Lavender Hill is part of the Cape Flats, a belt of suburbs to the south east of Cape Town. Created during the Apartheid era, and mainly built on sand, it served one purpose: to get coloured people away from the white population of Cape Town. Under the Group Areas Act, people, in fact entire communities that resided in the more central areas of Cape Town, were forcibly removed from their houses and squeezed together into newly (poorly) built settlements. Many ‘Lavender Hillies’ originated in District Six, a part of Cape Town that became symbolic of the racist and destructive force of the white government. Cynically, the housing blocks of Lavender Hill were given the names of the roads in District Six, and even a church, St. Mark Anglican Church, was erected as the small sibling to St. Marks in town.
Lavender Hill is still one of the areas in Cape Town ‘forgotten’ by the local government. Money for infrastructure, job opportunities and social cultural development is spent elsewhere (mostly where the wealthy voters reside). There is vicious gang violence happening and residents live in daily fear for their lives. Because of a lack of male figures in their families, teenage boys are vulnerable to being recruited by gangs at a young age. Many are prone to getting injured or killed by stray bullets from the frequent gang shootouts, and even police don’t appear in Lavender Hill very often.
Hope comes from the amazing school teachers and principals in Lavender Hill, as well as community leaders such as Mark Nicholson who risk their lives to care for the kids, and to provide them with essentials, both physically and emotionally. There can never be enough praise and support for people like him – dedicating their lives to making a difference in these young kids’ lives.
If you are unfamiliar with the situation in Lavender Hill, we suggest to watch this visual poem. We thank the (unknown) artist for creating awareness and taking the side of the vulnerable.X