iThemba School Philippi 2006 - March 2009 In 2006, GTS Cape Town, in cooperation Help Alliance in Frankfurt and the local Lutheran Community Centre launched the English-medium iThemba Pre-Primary School in Philippi, one of the most impoverished townships in Cape Town. No systems have been instituted previously to prepare children for pre-primary school and most Xhosa or Zulu speaking children face a significant language barrier when they enter school, as English often is the medium of instruction. iThemba focuses on English language tuition at an early age to facilitate their entry into a primary school. Since the opening in July 2006 an annual average of 25 children aged between three and six were educated. GTS Cape Town was involved in all aspects of running the school, where children received two years of full day education, medical care and a nutritional diet, as for many of them, this was the only meal they receive all day. The curriculum had been adapted to serve the specific needs of the children whose developmental stages are often lagging behind those of children from more privileged backgrounds. 2007 and 2008 have been successful years for iThemba but the need for growth became more evident when every January the school had to turn away numerous applicants. As the school set-up in Philippi was not entirely conducive for the planned expansion, Lufthansa Global TeleSales started looking for suitable premises around Cape Town to establish a new pre-primary school. The pre-primary school in Philippi has now been transferred and fully integrated into the well developed structure of the local Lutheran Community Centre who now runs the school under their own auspices. The children of iThemba Philippi will continue to benefit from the legacy left by Lufthansa for many years to come.