Lavistown (B 16)

Name: Lavistown

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Leon Poole may be only 11 years old, but he is a seasoned "stroller".

For three years he has walked the streets of Cape Town, begging for food and money most afternoons and weekends. He started doing it because there was no food at home and, on a good day, he could make up to R100.

The first day of school last week saw Leon start Grade 5 at Clarke Primary School. By entering the school premises he made not only a commitment to attend school, but also to stop strolling.

"My mom was worried about me and my dad's working now," he said.

He is one of 11 children who attend Clarke Primary School who have promised to stop strolling.

Clarke Primary School's track record is nothing out of the ordinary but it has attracted the attention of Cape Town's Central City Improvement District officials.

While working with street children and strollers in Cape Town Gavin Joachims realised that more than half of the strollers he met in the city returned to the same place at night - Clarke Estate in Elsies River.

When he approached the principal of Clarke Primary School, Stanley Valentyn, he realised the close proximity of Lavistown railway station provided ready access for the children to hop a train to the city. The two started talking about why the children leave the area every day to beg in the city.


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