WATCH: New bikes ‘like a trip to Paris’ for Eldos learners
"Our school caters mainly to learners from Extensions One and Three. There are homes in these areas which are extremely impoverished and as a no-fees school, our learners receive very little.”
This Christmas, while most of us will be unwrapping our presents, spare a thought for those in our community who do not even have a clue where their next meal will be coming from. We are surrounded by those less fortunate than ourselves, from impoverished homes who have become the invisible ones in Eldorado Park and surrounding areas.
There are children who go to school each day with the ever-present hunger pangs gnawing away at their stomachs, who are often overlooked and do not know the joy of excitedly tearing away at the wrapping of a Christmas box to reveal its contents.
During this season, the news headlines which greet us each day tell tales of crime, lawlessness and carnage on our roads, but here is a story with a difference.
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Dedicated and selfless community activists with a keen love for their community, Kelvin Damons and Delano Demas, spurred on by the desire to put smiles on young faces, facilitated the handing over of the bicycles, with the Gauteng Department of Transport, to the learners.
The pair have been in talks with Kliptown-born Gauteng Transport MEC, Ismail Vardi – himself a keen cyclist-to distribute bicycles to learners from four schools in the Greater Eldorado Park in a ceremony held at Nancefield Primary School on December 6.
What resonated most with the young audience, many of them accompanied by their parents or guardians, was the call to Make Eldos Great Again and the need for us to realise that we are all people, as reiterated by Vardi in his address.
He said, “We have different things, different values which make us up, but overriding everything, we are South Africans. You can be in any part of the world, but when you see our flag, your heart will skip a beat.”
The Department of Roads and Transport introduced the Shova Kalula Bicycle Project, of which a number of children from Nancefield, Saint Ives, Heerengracht and Boekenhout Primary Schools were the lucky recipients, to provide affordable, low-cost solutions to low-income households in the country.
These lucky learners fall into that group and the excitement on the young faces was a sight to behold as the formalities were concluded and the handover began.
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The Heerengracht Primary School principal, Eden Daniels, said, “It means a lot that the underprivileged children who may otherwise not have the access, were chosen by high-level government officials. It means a lot to be here.”
Charmaine Steeneveldt, who spoke on behalf of the Boekenhout Primary School principal, Nicolette Groenewald added, “Our school caters mainly to learners from Extensions One and Three. There are homes in these areas which are extremely impoverished and as a no-fees school, our learners receive very little.”
“This is a dream for us and for our children, this is like a trip to Paris.”
Another educator, Sheldene Sons from Saint Ives Primary School in Klipspruit West, said, “We are in awe. It is really heart-warming to know that our children’s plight is being acknowledged. The need in Klipspruit West is great and we cannot say thank you enough for this gesture.”
Sons thanked MEC Vardi on behalf of the school principal, Elana Heradien as the learners headed outside to try out their gleaming bicycles which came fully equipped with safety helmets, reflector jackets and bicycle pumps.
Vardi’s words, “The more you isolate yourself, the more you distance yourself from the mainstream,” echoed with many in attendance as we seek to heal the fracture within the community and truly Make Eldos Great Again.
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