Land Rover owners collect more donations for Dagbreek’s cafeteria and new kitchen
Even the industrious headmaster of Dagbreek School in Windhoek, Paul du Plessis was astonished when the Land Rover Owners club pitched up at his school for learners with special needs, with another contribution worth N$25,000.
Land Rover Owners Namibia, a club for those unfortunate enough to have to husband a Landie, has supported Dagbreek for the past three years as part of their voluntary Social Responsibility.
Last week, club leaders Gundula Perry and JC Kruger visited Dagbreek again, this time to present to Du Plessis and the Dagbreek learners, dining room equipment and kitchen utensils to the value of N$20,000.
In 2018, the Landie owners raised N$30,000 for Dagbreek. This money was used to obtain large appliances such as stoves, Bain Maries, fridges, freezers, and hotwater urns for the school’s cafeteria. This equipment was sponsored in part by Lewis Stores.
Dagbreek provides its 125 learners every school day with two balanced meals. Du Plessis told the Economist that this is a vital link in their ability to take the handicapped children to an educational level where they can be employed after leaving the school.
“Since we started the feeding programme, regular school attendance has skyrocketed,” he said, adding that the vast majority of their learners come from disadvantaged circumstances, and many live far from the school.
The cafeteria is used for the preparation of the learners’ meals, but as the school is always looking for opportunities to help its learners find employment, Du Plessis has advanced plans to start a Hospitality Centre to train school leavers to find employment in restaurants, lodges and hotels.
Similar to schooling in domestic science, the Hospitality Centre will provide vocational training for chefs, kitchen staff, waiters and laundry operators.
This year, the Landie offroaders decided to take it a step further, collecting another N$25,000 for Dagbreek’s hospitality training dream. The intended Hospitality Centre received cutlery and crockery and a variety of kitchen and dining room utensils, all helping to make the training more market oriented and authentic. Many of these items were procured from Eros Girls School when they retooled their own training facility.
Land Rover Owners Namibia also decided that a small portion of this year’s collection will be used for a special outing to treat the school’s 28 hostel kids and the staff. So last weekend, some 35 Landie owners came together fielding 16 cars, and picked the children and staff up at the school for an exhilarating offroad excursion and a braai. Each child also received his or her own hamper comprising basic toiletries, sweeties and cooldrinks.
Afterwards, the club said its members spent a wonderful day with the special needs learners.
Caption: Dagbreek School’s headmaster, Paul du Plessis (standing right), with Gundula Perry and JC Kruger (standing left front) of Land Rover Owners Namibia, when the offroad club presented the school with kitchen equipment for its Hospitality Centre which is currently under construction.
