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  • Swazi Frontier builds a classroom, kitchen, store room and toilet block at Sokhula Pre-School Care Point and Sebenta Adult Education Centre, Nginamadvolo

    Swazi Frontier has built a classroom, kitchen and store room as well as a toilet block and water tank at Sokhula Pre-School Care Point and Sebenta Adult Education Centre in Nginamadvolo. The community had been using a small wattle and daub structure for several years as a base to provide some basic education for about 30 pre-school children and a daily meal for a further 35 children using a 3-legged pot and open fire. It doubled as an adult education centre every afternoon.

    Funding came from entry fees, raffle ticket sales, rider donations as well as substantial donations from Inyatsi Construction and previous title sponsor, Logico.

    Management and staff from Inyatsi Construction and Logico together with local community members prepared the foundations. Inyatsi Construction took over from there and managed the project, working with a local sub-contractor who employed local community members to assist with the building thereby providing employment and transferring skills.

    Students from Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa volunteered to paint the interior of the Care Point as one of their community service projects. They transformed the inside by painting fun pictures in bright colours.

    Local forestry company, Peak Timbers, came on board and donated an additional water tank to ensure an uninterrupted water supply for cooking and hygiene. Macmillan Publishers generously donated learning material for both the pre-school children and the adults.

    The Care Point was officially opened by Eswatini’s Honourable Minister of Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Jabulani Mabuza in March 2016 and handed over to the community.

  • The Swazi Frontier awards a new Kitchen and Store Room to Lufafa Primary School

    Funds raised from the hosting of the annual event together with a significant contribution from the former title sponser, LOGICO UNLIMITED, have enabled the event organisers to fund the building of a kitchen and storeroom for the Lufafa Primary School.

    “The remote location of Lufafa Primary presented some logistical challenges for labour and supplies so it took some months before the kitchen and storeroom were completed” said Brett Foss.

    “Children walk long distances each day to attend Lufafa Primary which is the only school in the remote area. Many children receive their only meal of the day whilst at school”, said Lesley Foss “and that meal was prepared in a rustic stick hut. We identified this school as the most needy of the schools along our race route and so we chose to start our efforts here. Parents and teachers met with Logico’s management team and us last year and together we began digging the foundations.”

    Anthony Geldard, Logico Unlimited’s Managing Director said “We are thrilled to have been involved and contributed to the building of the kitchen and storeroom which will be used to feed the children between the ages of 6 and 15 attending grades 1 to 7”.

    During the hand-over ceremony, Lufafa Primary’s Head Teacher, Joseph Mziyako, expressed his gratitude for the assistance provided by The Swazi Frontier, which also included a couple of laptop computers used by staff for administrative work. He added that the project had brought great happiness to the children and also to the community at large. “When you see a happy and healthy person, it is because he or she has eaten food”, said Joseph Mziyako, “the kitchen will serve the school and the community in various activities. It can be used for meetings, weddings, educational workshops and for ministries to develop the community”.

    The Swazi Frontier organisers thanked LOGICO for their tremendous contribution and also thanked S&B Construction and Hub Hardware for the contributions that these companies also made.

    • School Project 2010

    The wheels of our social responsibility projects are still rolling. This year sees the launch of our most ambitious and sustainable project yet.

    Together with our 2010 title sponsor LOGICO, we have visited and met with the head teachers of 3 primary schools along our race route so it goes without saying that all 3 schools are in remote parts of the Kingdom. With the guidance and input of those head teachers, we have carried out a basic needs analysis for each school.

    We were impressed by the commitment to providing education and related facilities for the children in spite of the lack of resources and basic amenities. It is humbling to see how the local communities manage to make so much of so little. Whilst the children’s basic needs are catered for to some extent on a basic level, this visit illustrated just how much we take for granted. There is much that we can do to improve their conditions.

    We have decided to pay special attention to the Lufafa Primary School on the banks of the Lomati River and at the base of the mighty Lufafa Mountain during 2010. It is situated a short distance before the water point on Day 2.

    We have engaged a contractor who has prepared a drawing for a basic canteen structure which will comprise a simple kitchen, storeroom and shelter where the children may be protected from the weather whilst they eat. For many of the children, their school meal is their only meal of the day. The structure will also include water tanks to catch rain water.
    The photo’s below show the very basic wooden shed that is currently used for cooking the children’s daily meal, which is eaten outside.

    Thanks go to all our past riders who by entering The Swazi Frontier have contributed to the upliftment of the lives of people in the communities along the race route.

    Special thanks also goes to those riders who have made donations to assist us with our social responsibility projects over the years.

    Thanks also to LOGICO for its commitment to our schools project and especially for its significant cash injection this year which has enabled us to assist the schools in a meaningful and sustainable way.

    We look forward to turning the soil on this project.