Cape Kids Foundation grants Cape Flats teens the power of family and dreams - Vicky Bauer

The Cape Flats in South Africa is an area plagued by gang violence and drug abuse. The situation has been so dire that the army was sent into the townships in 2019 to control the situation. Exposure to the violence is particularly distressing for children who are caught in the crossfire. It is for these children that the Cape Kids Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Muizenberg in the Western Cape, aims to ensure better outcomes. The Foundation takes in teens from the age of 14 and provides learning support for them throughout their adult life. Vicky Bauer, the Director of the Foundation, said in an interview with Biznews that the foundation, established in 2017, is for curious and determined young people who come to them for a place where they can feel safe and experience the power of being part of a family. From their initial program working with young adults, the foundation has evolved into a residential program with a strong emphasis on trauma counselling, and a school, the Alex School, was established in Muizenberg. Bauer said that The Cape Kids Foundation is in the process of designing an outdoor environmental education program on a site that they have acquired on a mountain peak in Glencairn. They are clearing the site of alien vegetation and making it safe for the neighbourhood that has experienced devastating wildfires in the past. She highlighted that students who come to them are children who don’t have dreams because they are merely surviving.