Creating an island of hope for under-resourced schools in Franschhoek – Catherine Janse van Rensburg
In the under-resourced communities of the Western Cape, places where poverty, overcrowding, and limited access to safe outdoor spaces are daily realities—children don’t always get the chance to enjoy the beauty and nature that this part of the world has to offer. The Bridges Outdoor Education Programme aims to change that. Through fully funded camps at the Bridges Retreat Centre in Franschhoek, the programme takes Grade 5–7 pupils from 15 partner schools out of their daily environment and into nature, where they grow through team-building and problem-solving. Catherine Janse van Rensburg, the fundraising manager at Bridges, told BizNews that the camps are equipping children with critical team-building and communication skills, and that they are also shifting classroom dynamics. “Teachers report that the so-called troublemakers at school,” she says, “are often the gems at camp.” The programme also creates space for pupils from more affluent schools and employees from local companies to volunteer. It bridges not just communities but perspectives.
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Edited transcript of the interview
Linda van Tilburg (00:09.185)
Okay, just careful because the mic picks it up. Okay, you ready? Joining me in the studio for the Good Hope segment on business news is Catherine Janse van Rensburg Janssen from Rensburg, founder of the Bridges Outdoor Education Program. It's a nonprofit organization that runs overnight camps for under-resourced pupils aged 10 to 13. That's in the grades of five to seven years, in Franschhoek in the Western Cape. Well, hi Catherine Janse van Rensburg. I'm keen to hear about your program.
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (00:40.085)
Hello, Linda, lovely to be with you. Yes, so we run an outdoor education programme for 15 of Cape Town's most under-resourced school communities. We invite grade five, six, and seven learners to join us for a three-day, two-night outdoor education program at the beautiful Bridges Retreat Centre in Franschhoek. It’s a really significant time for learners to get out of their community. For some of the children, they haven't actually ever left their own community, and it just broadens their horizons. They get to work on critical skills, and it's just a special time away from school. They come with their teachers, so the children are learning, and their teachers are learning at the same time, and they all get to go back to the classroom more connected and continue working on what they've learned at camp back in the classroom. So, it's a very special project that we're working on.
Linda van Tilburg (01:40.043)
And it's not a once-off. They come for three consecutive years.
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (01:44.809)
That's correct. So, they come three years in a row. In grade five, we focus on self-awareness. Learners are taught to really look at who they are, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are, and what they need to work on to improve themselves. They get to know each other. Then in grade six, we go from self-awareness to social awareness. So, I understand myself better, but how do I now interact with other people and the other learners in my class? We work on a lot of teamwork aspects. In grade seven, we go into self-leadership. So how do I lead myself well? Those are the kind of social-emotional aspects that we look at on camp. But it's not just the social-emotional side; we also look at cognitive skills. There's a lot of brain teasers and challenges that make the learners think creatively and critically. We've got things like giant tangrams where they have to create a picture with these giant massive tangrams on the field. We have a lot of towers that they make or just creative activities. One of the activities includes dressing up one of your teammates in a really high fashion outfit made out of recycling, and then we have a fashion show around the campfire in the evening. It's just great memories that are made, but they're learning in...
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (03:09.161)
They're learning cognitive skills, social-emotional skills, and also physical skills. There are a lot of exciting activities that we do on camp. From swimming (some children have never swum before; to swim in a big pool is a huge benefit and something they get so excited about), to bow and arrow, or balancing coordination skills, and we've got some really cool obstacle courses. So, yeah, we're developing the whole child. That's what we like to say—the whole child is developed while they're at Bridges.
Linda van Tilburg (03:51.218)
What kind of feedback do you get from teachers and the pupils?
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (03:56.213)
The pupils have a lot of fun. We've had some really amazing feedback from individual learners just saying things like, "I used to think that my voice didn't matter. Now I know that I've got a contribution to make." We have children arrive at camp with their cap pulled low on their face, introverted and shy, and they don't really want to interact.
By day three, those children have often made a complete turnaround, and they're the ones leading the groups. They'll excitedly share at the end of camp how much it's meant to them. We've had one teacher say that he knows the background that these children come from, and he can honestly say at the end of camp that a lot of them are rehabilitated. The excitement of returning three years in a row is apparently a huge highlight. They talk about it in class a lot, and it's actually a great behavioural management tool for the teachers because no one wants to be left out of camp.
Everyone's on their best behaviour in the weeks running up to camp. They talk about what they've learned at camp in terms of good communication skills, empathy, and teamwork. Those lessons then continue back in the classroom. We’ve had teachers say that they've really found that it's changing the classroom.
