A Brief History
In 1997, there were eight
hundred and fifty students, grades 1-7 at
Nederburg Primary School in Paarl, South Africa. Their new
principal, Mr. Daniels,
had a formidable task ahead of him. The
first thing Principal Daniels taught the children was to hide on the
floor when gang fights broke out. The second thing Principal Daniels
did was to repair over eight hundred school windows resulting from
the six rival gangs fighting against each other over turf to
sell their drugs. Today, however,
it is more peaceful in the community.
How could this be?
Gang Wars on School Property
Gang members around
Nederburg engaged in gunfights and territorial wars for years
in and around the Nederburg School. They did this because
unemployment in community is often close
to 70%, meaning there are no jobs. Mr. Daniels called a
community meeting in 2000 to start a community garden on the school
property . It did not materialize and in 2001 an ex- gang leader,
Danny Arendse, came on board to start the garden . Planting
vegetables and selling them at a roadside stand let members of the
different gangs work together to bring peace amongst
themselves and hopefully eliminate the
violence.
Several gang members, some having fought each
other for years, put down their weapons and worked together in
harmony. The local Elsenburg Agricultural College supplied hundreds
of feet of piping and several aboveground sprinklers and advised
them what to plant and when. Nederburg School paid initially the
water bill but in 2004 they could not afford it anymore and asked
Danny and his team to pay it.
Left: Group shot of some gang members. Right: A flower garden the gang
members grew as "thanks" to Principal Daniels.
| Edward |
Randal |
David |
Winston |
Ryno |
Danny |
Ralph |
Ashwin |
The Peace Garden came to be in 2001.
The school saw a dramatic drop in the gang territorial wars and
the vandalism and break-ins to the school almost totally
ceased. The gang members were supporting themselves and their
families from vegetable sales. The vegetables not sold were donated
to the feeding scheme of the school local and to the area's poor.
It was rewarding to see the ex-gang members make the turn from
outlaws to humanitarians, from a drain on society to a benefit and
true asset of the Nederburg community.
The Peace Garden was nominated as one of twelve finalists in the
Crime Issie (English: is not ) Cool Project organized by the biggest
newspaper in the Western – Cape Province and the Ministry of
Security. The Peace Garden was visited by the Indian Minister of
Agriculture, Mr. Ajitt Singh. The garden was showcased on World
Poverty Day on the national television as well in the provincial and
local newspapers. Turning gangsters into productive citizens - what
a story! Principal Daniels and the ex-gangsters received national
publicity as an inspiring beacon for community involvement and crime
reduction through citizen efforts!
New Troubles
I met with Principal
Daniels and saw the Peace Garden in June of 2008. I am sorry to say,
the Peace Garden is gone. Why?Danny and his team could not
pay the monthly water bill and the water supply was cut off in July
2007. Drakenstein Municipality presented the garden-gang leader,
Danny, with a water bill for over 30,000 Ran (about $4,000).
Also last year, Nederburg Primary finished
installing a Sports Field for the children financed from donations
and grant money, but is struggling as it needs water to sustain it.
A Rotary Solution
Drilling
a water well or borehole at Nederburg
Primary,will provide water for both the Peace Garden and the sports
field. The cost of this project is estimated to be around
$13,000-14,000. This includes paying the Drakenstein Municipality
for the Peace Garden’s water bill.
By having it’s own water supply at the school,
The Peace Garden will be restored, and the sports field will reach
it’s potential to provide the now seven hundred and ten students at
Nederburg School with their first ever sports facility. This will
also be used by eight other sport groups who will help maintain it.
A school with a sports field also is a safe haven for families to
come and support their children away from the threat of gangs.
What a romantic
Rotary Club project this would make! Restore the Peace Garden to
Nederburg Primary School and give life to the sports field
that took (8) years to install. – wow!
And visit the school
website at
www.nederburgschool.org
