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Learners from Hillwood Primary School in Lavender Hill learned about the dangers of drugs and bullying during a drug prevention initiative held at the school on Friday 6 May.
Programme facilitator Mark Nicholson, from the Rise Above Development organisation, said children start smoking at the age of five.
“Today’s programme is about bullying, drugs, gangs and violence and the fact that our children are suffering in silence
“Children are badly affected because most of their parents are either affiliated to gangs or are on drugs.”
Nicholson said drugs have damaged many communities on the Cape Flats.
“We have children from the ages of five, six and seven who are already puffing on cigarettes because a parent drops the cigarette. They pick it up and they follow. There is a 10-year-old boy who is also drugging, he is not doing tik but he is into Mandrax. The age they start is very young. Dagga is legal now; it has done a lot of damage to our communities.”
School principal Gavin Alkana said there was a significant change in learners behaviour when they returned to full time schooling full time post Covid-19 restrictions.
“When our learners returned their behaviour had become a challenge for us at our school. Whistling for instance, the gang whistle that has never happened at our school. We have seen truancy, learners are staying absent but we also have a percentage of parents, where there is a lack of parental support.”
Alkana says the school would like to nip the behaviour in the bud. “I had a meeting yesterday (Thursday 5 May) with a parent of a Grade 6 learner and the parent said the child does not want to come to school, a 13-year-old.
“On Monday I had a Grade 3 teacher saying a learner is throwing tantrums because the learner doesn’t want to come to school. I call them learners at risk, they don’t manifest that behaviour as yet, but they are becoming a bully, becoming a gangster.
“So, we see the red flags and we want to stop that with the organisation of Mr Nicholson where he can give us advice, because he is on the ground in the community and can do a home visitation when a learner is absent.”
The principal added that the outcome is rather grim if children end up in gangs or drugs.
“I always tell our parents, if we don’t do anything they (the learners) are either going to have an orange overall or they going to look for them with a tag on their toe in Salt River and we don’t want that.”
“We feel that yes the department is supporting us but they also have limited resources and we need to look at NGOs like the Rise Above organisation so that we can save these learners.”
Bradwin Daniels from Cafda in Retreat, who is currently out on parole, said boys on the Cape Flats are most at risk.
“I have an organisation called Global Vision transformers which was established three years ago. The main reason I’m working with Global Vision is to work with boys because boys are most at risk on our Cape Flats.”
Daniels is out on parole after serving half of his 21 year prison sentence for murder.
“I went to various prisons, at the beginning I was in Pollsmoor but because it was a maximum sentence, they cannot keep you at Pollsmoor. The sentence was for murder and robbery.” He added that he was never part of a gang.
“Because I had a previous case of murder where I got five years at the age of 17, that previous case counted against me and caused this sentence to be higher.”
Daniels says he speaks about his story to caution children about consequences for making wrong life choices.
“I don’t want them to experience what I went through in life. We are speaking about bullying and awareness and about prison life. I’m giving them a little insight on how it is in prison. Why should they end up in prison, like me with a 21 year sentence? Why must someone else make a decision to put me in a place so that I can make positive decisions? Why can’t I decide for myself at the beginning or why can’t I stick to the principles that I received from home and why did I go astray from those principles?”
Daniels says while in prison he wondered whether he would die there or see his family again.
“For us to have this long-term sentence you have that worry, is my family alive? Will I die in prison? What are my goals when I come out of prison because you must remember someone incarcerated won’t be in prison for all of his life.”
Daniels says he wants children to focus on making positive life choices.
“For instance, you buy a cigarette for R2 which means that is the value you place upon your health. You consider your health to be worth R2 and at the end of the day it will lead to sickness, TB or cancer which can cause death.”
William Cupido, CEO of Second Chance Outreach, said the choices children make are likely to determine their future. He knows the danger of drugs all too well after he nearly lost his life.
“Drugs are destroying our schools, children use them in the schools and gangsterism start in schools.
“I was hooked on drugs for 38 years and the doctor gave me three months to live because I was rotting away from the inside, they had to remove my stomach and build another stomach inside of me.
“I used Mandrax, I used any kind of drugs that could have given me the kick. There was a time that drugs didn’t even do anything to me so I had to use alcohol with the drugs to get the same kick as other people get out of it and the same time, I became a drug addict and alcoholic.”
The former addict said after the life-saving operation he continued using drugs.
“When I got the operation, I felt good and started using again but then I thought to myself, no man. Your children are growing up, look how children are getting destroyed and I just stopped. It was a battle, my body was speaking to me 24/7 because my system was used to using drugs and alcohol, day and night. It took me seven months for the craving to disappear and here I am today, 16 years later.”
Cupido added, “I used to be with gangsters, those years - it was a different type of gangsters. Gangsters used to respect each other because it was about clothing but now it’s about your life.”
