School in Gqeberha on Wednesday.
The organisation has described the Paterson High School in Gqeberha as a school with very meaningful history in the new democratic dispensation.
“Professor Jakes Gerwel, advisor to president Nelson Mandela, George Botha, the first person to die in detention in 1976 and anti-apartheid activist, Dennis Brutus, were all learners at this prestigious school that recently excelled in a quiz competition,” Gift of the Givers Eastern Cape Co-Ordinator, Corene Conradie said.
Conradie added that Gift of the Givers stumbled upon the school whilst drilling 45 boreholes in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in preparation for Day Zero.
“The borehole was sponsored by Avery Dennison, whilst doing a walkabout at the school we discovered seven classrooms destroyed by a fire in 2015 that commenced in a storage room for old books.
“We rebuilt these classrooms to reduce the pressure on existing functional facilities catering for 50-55 learners per class,and this upgrade was funded by Exxaro.
“The combined package for the infrastructure upgrade was R5m, and the official handover takes place tomorrow (on Wednesday) at 11am,” Conradie said.
Conradie also said that Gift of the Givers has drilled close to 550 boreholes in the past few years, have upgraded infrastructure at many schools and hospitals, built houses and provided new toilets in schools that had no form of sanitation.
Conradie further alluded that the upgrade comes after the relief organisation opened up a R60m stores facility at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital last week.
“That fire also started in the stores on 16 April, 2021. Total Energies came in as an additional donor to provide a new astroturf for netball, hockey and soccer, in addition they painted classrooms and provided furniture,” Conradie added.
IOL