'Jane Evans is a name that has earned enormous respect in Early
Childhood Development circles. The fact that ECD is an essential pillar
in our country's programme of educational reform owes much to Jane and
other activists of the time - many of whom are mentioned in her book.
While this is a personal memoir it is also an important record of ECD in
South Africa.' - Dr Tshepo Motsepe
Jane Evans begins her memoir with her career as a journalist in the big
city, then tells of her moving to the small town of Viljoenskroon in the
northern Free State with her husband, Anthony Evans, a well-known and
respected businessman and farmer. It is here, in the heart of South
Africa's maize lands during the height of apartheid, that Jane is moved
to create the non-profit organisation Ntataise, marking the start of her
activism for early childhood development (ECD) and advocacy for training
women in rural communities to become ECD teachers.
Eloquently written and told with great sensitivity and humility, this is
a memoir about love, loss, finding purpose, and how one woman's
unexpected path led to family-like bonds in the unlikeliest of places -
and about a dream so profound that it would influence generations of
young learners and the women who teach them.
