Camps Bay non-profit Ignisive took pupils from Kalksteenfontien to the top of Table Mountain and on a Red Bus tour last Wednesday.
According to Ignisive co-founder, Theresa Massaglia, it is critical for the NPO to encourage children to stay in school and commit to better futures.
“We realised that many of the street kids in Camps Bay come from Kalksteenfontein and we are working with the department of social development to reintegrate these kids off the streets and getting them back to school,” said Ms Massaglia.
Ms Massaglia said they have worked with SAPS from Camps Bay and Bishop Lavis, as well as numerous partners who support the Ignisive campaign.
“We launched in February and we’ve been doing initiatives with schools and Camps Bay Primary donated a whole bus load of sports kit to Kalksteenfontein Primary. We want to do more programmes to keep the kids off the street with sports, drama, music and art,” she said.
According to Sergeant Glynnis Bester, Camps Bay SAPS has outreach programmes in collaboration with Ignisive and has adopted Kalksteenfontein Primary School as part of their plan to address social issues.
“We did an outreach programme at Kalksteenfontein Primary and we saw that there is so much poverty at school, so this is something fun and educational for them. We want to take them for walks on the beach as well because these are not things they do often,” said Sergeant Bester.
Ryno Meyer, a Grade 6 teacher at Kalksteenfontein Primary, said the pupils were ecstatic when they learned about the trip.
“They’ve been so excited about this trip to the mountain and we are very thankful that they can experience this. As you can see they are learning about the mountain and enjoying the views. Ignisive does so much for the school and it definitely makes a difference in these kids’ lives,” said Mr Meyer.
Grade 6 pupil Hayley Wareley said her classmates definitely want to visit Table Mountain again.
“It’s amazing and we learnt things that we don’t learn in school, this was really amazing and fun,” said Hayley.