A child protection organisation in Ocean View, which provides a safe space for youngsters to pursue their passions, needs your help to build their own centre.
Founder of the Cape Flats Wellness Centre, Aslam Richards says: “I had been doing community work for several years, but during the Covid-19 pandemic, the organisation was officially registered.
“It was founded amid concerns about the recruitment of two major gangs in the area and the increasing prevalence of social ills affecting our young children.
“Ocean View is a forgotten community as it is geographically separated from the rest of the Cape Flats, but it has the same challenges.
“Looking around, as adults we took a stand to start fixing our community and reaching out to kids before the gangs start recruiting them.”
Each Saturday hundreds of laaities walk over to the Generation School in Imhoff, who have donated their grounds, and participate in a wide range of activities.
Aslam explains: “We have two main offerings, which include the musical workshops where our children are taught how to play the violin, guitar and soon the piano, as well as our choir.
“On the sports side, we have soccer, basketball and skateboarding and as part of our expansion plans we have teamed up with the NSRI that will provide swimming and water safety lessons and soon we will have our own scouts. We have partnered with Scouts SA and this will be focused on developing young leaders in Ocean View.
“Our hope is to acquire a piece of land nearby or a building where we can have daily activities for our children. We also want to be able to provide a resource centre where they can come and do their homework and where we can provide them with lunch for school.”
If you would like to assist the centre, call Aslam on 074 069 8828.