The Birth of a South African Child Development Center for 2- to 6-Year-Olds: An International Partnership

Providing high-quality education and care for young children at a historically Black university in rural South Africa was a challenging task. But despite many obstacles, two teacher educators (an American and a South African) worked together, partnered with a surprising collection of others, seized every possible opportunity, and persisted, seeing the plan through to fruition. In this article, they tell the story about the birth of the University of Limpopo's Child Development Centre in South Africa. They also describe how they met the biggest challenges in starting the child development center: insufficient funds and finding qualified teachers in a diverse culture. Partnerships were vital throughout the process. Positive relationships with parents, the management team, the labor union, an international copier company, a construction company, and a food vendor, to name a few--and with each other--not only strengthened the center's foundation but also strengthened relationships within the community.