A new organisation that was launched in Bonteheuwel aims to bring transformation to the area and let the youth lead the way.
R-City Cape Town was launched with much fanfare outside its base in Honeysuckle Road, on Saturday January 5, with locals and guests from its sister organisation, R-City Belfast, in Northern Ireland.
Pastor Norman Jacobs, from Beautiful Exchange Church, where R-City is based, said he had always had the idea that the church would be more than just that and that community work would be at its core.
“The seed for Beautiful Exchange was planted in 2013, and we moved to this building last June. The idea of the church was to start a foundation, to do community work, and to help create businesses,” he said.
The acronym, R-City, stands for Communities Integrating Through Youth. The R is slang for “our” in Belfast The organisation uses young people as a tool to unite and uplift communities.
Mr Jacobs was introduced to R-City when they visited Bonteheuwel a few years ago and wanted to meet with gang members, which Mr Jacobs facilitated.
Founder of R-City Belfast, Alan Waite, said his youth centre was started with co-founder Thomas Turley, in 2013.
“Both of of us worked in the communities that were, and still continue to be, divided by religion (Protestant and Catholic). Having grown up through the conflict ourselves, we have seen first-hand the devastation that has torn our country apart.
“This drove us to design a project that would be positive change and a programme that would impact on the lives of youth living in and around the most notorious interfaces of Belfast.
“As part of the project, we designed an international aspect where the groups of youth would travel to South Africa, and at that time we went to Blanco, in George. We later wanted to explore the Cape Flats areas, and wanted to see first-hand the communities we heard so much negativity about,” Mr Waite said.
In 2015, R-City Belfast had an opportunity through funding from its local government, to design a programme dealing with choices and consequences.
This they designed incorporating gang culture.
“This led to us coming in contact with Pastor Norman and his team, through a friend of our project; Judith Kennedy. Our partnership with Pastor Norman grew strong at a very quick pace, and we noticed so many similarities between Bonteheuwel and Belfast,” he said.
Mr Waite said both communities had negative stigmas attached to them due to their past or ongoing issues.
Their aim is to get young people who have limited opportunities to get involved in positive programmes to impact their futures, to create positive role models, to create a safe space, and to raise the aspirations of the youth and wider community.
“This programme is the beginning of something special, and I fully believe it will make a difference,” Mr Waite said.
Mr Waite was among a 30-member team that was here for two weeks, leading up to the launch.
Mr Jacobs said he was approached by the Belfast team, as he had been involved with gang peace talks before.
“These youngsters grow up thinking children who live in another pocket of the community are their enemies, and I want to change that mindset. They don’t even know why they are enemies, but that is what happened generations before them and is just being passed on. Apart from local integration, we are also looking at cross-cultural integration, where we don’t see race or class.
“We are busy forming bonds with the Langa community. Now our children realise that we are not that different after all,” Mr Jacobs said.
He said they had “adopted” Cedar Primary’s Grade 6 classes, offering crime prevention programmes and introducing positive role models.
He is also planning to have after-school programmes running at the church building, where children will be assisted with their homework, get something to eat, and have fun activities.
Plans also include offering skills training, creating businesses and turning Bonteheuwel into a tourist destination.
“Our vision is massive, and it won’t happen overnight. There is a Chinese saying which states that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and the second best time is now,” Mr Jacobs said.
