1. 4 TYGERBURGER Elsiesrivier Woensdag, 2 Desember 2015NUUS
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The Bishop Lavis SAPS launched their new victim support room at the station to celebrate the
launch of the 16 days of no violence against women and children campaign last Friday. Getting
ready to cut the ribbon to open the facility is Ruwaida Abrahams, coordinator of the volunteer
councillors, with Shaun Koen from Spar who sponsored the renovations, Andrew Anthony from
Business Against Crime Western Cape and station commander Brigadier Christopher Jones.
PHOTOS: GARY VAN DYK
New victim support room
Shaun Koen, right, gets to meet the group of volunteer councillors who do sterling work at the
victim support room at Bishop Lavis police station. From left are Jacky Coetzee, Marsha Roode,
Priscilla Anthony, Ruwaida Abrahams, her husband Sulayman Abrahams and Debbie Abrahams.
The facility needs more volunteers to help and any person can apply to become a volunteer
councillor. The person must have no criminal record, but a pleasant personality. Applicants will
be screened and background checks done. Volunteers are needed in Bonteheuwel and Bishop
Lavis. Anyone interested can bring a duplicate of their ID and CV to Captain Marie Louw or
Ruwaida Abrahams at the police station.
S
ome interesting times are lying ahead
for children of Uitsig and surrounding
areas during the festive holidays.
The City of Cape Town is launching a new
holiday programme concept in the area as
well as in Mfuleni this December.
The pilot is part of the City’s new Trans-
versal Youth Development Strategy which
aims to consolidate and improve coordina-
tion of youth programmes in the city. The
strategy’s overarching goal is to provide in-
tegrated services, opportunities and support
for young people, in order to help them be-
come resilient, healthy, independent, re-
sponsible, and economically active change
agents.
An internal audit of youth programmes
found that various departments in the City
host nearly 400 projects that reach close to
300 000 young people. The audit also found
overlaps and duplication in some instances,
while identifying gaps in other areas.
“We have been hosting youth programmes
for years, but these have been fragmented
and we haven’t always been clear on the end
goals and how they tie in with the City’s
overall strategy,” said the City’s Mayco
member for social development and early
childhood development, Suzette Little.
“The process of drafting the youth devel-
opment strategy has helped not only crystal-
lise our objectives, but is also the blueprint
for how we empower young people going for-
ward. Departments will continue running
their own programmes, but in line with the
strategy and the desired outcomes.”
Holiday programmes are considered a
crucial platform for engagement with young
people, with hundreds of interventions of-
fered at community facilities every year.
The pilot projects in Mfuleni and Uitsig have
been designed within the framework of the
new youth development strategy.
They will target 150 young people in each
area, aged between 13 and 18, with themed
activities over a five-day period between 7
and 11 December. A number of line depart-
ments are involved in the projects, with a
combined spend of R300 000.
The experiences from these projects will
form the basis of a standard operating proce-
dure for future holiday programmes hosted
by City line departments.
“We have many unengaged young people
in our communities, and this is a perfect op-
portunity to reach out to them and make a
meaningful difference in their lives,” con-
tinued Little.
“We need to help broaden the horizons of
our youth, particularly those at risk. We are
constantly faced with a barrage of questions
about how to protect our youth from the rav-
ages of social ills like teen pregnancy, gang-
sterism and substance abuse.
“An important step is by engaging with
and empowering them by instilling a sense
of belief in themselves that they can rewrite
their narrative.”
Interesting times for the holidays
The Cape Town Male Voice Choir will be pre-
senting their Summer Celebration Concert at
Bishops Chapel in Rondebosch on Sunday 6
December from 19:00.
The choir will be led by its new musical
director Peter Roux in a varied programme
of interesting and uplifting choral works
spanning many different cultures and musi-
cal styles. Acclaimed diva Aviva Pelham
will join the choir in a number of songs (in-
cluding “Avinu Malkeinu” and “Ose Sha-
lom”), and will perform a number of solos.
This year a portion of the ticket sales will
be donated to the music therapy programme
of the Children’s Hospital Trust, advancing
child health care through the Red Cross War
Memorial Children’s Hospital.
Audience members are requested to bring
an unwrapped educational gift for the little
patients in hospital.
V Tickets cost R100 and are available from
www.webtickets.co.za or by calling 082 500 4748.
Male choir to
present ‘summer’
Housing registration: On Tuesday 24
November 2015, the City of Cape Town’s
human settlements directorate conducted
a housing database registration drive at
the Belhar Minor hall in Belhar in a bid to
encourage applicants, especially those who
have been registered on the database for
the longest time, to update their details.
This initiative has seen positive results in
areas such as Gugulethu, Mitchells Plain,
Bonteheuwel, Hanover Park and Lavender
Hill. In particular, the City is encouraging
senior residents who have been registered
on the database for the longest period to
update their details, otherwise we cannot
reach them when a housing opportunity
comes along. Pictured are City officials
assisting applicants at the housing
database registration drive in Belhar. From
back left are Moegamat Nazeem Cassiem,
Nicolette Kock and Arnold Leeman with
Priscilla Youssef and Mzuvukile Gcolotela
(middle). Seated, from left, are Faren
Marthinus, Vanya Wakefield, Zukile
Ncikidana and Venette Thompson.