The community of Lavender Hill is buzzing with the prospect of a new safe space of hope that will replace the notorious ‘gang battlefield’.
The notorious ‘gang battlefield’ is a field along Blode Street where many people have been killed due to ongoing gang violence in the area. But once the new project started by Rise Above Development (Rad) is completed, the field will house a library, computer lab, music studio and dance studio, as well as a canteen. The project, which was initially planned in 2017, aims to restore hope amongst the youth.
CEO of Rad, Lindsay Cessford, said phase one of the project started Tuesday 12 July, with the partial construction of a fence.
“I’ve been at Rad for two years and the initial funders and key players may have changed, but a safe space and better future for the youth of Lavender Hill was envisioned.
We want to create this beautiful space for the youth and lots of sports programmes,” she added.
Rad is working with both local and international partners to complete the project. In Place of War from the United Kingdom, as well as Cape Town-based Breadline Africa are involved in the project.
“We are working in partnership with these organisations and the whole project will be up and running in 12 months while the first phase should be completed in three months,” said Cessford.
She added that there is a buzz of excitement in Lavender Hill now that the project is underway and she is excited about the positive things that the project will bring to the youth of the community.
“We are doing a fundraising campaign at the moment, we are in talks with funders, now that we have put the spade into the ground, we can see more people coming on board.
“We have also recruited youth from the community; everyone who will be employed for this project will be coming from Lavender Hill.
“It’s all about youth development and giving hope to the youth,” she said.
Mark Nicholson, one of the directors at Rad, said the whole field will eventually be fenced off, and seeing the project kick off is an emotional and exciting time.
“It’s exciting times, we finally started doing what we wanted to do five years ago. The idea was to do something to eradicate the gun battles on this field.
“We are looking at changing young people’s lives with this safe space. It’s emotional and exciting for me because I lost two nephews due to gang violence on this field,” said Nicholson.
Fellow director at Rad, Malcolm Cambell, said the aim is to restore hope within Lavender Hill, a community that has only known poverty, gang violence and drug addiction.
Adele Cambell, chair of the Wicht Court Association, an NGO in Lavender Hill who chairs and spearheads the Advisory Community Committee, said Rad’s project is fulfilling a need in the community.
“I am not a new kid on the block and am well aware of the dynamics in Lavender Hill. I firmly believe we must share our expertise and all work together to ensure that our future leaders have one common goal, and that is to educate and equip us to make a better Lavender Hill.
“With the fence going up people applaud Rad for the long overdue development on the battlefield. A big heartfelt thank you from the Lavender Hillians to Lindsay Cessford for working tirelessly behind the scenes,” said Cambell.
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Picture: Rise Above Development / Facebook