Camps Bay police, together with Camps Bay NGO Ignisive, took pupils from Bishops School of Skills up Table Mountain to show them that there are opportunities beyond their circumstances. Pictured are the pupils, teachers and representatives of Ignisive and Camps Bay SAPS
Image: Tamlynne Thompson
The curious, excited eyes of pupils from Bishops School of Skills in Bishop Lavis stared nervously at the cable car as it made its way to the Table Mountain Cable Way station to pick them up and take them to the top - some of them for the first time - on Thursday March 20.
The pupils took the trip as part of an initiative by Camps Bay's police and Ignisive, an NGO aiming to help people who live on the street change their lives.
Some of the pupils checking out the cable car. For some, it was the first time they've seen it.
Image: Tamlynne Thompson
Ignisive founder Theresa Massaglia said it was important for children from marginalised communities to be encouraged to stay in school and rise above their circumstances. Through these trips, which include an encouraging workshop, she said they were able to show children that there were opportunities beyond their communities.
The workshop for these pupils, aged 14 to 17, was themed "Sky is the Limit". Each pupil received a book and pencil to write down a goal within their reach.
She said usually, they would work with the children of Kalksteenfontein, as many of the street children who land up on the streets in Camps Bay come from these areas.
She said while they work with children living on the street as well, they try to work with the source as well as a preventative measure.
This was the first time they had hosted Bishops School of Skills.
Camps Bay SAPS social crime prevention officer, Sergeant Glynnis Bester, said Camps Bay police partners with Ignisive, community organisations and stakeholders to run outreach programmes for schools right across the peninsula.
She said the initiative started about four years ago with the children from Kalksteenfontein. As the project grew, the word got out and Bishops School of Skills then approached her to organise a trip for their pupils. "We don't do this just for fun. We love working with schools that are so underprivileged that learners sometimes don't know A from B. It's important for these kids to know there are other things out there besides the area that they live in or the circumstances that they are in.
Pupil Lorenzo Williams, 17, looks out of the cable car while teacher Kurt Conrad shows the view to him and Tarryn Lee Taylor, 16.
Image: Tamlynne Thompson
"Its important for learners to know that there are people out there with lots of connections and the web is so wide for them to be restricted to these areas -they need to know there are better things out there for them."
She said the police usually get involved by engaging with stakeholders to help organise the trips and workshops, often with Ignisive, as well as going out to communities to speak to residents and children.
She said schools usually approach the police station for assistance, and they try to help. "The schools we help are not limited to Camps Bay or the Atlantic Seaboard."
From left are Kazline Stemmet, 15, Jay Lynn Rankie, 17, Natasha Claasen, 16, and Lauren van der Merwe, 18.
Image: Tamlynne Thompson
Sergeant Bester said Camps Bay SAPS and Ignisive had also built a good relationship with Bishop Lavis SAPS in order to work in the communities.
Ignisive reintegration manager Fiona Bosch, who engages with the people on the street in the area, said she found that children come to Camps Bay mostly on the weekends because it was more poverty-stricken at home. Most of them are in school, but they come to "skarrel" and go back home. Sometimes the parents are also abusing substances at home.
"We try to go back to the actual area they live in and then work there to see how we can help... The main focus is to make sure the children stay in school."
Sergeant Bester said since they had started this initiative, there were children going back to school, looking forward to a better and new life, "and that is absolutely amazing."
Sergeant Glynnis Bester from Camps Bay SAPS hands out notebooks, files and pens to the pupils.
Image: Tamlynne Thompson
Bishops School of Skills principal Johan Arendse said the children were very excited to see the top of Table Mountain. "Lots of them want to sleep here. They don't want to go home because of the type of communities they live in - I will go as far as to say violent communities. This is a safe area for them with people who love them.
He said with the type of pupils who have social problems in their communities, these trips show them there is another life besides the communities filled with gangsters and bad role models.
"They saw tourists today and were asking about different languages. These are what we need to expose our learners to - there is another life, a better life, outside of any community that we would want them to experience.
Bishops pupil Brian Langenhoven, 17, from Bishop Lavis said the best part of the experience was looking down at the views. "It shows us there is more for us to see."
Another pupil, Natasha Claasen,16, from Belhar, said seeing the cable car and travelling in it for the first time was nerve-wracking, but when at the top, the views were "breathtaking". "This shows us that we must always see the beauty in everything - there is more to life, so we don't have to be insecure."
Jay Lynn Ranke, 17, also from Bishop Lavis, said it was refreshing to get away from what happens in the community at home. "This really clears your mind."