Project brings hope to Gillitts Primary School
The heavy rains in April caused such extensive damage to the bank of Gillitts Primary School that repair costs would have set the school back by R2 million.
APRIL’S heavy rains caused such extensive damage to the embankment at Gillitts Primary School that it would have needed to fork out almost R2 million for repairs.
But, thanks to the caring teams from City Hope Disaster Relief and Leomat Plant Hire and Construction, the burden to restore the bank has been lifted.
“It was terrifying! If it wasn’t tended to we could have lost a portion of our school. The quotations we were getting were in the range of R2 million and we could simply not afford something like that,” said Gillitts Primary School’s principal, Arti Jadoo.
City Hope Disaster Relief put out a call to action on Facebook and called for people to highlight schools in need of help after the heavy rains.
“I came around to see the status of the property. I was shown the extent of the damage and how it was starting to cause a hazard to the school building and was hindering the safety of the children,” said City Hope’s Catherine Smith.
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Engineer, Marco Pauselli, was called out to do an assessment and requested quotes from various companies.
“He then put us in touch with Leomat Construction, we gave them the go ahead and they are making fast progress,” said Catherine.
The repairs started on 11 October and they are nearly complete. “They have put in all of the safety measures for our school. Their professionalism is excellent,” said Arti.
“The principal has poured in extensive heart and effort into school and the property for eight years. It would be disheartening to have the property wash away following all of her efforts,” said Catherine.
Since 2011, sponsors have poured more than R4 million into the school and this has helped it transform into a place of excellence.
Denzel Mamotte of Leomat Plant Hire and Construction described the school as beautiful and was encouraged by the great changes that have been made by the principal and staff.
“The bank would have eventually washed away, so it’s good that we got onto it before the rainfall and that the spring rains are holding off,” he said.
With the repairs nearly complete and its Grade R classroom receiving its finishing touches, Arti is already looking to complete another project before the end of 2020 – a steel structure where the school can host its assemblies.
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