The newly renovated Port Natal School was on Tuesday unveiled by The Gift of The Givers after the school was badly hit by last year’s floods.
Durban – Gift of the Givers yesterday officially unveiled the refurbished Port Natal School in Umbilo in Durban. Four of the school’s six blocks were extensively damaged in last year’s April floods.
The non-profit organisation was approached last year by the Education Department circuit office in Durban for assistance to fix flood-damaged schools.
The work at the Umbilo school was carried out by Altacon Projects led by Altaaf Essop. Essop said the project was a success and while it was expected that the rebuilding would take 12 months, they had finished the job in just four months.
He added that since the school is a building registered with Amafa, the heritage conservation agency, they had to follow strict regulations to ensure the heritage of the building was maintained.
Gift of the Givers chairperson Dr Imtiaz Sooliman said he was happy with the completion of the project. He said the organisation had spent R40 million upgrading and repairing schools across the province.
“We have done so many schools already, this is the fifth school and the sixth one we are doing this week. We fix schools in three categories which are small repair, medium repair and large repair, and all that so far has come to R40m.”
He said that seeing pupils excited about their new classrooms made him happy.
“The way these learners showed us respect and recognition is superb and I am very happy to have been of help to them,” added Sooliman.
Representing the Department of Education, the Durban Central circuit manager, Themba Mthembu, said they were grateful to the Gift of the Givers for the work they were doing to repair damaged schools as the department’s budget was limited.
“The department was willing to assist, but the resources were not there and we are grateful to Gift of the Givers for coming on board and helping us,” he said.
Acting principal of Port Natal School Jolanda von Bargen said she was delighted that the school was fixed.
“We could not teach in all the classrooms and we had to move into some of the primary school’s classrooms. We are very happy the Gift of the Givers was able to help and did it in such a short space of time,” Von Bargen said.