For 13 years, Zanele Nzimakwe has been a field worker with The Domino Foundation’s Early Childhood Development programme on the frontline guiding women running township crèches in their journey to see their establishments become fully registered ECD centres offering sound pre-school education. All the while, a vision to run her own centre has been growing and now that is almost a reality. In anticipation of becoming the proud Mama of her own centre in the Etafuleni community in Amaoti., she has already named ‘Fountain of Life’.
Zanele’s dream was nurtured and made possible through relationships built through Domino and the NPO’s close interaction with Hosanna Women, a women-owned NPC with the prime object of benefitting Early Childhood Development through empowering Black women in education.
The concrete reality of having her own centre began to take shape when Zanele shared her vision with Michele Gorrie, a director of Hosanna Women. She needed the land on which to build and equip her facility. She already had a wealth of knowledge and experience in the ECD field, gained through working with Domino’s partnering owners and the staff of 60 developing centres with almost 4000 little learners in communities in the North Durban area. Michele picked up the story, explaining: “Hosanna Women has taken equity stakes in many successful businesses which now have female-Black-ownership points on their scorecard. Our vision is to empower Black women to run their own crèches and preschools in line with the National Qualifications Framework. Zanele is exactly the sort of passionate and committed lady we love to work with”.
The discussions between Zanele and Hosanna Women are bearing fruit: land is being/has been purchased and plans for a building drawn up. In early 2026, ‘Fountain of Life’ will open its doors to welcome its first little learners. Michele described how Hosanna Women have partnered with many other aspiring and already-established crèche-owners: “Each lady has her own particular set of circumstances and challenges. We are very aware of the uniqueness of every situation and aim to make a personal journey with her to realising her dream.
In support of making more good-news stories like Zanele’s, Hosanna Women is holding a 5km Family Fun Run on 9 August at the Westville Country Club. With live entertainment and other attractions, this promises to be a great community event. Michele invites all who are keen to be part of changing the futures of underserved preschoolers to find out more about the day by emailing cheron @ thekwinimotorgroup.co.za.
Tickets at R100 are available at QUICKET:
https://qkt.io/run-for-hosanna-2025.
