Cape Town - Children should not have to learn to duck and dive to avoid bullets on their way to school and this is why about 70 volunteers in Bonteheuwel have joined an initiative to ensure that the children get to school safely.
“I don't like to give the gangsters more recognition but the children are exposed to so much threat in the area. We definitely don't send them to school to duck and dive bullets. But there are good things happening here,” said Bonteheuwel peace ambassador Soraya Salie, a volunteer with the Walking Bus Initiative.
Ward councillor Angus McKenzie said the community was very proud of the initiative, where volunteers work closely with the suburb's eight primary schools and two high schools to ensure that pupils are walked safely to school and back home.
Parents walk kids to and from school in Wesbank, Delft. File photo: Independent Media
Volunteer Buddy Koopman said the volunteers, mostly moms with children at the schools they serve, had joined up after they responded to ads.
They had been screened and fully trained in safety procedures, including evasive tactics should shooting break out.
“The children want to feel safe. We help them cross the road and take them to the school gates."
"And we also help the teachers with after-school lessons and are involved with the school sports, just to make it safe for the children. We are doing it all for the child's sake,” said Koopman.
He spoke of how gangsters used to engage in running battles through school grounds but, in recent months, this had subsided.
Parents walking their children to school on the Cape Flats. File photo: Cindy Waxa/Independent Media
McKenzie said: “The Walking Bus ladies have become more than just a safe passage for children to get to and from school. It has reduced crime considerably and has created a higher sense of visibility in areas surrounding the schools.”
He attributed the 88% matric 2016 pass rate with 27% bachelor passes for both high schools to the community effort that ensured “we retain our children in the schooling system”.
The Walking Bus Initiative was launched by the Department of Community Safety and operates in areas such as Mitchells Plain and Bokmakierie and as far as the Southern Cape.