The School Corridor Tatler

Lavender Hill is a community that is under siege, but Lavender Hill will never be a trending favourite with mainstream media. Yesterday, children as young as eight years old, who were on their way to school, saw once again, how one gangster was killed by another rival gang member. The shooting took place at about 8 0'clock on an open field opposite Hillwood Primary School. School children use the very same open field as a thoroughfare to their schools. You will see children in their various school uniforms from Zerilda Park Primary, Hillwood Primary, Levana Primary, Prince George Primary and Lavender Hill High School, walking to their only real hope to help them escape the poverty and other evils of their neighbourhood. When the shooting happened, the children were there on the field, caught in this crossfire. Young children watched the shot man stagger across the field and then saw him jerk before finally dying.  These same children are writing their final examinations....

Schools in the Retreat-Lavender Hill-Steenberg Belt are working tirelessly to stem the tide of social collapse. The key drivers of safety, security and care and support are the Principal and his(her) Safer Schools Head/coordinator. The so-called soft issues are the ones that are difficult to fast track. One needs all the role players - government and non-governmental agencies to work in sync.  There is no short cut and one has to take literally one step at a time.  Retreat Safer Schools Cluster Today we had our safer schools cluster meeting at one of my favourite venues, Blouvlei LSEN school. As usual, there is always such warmth and camaraderie at these gatherings.  Steenberg Safer Schools Cluster The Arts and Culture Festival planned for 4 October  There is quite a bit of excitement because the Arts and Culture Festival of the circuit is taking shape. There are already 15 schools that have committed. Chief concerns are raised about the transport logistics and the fact t...

While I was travelling to Blouvlei LSEN school for our Safer Schools Forum Meeting, I listened to Ashraf Garda’s talk show on SAFM. Today the topic was about the lack of access to clean drinking water to about 11% or 1.4 million households in South Africa. How frightening, I think. What an abomination.   Ashraf asked whether this was a downward or upward trend. Strangely, none of the guests really tackled this key question. During March we seem to be particularly wired to grapple with human rights issues. 21 March is the day we celebrate Human Rights Day.  My mind drifted to our staff forum this past Friday where we had our Human Rights Day seminar. The Human Rights Commission and DDP representatives gave us an overview of their role to help build and empower people to enjoy their human rights.    Yes, we are all acutely aware that we have to amplify our knowledge about human rights AND we have to learn how to ensure that we do not infringe on the rights of...