'Help us to help you'

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - Lt. Colonel Moira Abrahams of SAPS in Graaff-Reinet says they can only help the community if the community helps them.

As community policing official, Abrahams and her team visited Ryneveld Primary in Santaville after a complaint about the situation at the school.

During her visit she saw the premises needed to be cleaned, the toilets were in a shocking state and that the borehole was broken. Many kids did not have shoes.

Her team contacted various stakeholders for help and Coreen Conradie, provincial liaison officer of Gift of the Givers, immediately heeded the call and donated shoes, stationery and food parcels.

Santaville is one of the poorest areas and the school is one of the oldest. Principal Noleen Fourie thanked Gift of the Givers and the police for their help and with the school governing body chairperson, Barbara Goliath, appealed to parents to be part of their children's education and to help with clean-up efforts, repairs and donations.

Operation Clean-Up is scheduled for March and SAPS, Gift of the Givers, the municipality, the Community Works Programme and the SGB have pledged their assistance.

Woman of action, Lt. Colonel Moira Abrahams.