The lavender is there
a woman asserts
(my Afrikaaps shaky)
her locality quaintly named
by apartheid architects-past

Kill Me Quick Town is
Lavender Hill’s moniker
(does it vie with Nyanga)
and the drop-out rate high`

The lavender is there
the only high school
is part of that 8 percent
with functional libraries

(I recall a delightful photograph
a Marina da Gama grandmother
seated with learners T-shirted
I am a 2016 matriculant
and armed with books too)

The lavender is there
we hear from Open Studio
on CTV – Cape TV
(I catch it at its tail)

The area’s drop-out programme
seeks to put things right
and another woman wishes
that the Social Development folks
would come out and visit

The lavender is there

Two Lavender Hill women state their case,
Courtesy of our public broadcaster, along
With the familiar face of Lori Lake
(UCT’s Children’s Institute), the early eve of July 26 2016.

Empowering young minds is Marina da Gama
Grandmother June Orsmond, in “The power of one” (Argus, July 2 2014).