Victim support room gets a facelift

Hout Bay police station’s victim support room received a facelift when three Hout Bay school pupils decided to offer their support in a different way.

Hout Bay International School pupils Jack Thomas, Oscar Sameli and Ben Mohan visited the room last week, armed with paintbrushes and some trimmings to give the room a fresh, new look.

Jack said it was all about pumping “love and care” back into the room to make victims feel loved.

It all started when the boys tried to come up with ideas for a community-service project when the

“I had spoken to a woman who had told me about a counsellor who deals mainly with trauma victims and that got me thinking. The trauma room back at SAPS often houses these trauma victims for temporary periods and gets overlooked,” said Jack.

The boys visited the trauma room and decided to do the makeover as part of their project.

Ben said they spent about R9 000 on materials.

“Everything we did in the room just worked for the space. It took us nearly an entire day, but we were happy,” Ben said.

Oscar said they had collaborated with another project at the school to raise the funds needed for the makeover.

“When we started, we quickly realised we will need funding, and that is when we decided to partner up to raise the funds.”

The group held a “cultural evening” at the school to raise money.

“We put out a request and asked for support from parents and teachers and thankfully, there was plenty of support,“ Oscar said.

Hout Bay Community Police Forum chairman Anthony Chemaly praised the boys’ efforts.

“SAPS resources are very limited and the ability to get any budget to fix or upgrade the room was not possible, so the support from the community is always needed,” Mr Chemaly said.

The room provided a “safe, clean and soothing space” to cushion victims from the harshness of the charge office, he said.

“It was humbling to see the thought and effort provided by the students from the International School to fix this space.”