Societas, the outreach initiative of Paul Roos Gymnasium, joined forces with visual artist Abri de Swardt to present “The River That Binds Us”, a natural outcome of the school’s long-standing dedication towards the upkeep and conservation of the Eerste River.
The work of the Social Impact Art Prize (SIAP) candidate focuses on the cultural and historical backgrounds of diverse community groups that live on the banks of the river. The reciprocal impact and dependency among human, industry and river serve as inspiration for De Swardt’s SIAP project and also inspired PRG’s “The River That Binds Us” project.
After creative conversations with the artist, PRG decided to launch an awareness campaign, made possible through Investec, for both itself and Khayamandi High School learners, with the intent of inspiring greater collaboration between these two communities and to entice learners from other schools and communities who frequent the river, to join this conservation project.
The Health Promoters, a Khayamandi-based NPO working to break the long-standing ties between poverty and illness, agreed to act as correspondent between the schools’ learners.
In September, close to 30 Khayamandi High learners, Health Promoters representatives, PRG Societas, PRG staff, Dr Charon Büchner-Marais of Stellenbosch University and CED of CoGo, Unathi Msophi of the Stellenbosch Trail Fund and Brigadier-General Farouk Davids, a Faure community leader, spent an entire day next to the Eerste River.
The group started at PRG, where they tested the river water with the miniSASS (Stream Assessment Scoring System) and PRG life sciences teacher Hannelie Caine informed the learners how the presence or absence of living organisms in the water is indicative of the river’s general health. The importance of indigenous vegetation and soft engineering as a sustainable maintenance method was also discussed.
Msophi also explained how the Stellenbosch Trail Fund works to keep the Eerste River clean and healthy daily.
Afterwards the group travelled to the mouth of the river in Macassar. En route De Swardt encouraged learners to think of the river as a living entity with rights, like humans and animals. He asked the learners to imagine the river as a lifeline – a cultural, historical, and natural source where communities have been living out their practices for centuries, gathering and producing food and, ultimately, etching their stories into the history of South Africa.
Büchner-Marais pointed out how the Krom River in Idas Valley and Plankenburg River in Khayamandi join the Eerste River before it finally runs into the sea at Macassar. She explained general pollution and poor ablution in many communities of Stellenbosch, Eerste River, Faure and Macassar as well as pollution by industries operating next to the river, all play a role in the bad state of the water.
The learners saw how the Eerste River runs into the ocean, where people were fishing and kite surfing. Caine again tested the water and the results were compared with the first batch; a clear difference was noted in terms of the purity and clarity.
En route to Stellenbosch, Davids shared his insights into the diverse cultural groups from Faure and Macassar that have resided and lived off the river for at least 300 years. Macassar’s rich cultural history was explained and learners could see the Kramat from the side of the road. Recent flood damage was also evident.
The learners were informed of the Khoi-Khoi, whose descendants living in Faure and surrounds remain dependent on the health of the river. The impact of industrial and residential development on the daily practices of these groups was witnessed on the day too.
The last stop was Stellenbosch, where the learners walked to the point where the Plankenburg and Eerste rivers meet and flow together. The pollution of the area was high and learners saw the impact of recent floods on the state of the river. They were also taught the dangers of high levels of E.coli in river water. Due to health-risk warnings, water tests were not done in this area.
The outing concluded with a lunch, sponsored by SIAP, at the Rupert Museum. Here learners reflected on their observations and played with ideas on how they can work together to make a difference.
This includes introducing more indigenous plants to the river water to enable living organisms to thrive in its water and devising a plan to reduce the pollution where the Plankenburg and Eerste rivers meet. Larger ideas, in terms of municipal intervention and government policy, were also explored, while the learners also looked at ideas for the future and environment friendly decisions in business, when they one day find themselves in professional positions.
All those who attended received a certificate, which doubles-up as a pledge to conserve the river and a promise to raise awareness among their communities, accentuating everyone’s responsibility towards the improvement and maintenance of a better Eerste River.
PRG Productions learners documented the outing and will release the promotional video in the near future. This video will be used to invite schools, communities and business leaders to join “The River That Binds Us” project.
Next year, the PRG and Khayamandi High School learners will come together under professional guidance to build on their ideas to implement a practical and safe to execute project.
