Dear Mr President

I am a thirteen year old girl living in the western side of Pretoria In a small developing township called Lotus Garden’s. It is one of the towships which RDP houses were built and given to people who were not able to have houses due to unemployment. After 5 years it became a very big developing township with many residents including immigrants who made their own squatter camps.This also meant challenges in the infrastructure that included electrical shortage, water shortages and littering of waste.

Children who had to go to school had no school near them, they had to go to schools very far in Atteridgeville our neighbouring township. They had to walk as young as 6 years crossing streets and high way roads. Sometimes we would have children hit by cars, others falling from the bridge, girls abducted and molested. In 1997 the residents of Lotus Garden’s went to protest at the Union Building about their problems. Schools were closed, supermarkets were looted due to unemployment. Finally they were answered and a school was built in 2 years .We were very happy about the news. And were also told the will be free busses for children to be taken to Atteridgeville schools as they were still building.

After 5 years in 2002 Brindhaven Primary School was open for grade R-7, it was a non-fee paying school. As it was the only school all learners from Lotus were transferred for Atteridgeville schools to Lotus.

Education for us was hard, the school was overcrowded, there were not enough classes for everyone, teachers had to teach 50 learners in a class of one which was impossible, we were given free feeding schemes, free textbooks. Despite government interventions, education outcomes remained skewed with township students continuing to underperform.

Gang and violence begin as young as 10 years, they were involved in initiation into local gangs. They were very uncontrollable, disrespectful and dropping out of schools. They see violence and gangs as a way of life and culture. They were introduced to drugs and illegal gambling games which made most boys sit in corners. Men could be seen walking on the streets drunk who have neglected and abandoned their families.

Crime in our society has been an uncontrollable issue that made most residents tend to theft as the was lack of employment for most of the people. Schools are seen as easy targets. Teachers have also been targeted by criminals.

The perpetrators of school vandalism are often gangsters, local male learners. Besides ex-learners and drop outs, implicated learners are typically experiencing learning problems or societal challenges like poverty or drug and alcohol dependency.

At the end of the tunnel there is light. Today in our community we have 6 schools so far a post office, clinic, a big supermarket, two filling stations, a sports ground, a burial site and big worship church. Unemployment is now low and the school pass rate have improved tremendously. Our parents formed a structure that eradicates and helps residents with theft and vandalism of schools and other buildings and homes which is in partnership with the Pretoria West Police Station which is called Lotus Community Police Forum.

We can now say South Africa is becoming a better place each and every day.