- Muizenberg’s Men for Change, a police outreach program, visited St James Primary School, engaging learners with sports equipment and positive guidance.
- The initiative aims to connect with youth in local schools, teaching them to make positive life choices and trust police as community allies.
- The visit was filled with interactive moments, humor, and inspiring words, leaving a lasting impact on the young students.
Transforming the lives of children, one school at a time and steer learners in a positive direction and away from crime. This is the aim of Men for Change.
On Wednesday 23 October, Men for Change, which consists of police officers from Muizenberg police, members of Muizenberg Community Policing Forum (CPF) and neighbourhood watches, visited learners at St James Primary School.
Bearing gifts of netballs, basketballs and soccer balls donated from a private donor the learners were excited to receive the sports equipment.
The Men for Change programme focuses on schools within the Muizenberg policing precinct such as Vrygrond, Capricorn, Steenberg, Seawinds and Muizenberg.
Kenneth Sewells, Men for Change co-ordinator, said they hoped to connect with children as a means for them to make the right choices in life.
“The event is all about the children and where we try to make a change by showing the community that police are not just all about guns and badges,” he said.
“Crime affects younger children. If you can get through to them while they are growing up, it is ideal.”
“By interacting with the children, allowing question and answer sessions such as “do policemen only eat donuts”? queried from a young audience member last week, it creates a connection for children to gain trust in the police.
“Children don’t normally say what is wrong at home, they are scared to talk or to say they are being abused and neglected,” said Sewells.
“We let them know that they are not alone.”
Not impossible
Men for Change member Lt Col Paul Alexander said their mission is not impossible. “Our mission is not mission impossible, it is a possible mission. We want to transform the lives of young children and we want to give them the opportunity to understand that policing is not a bad thing,” he shared.
“But we also need to make them understand that there needs to be order in society and they are becoming the future leaders of tomorrow.”
Positive mindsets were sadly lacking in many communities which greatly affected young children, he added.
“I think, where we are lacking in our community is positivity about the future but we also know the potential for them to become victims of crime or perpetrators themselves,” said Alexander.
“We want children to know that they can trust us and take us into their confidence and by partnering with schools and other organisations we are making people more aware of their responsibility towards crime within their community.”
Meanwhile, St James Primary School principal Lynette Saunders said the school was happy to partner with community organisations.
“The police and Community Policing Forum (CPF) has always been a part of our school and they are always here for the school,” she said.
“If we look at our neighbourhood watches, it is important that they are part of the school because they look after our school and that is what makes the school a community school.”
