Building family memories in Manenberg

The Family Photo Day at Red River Primary School was organised by the Rockgirl organisation in partnership with Children’s Radio Foundation as part of the Safe Manenberg Campaign.

Nicole Pillay, who attended the event with her ten-year-old daughter and three-year-old son, said that she had never had a family portrait taken with her children.

“At home we do not have family pictures on a photo frame. We always take pictures on the cell phone and phones get stolen so we lose the pictures”, said Pillay.

Sidney Hendricks, the deputy principal at the school, said that when children went missing, families often did not have pictures of the children. Some families rarely documented family moments, he said and events like the photo day offered an opportunity to build memories.

Young people from the CRF interviewed families about the importance of having family photos as part of the CRF media work project.

Linda Daniels from CRF said when children were kept busy with positive things, they did not engage in negative activities. “For instance the children are here today participating in the event, they are not out there exposed to bad things that are happening in their homes and neighbourhood”.

Wanay Adams who is in grade 7 at the school and is the media spokesperson for the Rockgirl organisation, said one of the main objectives of Rockgirl was to create a safe space for girls at school.

“What we did at my school was to build a bench where we girls meet and sit in during free time and discuss issues that affect us as girls”.

Rockgirl was trying to find ways to make the country safe for abused women and children. And one way of doing this was to build safe benches across Cape Town, she said.

“The area I am from in Manenberg is not safe and we as young girls are scared. When I am with the members of Rockgirl I run away from gangsters, drug abusers and other depressing things in my community,” said Adams.

Eugene Peters, the principal at the school, said most learners had family members in gangs and some young gang members attended the school. There were seven different gangs around the school, he said.

“Sometimes when the learners come to school in the morning, they have to cross dead bodies on the school field”, said Peters.

India Baird, the founder of Rockgirl, said the Photo Day event was one way to get parents at the school to discuss their children’s safety.

“Hundreds of people came today and we did put the message across that children need to feel safe and be safe in their communities” said Baird.

Baird said Rockgirl was inspired by the ANC Women’s League logo “you strike a woman, you strike a rock”. More than 300 girls, mostly from primary schools, were members, she said.

“Other than creating a safe space for young girls, we also teach girls ways to document their lives. We give the girls cameras to take home and they take pictures of themselves and how they live their lives everyday”.