Children Making a Difference

Local celebrities alongside a group of school children who are making a difference…

South Africans are daily bombarded with reports of child abuse and other atrocities happening in South African society. Here’s news of a wonderfully positive initiative that a group of children undertook in October 2007.

In early September 2007, the grade six class of St. Agnes Primary School in Woodstock had a lesson on "child abuse" within their Life Orientation class. They discussed and became aware of all different forms of abuse and how, and where, they can go for help if they, or someone they know, experiences abuse of any form. For homework the learners were challenged to come up with a way the class could raise money for Childline Western Cape, in order to support the magnificent work they do, helping many children across the country and the province in particular.

The learners came up with many great ideas and the next week they shared all of the ideas with each other. They then went through a process of narrowing down which ones would be the most practical, doable, along with also bringing in the most money for Childline. The class cut it down to two fund raising events: a Sports Competition and a Talent Show. Seeing that they are a rather large class and they were split right down the middle with these two ideas, they were put into two groups and allowed to move forward with both.

The learners were then responsible to vote in group leaders, brainstorm, and conceptualize these events on their own, with very little input and guidance from adults. After they came up with the concepts and all of the inner workings of the events, they had to present the ideas to their principal, Alfonso Louw. The learners' presentations were extremely convincing because the principal and the entire school came on board to join them in this cause to raise funds for Childline.

St. Agnes Primary School dedicated an entire week (8-12 October 2007) to this cause of awareness and fundraising. It was absolutely amazing to see how these children enthusiastically took on this project to help raise money for an organization helping other children!

Ruth Martin, Senior Manager: PR, Marketing and Administration for LifeLine/Childline Western Cape, said, "I am completely blown away by this! It is the most inspiring project. It is quite honestly a big ray of sunshine in an otherwise very cloudy society. Please thank and congratulate the children on all the effort and hard work, thinking and creativity, and initiative that they have put into this project thus far. I think it will be a fabulous success, and I can't wait to witness and be part of some of their events!"

Here is a breakdown of events of the week:

The children charged R2 for any learner that took part in, or entered, the event.

The judges for the Spring Fashion Show were: Melanie Rice (from ETV News), Sharon Hirschowitz (the fashion editor from In Style Magazine), Sally Jervis (the fashion editor from Max Power Magazine), and Tina Fourie (Childline social worker).

The judges for the Spring Talent Show were: DJ Eazy (who also performed), Nathan (a Bboy dancer from the Crazy Hip Squad), Bongani Mjoli (the "voice" of ETV), Chris Tait (the lead singer of the rock band TAIT), Tyrone Paulsen (from Good Hope FM) and LeeAnne Kable (Childline social worker).
Ryan “Brown” Dalton

From the point of view of LifeLine/Childline Western Cape, we were so grateful to St Agnes Primary, and particularly the Grade 6 class of 2007, for their outstanding efforts in raising funds for Childline Western Cape. We were thrilled with the donation of R1,269.65 that was handed to us, as it so recognised the commitment and dedication of the Grade 6 class to making the fundraising week such a success.

As I said to the Grade 6 class when they handed over the cheque to me, this whole project was an inspiration. It was so selfless of them to put a project like this together that would benefit our organisation and therefore the children who make use of and need our services. I am sure it will serve as an excellent motivation for future Grade 6s to do something similar.

We were continually impressed by the project and through Ryan’s excellent communication of what was happening every step of the way, we were kept in the picture (literally), and shared this information with all our staff and families and friends. We were grateful to Mr Alfonso, the school’s principal, and the grade 6 educators, for offering this creative space for their learners, and for the generous and full participation of the school in the Childline fundraising week.
Ruth Martin

If you need to talk, for whatever reason, we’re here. Call 021 461 1111 or 0861 322 322 (LifeLine) or 021 461 1114 or 08000 55 555 (Childline) at any time of day or night, for anonymous, confidential counselling.

LifeLine/Childline Western Cape
56 Roeland Street, Cape Town 8001
Tel: +27 21 461 1113
Fax: +27 21 461 6400
Email: info@lifelinewc.org.za
Website: www.lifelinewc.org.za
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