Safety awareness programme equips St Benedict’s learners with life skills

St Benedict’s College headmaster David Jeffrey welcomed members of the Bedfordview and Edenvale CPF to conduct a safety awareness programme at the school.

The learners attended the informative programme on June 18 and 22.

Bedfordview CPF PRO James Chang taught about situational awareness principles, which propose that one stay alert rather than paranoid.

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This is because relaxed awareness helps you catch subtle signs. Chang suggested that one should constantly scan their environment, knowing what’s normal there and what isn’t.

For possible vehicle hijack situations, Chang suggested looking out for the following:
• Vehicles that tailgate or follow through multiple turns.
• Motorbikes or scooters with two riders hovering near your car windows
• Unusual roadblocks, fake police stops, or people pretending to be in distress. (Lying on the road like an injured person).
• Being boxed in at intersections or stoplights, especially with a rear side approach.
• Blind spots – attackers often approach from angles you can’t see easily.

Chang further shared the OODA Concept because he noted that people “look but they don’t see. They don’t register the risk or threat.”

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Observe – gather current information from the environment. Monitor surroundings, identify risks and threats (suspicious people, vehicles, changes in behaviour).

Orient – analyse the situation based on experiences, cultural background, training, and position yourself accordingly.

Decide – select a course of action. Choose between fight, flight, compliance or alert authorities, based on the situation at hand.

Act – Implement the decision quickly and effectively.

Chang proceeded to share illustrations of real-life situations caught on CCTV as well as tools that can help.

Bedfordview SAPS Communication liaison officer Sergeant Lillian Modiga spoke about bullying.

She said this was a problem in most schools in the precinct. She said some of the children who are bullied end up not attending school, distressed or even suicidal; therefore, she encouraged learners to refrain from bullying.

Sergeant Modiga added that one may start as a bully, then advance into gangsterism, which includes assaulting other people.

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“Then, as police, we come and arrest you. You then get a criminal record. You won’t find a job, and this means you would have wasted twelve years of your schooling.”

Modiga encouraged learners to focus on their studies rather than end up in juvenile jail.

Fiona Pickett, deputy chairperson for the Local Drug Action Committee for Edenvale, Bedfordview and surrounding areas in CoE, spoke about substance abuse.

She shared the many reasons why people may experiment with drugs. They include: peer pressure, curiosity, stress and anxiety, wanting to fit in, family or social problems, social media influence and believing myths about drugs.

“One myth is that an addict can look messy, with red eyes, lost weight; no. An addict can look like your teacher, like anybody,” Pickett said.

She shared an example of a man who used to hang around with the robots in Edenvale and had been injecting drugs into his arm until the committee helped him.

The man was taken to rehab, and then was given a job when he came out, but after a few months, they found him with his arm cut off.

Pickett also highlighted how drugs are connected with other crimes while encouraging learners to reach out for help instead of reaching for drugs if they have problems.