An Example of Practical help to Klipheuwel Primary through the Cause Connect Trust

A couple of years ago, Laurencia Parks, who heads up the Klipheuwel ministry,  came to the Cause Connect Trust with the following problem: “Often when we arrive to help the children with remedial reading, the school’s septic tank is overflowing. The parents try to solve this problem by not sending their children to school because they get sick when they walk through the sewerage overflowing from the septic tank on their way to class.”

Susan Böhler pointed out, “That’s no solution because then the children fall behind in education. But of course the health of the children comes first, they are being good parents.”

Susan explains how Cause Connect works to connect people and resources with causes. “First we engaged with the school management but they didn’t know what their rights were. They had been phoning the municipality explaining the problem. The municipal truck would come occasionally…but the municipal worker didn’t understand the problem either. So we stepped in and phoned the Department of Education and the department explained that maintenance doesn’t fall under them, it should be addressed with the property owners. 

The property owners weren’t sure of the next steps, so Cause Connect engaged private engineers – pro bono, not a cent was spent. The civil engineer walked around the property and it took him only 10 minutes and he concluded that the septic tank was fine and that it should be able to handle the current capacity without a problem. He found that there was a leak in the urinal in the boys’ toilet, which was subsequently fixed.

This process unlocked a whole lot of things. We had an electrical engineer visit the school too and he noticed certain things that needed fixing. Through this process, the property owners of Klipheuwel Primary School took responsibility and put a regular maintenance plan in operation. The Western Cape Department of Education also equipped the school management with the knowledge of what they can legally require when they need support.

This is one example of how the Cause Connect Trust operates to empower and uplift those who need it.”