Riversands gets some food for thought

Riversands Primary School was originally built to cater for farm workers’ children on the old Riversands Farm. The land is now owned by Century Properties who plan to relocate the school to Diepsloot in the next two years. Principal of the school, Gift Mojela, said she was very excited by the move as they would have more space at their new premises and children would no longer have to cross Mnandi Road to get to the school.

The school currently has 674 pupils. When Century began the redevelopment of the Riversands area, it took the school under its wing. Mark Corbett, CEO of Century, approached the Diepsloot Youth Programme, a non-profit organisation already working in Diepsloot, to facilitate a feeding scheme at the school. The feeding scheme has been successfully running since October last year, with all pupils receiving a nutritious breakfast of boiled eggs and bread and a hot lunch daily. At the end of every school day, pupils are also sent home with a loaf of bread each.

“Since the feeding scheme started, I see the difference in our pupils,” Majola said. “They receive a variety of different foods each day and having full stomachs improves their concentration. Since the feeding scheme, we also don’t have cases of pupils stealing from other children’s lunch boxes anymore.”

Sophy Tlhabadira of the Diepsloot Youth Programme is challenging other corporations to also adopt a school in Diepsloot.

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