Fourways and Bryanston high schools wear black to fight GBV
Fourways and Bryanston high schools joined hands to shine a light on gender-based violence across the country.
Two rival schools put their differences aside to come together to fight a nationwide pandemic.
Learners and supporters from Fourways and Bryanston high schools dressed in black to show solidarity in the fight against gender-based violence in the country during their derby day on May 6 and 7.
Black wristbands were on sale throughout the week and during the day at the respective schools to raise funds for an organisation dealing with victims of gender-based violence.
Principal at Fourways High Andrew Holliday said there had been an overwhelming amount of support throughout the world for the End GBV initiative started by two Fourways High staff members. “We have been worried about social issues for a long time, and there are many that affect teenagers as well that we need to look at.
Once a year, we want to make a big focus on an issue in society where we choose a derby day and partner with our rivals to highlight that campaign,” he said.
“With this being our first year out of Covid, we approached Bryanston High [to ask] if they would like to join us in highlighting this issue and they jumped at it immediately. The whole focus today was GBV and the seriousness of it.”
Representatives from Bryanston High School visited an assembly at Fourways on May 5, and Fourways representatives went to their rivals on May 4. The assembly at each school aimed to build ‘hype’ for their upcoming derby day, highlight the seriousness of gender-based violence and encourage everyone to support the initiative.
A number of sponsors came on board to support the cause, including radio stations Hot102FM, who were the emcees for the day, and StarFM who visited the school on May 6.
“The atmosphere has been absolutely phenomenal today, and the turnout of supporters in black has been incredible to see. It’s a great turnout for a derby day. We’ve had a lot of messages applauding the two schools for joining hands in this campaign,” said Holliday.
Staff members Tebogo Moepye and Kerry Ellis-Williams from Fourways had been planning and organising the initiative, and both received massive praise from principal Holliday and all supporters.
Moepye said donations also came in from attendees set to go towards an organisation that deals with gender-based violence. He said while the organisation is still to be decided, there are some places in mind.
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