A group of learners from Yellowwood Primary School is the fourth group to receive a donation of new school shoes, sponsored by Samaritan’s Feet SA.
Earlier this month, Speaker of the provincial legislature, Masizole Mnqasela continued his shoe distribution as part of his Shoe of Hope programme which aims to provide learners in need with a new pair of shoes.
His programme is run in partnership with Youth4Life SA and Samaritan’s Feet SA.
The Shoe of Hope initiative started in 2020 and has already seen the distribution of more than 2 000 pairs of school shoes to schools across the province.
But in recognising the need of her community, Ceceline Seale, a community worker in Tafelsig approached Samaritan’s Feet SA to distribute more shoes for children in Tafelsig.
“I run a soup kitchen and I can see the need. Because I am always on social media looking at places to approach for donations, I came across Samaritan’s Feet SA and got in touch with them for a donation,” she says.
To date, she and her team have visited Perserverance, Searidge Park and Cascade primary schools. On Wednesday 18 May, the group visited Yellowwood Primary School.
Seale runs and sources produce for 17 soup kitchens in the area under Tafelsig Community Kitchens.
She says the need is great in the community and hopes to distribute shoes to the rest of the Tafelsig primary schools. “Most of the children’s tracksuits and pants are frayed and children have no socks or holes in their socks,” says Seale.
Her goal is to also collect white and grey school socks, especially now that winter is approaching.
The shoes donated are sourced from the United States of America (USA) and is approved for use by the Western Cape Education Department.
Learners who received shoes at the schools are in the foundation phase. Seale says she hopes to return to the schools to assist older children as well.
The environment club was launched at the school in 2021.
Teachers Shamiela Isaacs, Justine Davids, Verona Jacobs and Asanele Nkomo all participated in The iGardi Project which resulted in a food garden at the school. Because of this, a team of learners were needed to assist in maintaining and growing the produce.
The garden has produced spinach, eggplant, peppers, carrots, cabbage, broccoli, kale, chillies and cauliflower and is used to supplement the school’s feeding scheme.
The Grade 4 learners will continue next year and the year after, with a rotation of learners as others leave Grade 7.
Natanya Dreyer, team leader for learning and awareness at CapeNature, says the aim of the initiative is to get learners excited about the environment. The newsletter also has activities that encourage wildlife to return to home and school gardens.
Club members also receive a 20% discount to accommodation at the CapeNature managed reserves for their family. Children also earn button badges.
School principal Anthony Douglas Meyer says they have had a good relationship with CapeNature thus far and the school aims to continue promoting nature through planting and gardening initiatives. He says the organisation has also assisted with tree donations.
“We are starting small with 12 learners to take them through the programme and then expand it further. The learners also grow and expand gardening on their own,” says Meyer. “We want to promote indigenous plants and being conscious of the environment. Around the area there is a lot of dumping and if the children can help to turn these sites into gardens by getting the community involved in these projects, then we can solve the dumping problems.”
The school has 833 learners.
CapeNature’s chief executive officer Dr Razeena Omar says: “Cubs Club members are afforded the opportunity to learn more about the environment and environmental issues and are provided an incentive to participate in action projects through the club’s quarterly competitions. We hope that these projects will act as a catalyst for positive actions that will inspire young people to become ambassadors for nature in future.”
- To register, visit https://www.capenature.co.za/ or email learning@capenature.co.za for details.
