{"id":50078,"date":"2023-04-18T06:02:59","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T04:02:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/peoplespost\/we-want-to-feel-safe-teachers-picket-in-support-of-grade-2-learner-who-was-shot-by-gangster-20230418\/"},"modified":"2025-03-19T20:50:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T18:50:45","slug":"we-want-to-feel-safe-teachers-picket-in-support-of-grade-2-learner-who-was-shot-by-gangster-20230418","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novanews.co.za\/peoplespost\/we-want-to-feel-safe-teachers-picket-in-support-of-grade-2-learner-who-was-shot-by-gangster-20230418\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We want to feel safe\u2019: Teachers picket in support of Grade 2 learner who was shot by gangster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tiny fingers squeezed through a fence of Parkwood Primary School to hold the placards \u201cStop hurting us because we are children\u201d and \u201cWe want to feel safe\u201d during a picket organised by school teachers on Friday 14 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teachers and community leaders picketed outside the school in support of Grade 2 learner Nasiegha Williams (7) who was paralysed when she was shot during an alleged gang crossfire on Thursday 5 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sherona Scheepers, deputy principal at the school, said violence in the area affected children in the classrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI stood here earlier and became emotional to think that we have to go to this extent for children to be safe and this is not the first child. Two or three years ago, we lost a child from our school.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added that the dreams Williams had were shattered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Residents, community leaders and teachers outside Parkwood Primary school. PHOTO: Natasha Bezuidenhout<\/div>\n
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\u201cYesterday I spoke to my class and told them how this child may have had her own dreams like going to the Olympics, playing netball for the country or whatever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut this child has lost everything, so we are really sad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nasieba Adams, the aunt of Nasiegha, says the entire family has been impacted by the shooting incident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is hard for us. She is doing okay but she is paralysed and still has a bullet in her kidney. They are not going to remove it yet because she is still in a lot of pain and they say it is not an emergency to do it now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on the gang violence Adams adds: \u201cEnough is enough. Something has to come out of this because it could have been anyone\u2019s child, it could have been my child.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinead Lavan, Nasiegha\u2019s class teacher, says it is sad that children cannot safely play outdoors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want this to stop and we are very sad. When it is holiday time and you are a child, you want to play but the reality in this community is that they have to stay inside. We all feel sad that this happened, also seeing that she may never be able to walk again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is not fair. So, we just want her to get well and get better soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lavan describes Nasiegha as a bubbly child who, from her hospital bed, has already asked for school homework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNasiegha was a very bubbly person in class and she was one of the top two learners and she was always excited about school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYesterday, I was chatting with her mother and she asked if I sent her schoolwork yet. She was that kind of learner in class.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rasheed Allen, a community leader, says residents are fed up with the gang violence in Parkwood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe are sick about innocent kids getting shot and killed. If it wasn\u2019t through the grace of God, Nasiegha would have been next.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The young girl was playing outside her home when two bullets struck her in the spine and kidney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is very sad what is happening in our community because in the past few years, we lost innocent children and I don\u2019t know whether it is the justice system or the police system that is failing us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a parent of a young girl and boy, Allen says it is sad that children have to suffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI am a parent of a little girl that is attending Parkwood Primary. I have a nine-year-old son too and it could have been him. If you look at the past shootings, it is really sad that our kids must suffer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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