Indlulamithi initiative to keep children safe

An initiative to develop community cohesion and dedication by all community members to the safety and future of children is well underway.

On Monday, 19 August, the project stakeholders met with police from Yeoville Police Station to discuss the project’s progress and the police’s involvement.

The former headmaster of Sacred Heart College, Colin Northmore said that they initially had a project for refugee children called Three to Six which ranbetween 3pm until 6pm every day. Their concern at the time was the safety of the children as they were walking home quite late.

They then established that the school close to them, Observatory Primary School was also experiencing similar challenges about their learners’ safety.

“They were experiencing similar difficulties with the safety of their girls. The girls [were] being harassed and [it was] generally not safe for the children to be walking after a certain time in the streets,” Northmore said.

When the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) called the communities in Johannesburg to apply for upgrading in different areas through community-driven initiatives, they proposed their project to the agency.

They then formed a group as a coalition of schools and community-based organisations with the desire to ensure that all children who attend schools in Yeoville experience the opportunity for a safe and deeply enriching learning environment.

Indlulamithi was then formulated by Observatory Primary School, Sacred Heart College, the Yeoville community, Yeoville Boys’ Primary School and United Church Schools.

Northmore said Indlulamithi derives from the idea that the giraffe eats the sweetest leaves from the top of the tree and it doesn’t settle for the ‘rubbish’ on the floor.

They then involved an agency, who helped them with a plan and to formulate ideas about their proposal to the JDA which agreed to help them with their project on the condition that they will maintain and sustain the project. When Northmore left the school this year, taking the role of principal at Abbots College Johannesburg South, the committee asked him to monitor the project as a private individual.

“Where sought areas where children experience risk, we managed to involve the property owners, ratepayers associations and the police,” he said.

They put together a memorandum of understanding (MoU) based on the fact that they want children from Yeoville area to have a world-class education. “They shouldn’t be settling for the rubbish, they should be eating the sweetest leaves.

“The JDA proposal was for us to create this pleasant and attractive environment outside the school and then the JDA approved our project and they have now started implementing it. He said they have signed an agreement with the JDA that we will maintain and look after space when they finish upgrading.

The project will also seek opportunities that will create the possibility of employment in the community and lead to stronger economic independence for all.”

Related article:

https://northeasterntribune.co.za/229052/joburg-projects-stimulate-business/