It's not only changing individuals, but it's also changing the classroom environment and the whole school community. We start with prefects at the beginning of the year. They come on camp, and then it filters down to the grade sevens and then the grade sixes and then the grade fives. You've got this real hype and excitement about going on camp. We've seen it is impacting the school community in a really positive way.
Linda van Tilburg (05:39.585)
Tell us the history about it because you are in this absolutely beautiful site in Franschhoek.
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (05:46.793)
Yes, so the property was bought a few years ago. We rent it out over weekends to groups that are looking for accommodation to take leadership groups away or just all sorts of team-building groups that might want to run their own program. But then we realized that we didn't want the campus to be empty during the week and that we wanted to actually invite children who would never otherwise have access to a world-class retreat centre. We wanted to invite them to fully funded camps.
We registered Bridges as a nonprofit company and have since received public benefit organization status from SARS. All donations made to Bridges are tax-deductible. We decided to use the space to benefit those who would never otherwise get to a place like that. They are the people that need it most. It's great to take groups away, but it just felt like let's bring children that could benefit the most to Bridges.
Coming out of COVID, we started to plan during COVID, which was quite a strange thing to be doing when everyone was in lockdown, and we weren't allowed to meet in groups. Once the social distancing rule was lifted, the education department said that children at school didn’t need to maintain the one-meter distance anymore.
We sent our first application WECD for camp approval, and they gave us a very quick turnaround. Within a few weeks, our first camp happened at Bridges, and the rest is history. We've now hosted about 30 camps every year, working with 15 partner schools. This year, we’ve had over 3,000 children and 150 teachers at Bridges, making a significant impact across the most under-resourced schools in the Western Cape.
Linda van Tilburg (07:59.966)
It sounds like a nice combination that you have the profit side and the nonprofit side. Who funds your nonprofit side?
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (08:09.439)
Any profits from the for-profit side go into the nonprofit side. We also receive some amazing corporate social investment funds, as well as support from organizations and foundations. We've got backing from the Cheslin Colby Foundation and companies like Takealot, which have sponsored camps this year and will continue to do so next year. We've got a great mixture of individuals, foundations, and companies.
Some very special partners have walked this road with us, and they love to send volunteers to camp to see the program in action. Many companies don’t just want to provide financial support; they also want to send staff to be hands-on. Frequently, the staff express that they learn so much from being at camp with these children; they are truly inspired.
We're very strict with our child protection policies, and everyone needs to get police clearance before they come as a volunteer on camp. We’ve had lovely volunteers come and share their enthusiasm, and for the children, many of whom have unemployed parents, meeting someone with a job and discussing their work experience is aspirational.
They are not only experiencing a beautiful place without litter and gang violence, but they also get to play in safety, receive three meals a day, and they sleep in their own bed, which for many is the first time they have not shared it with a sibling. For many children, it’s also their first time having a hot shower or traveling in a luxury bus. We send a beautiful luxury bus to fetch them from school and return them again.
So, all of these experiences are new. When they meet someone who has a job, it broadens their horizons, and something in them clicks where they realize that the world they live in isn't necessarily what their life has to look like forever. There’s a whole world out there. For some, it ignites hope for their future.
Linda van Tilburg (10:33.062)
Is there an example of someone you've been tracking who was part of your first program and what they do now? You don't have to mention names if you don't want.
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (10:41.023)
We don’t track individuals, but we definitely see that as a group, they mature significantly. We’ve had camps where grade 7s come for the first time, and they haven’t participated in grades 5 and 6. It's very different when you get a fresh group of grade 7s; they're often all over the place. You can see that the basic concepts haven’t been instilled. We find that the program is much more beneficial when they come for three years in a row.
Children share stories with the coaches, who mean a lot to them. We have about eight coaches at Bridges, and we divide children into smaller groups when they arrive, so each child is in a group of about 10 with one coach. There’s a lot of opportunity for good conversation and mentorship, and the children feel seen and valued. That's special.
We get feedback and little stories about how much it means to them. We also work to identify potential leaders in grade six; our coaches collaborate with the educators to pick who would be good prefects in grade seven. The fact that the prefects get to attend this camp elevates leadership in the schools, which is very positive.
Linda van Tilburg (12:20.935)
I also saw from one of your newsletters that there are volunteers from schools as well, not only from companies.
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (12:28.691)
Yes, that's been an exciting development this year. We had 100 learners from Bishops come and volunteer for Mandela Day. They came for the whole morning on a bus, helping with everything from weeding the garden and fixing an obstacle course to engaging with the learners and participating in the education program.
That was really exciting! They have set such a good example, and I’d love to see more schools follow suit next year. There’s so much learning that can happen both ways; having children from very different walks of life come together builds community, and it’s a beautiful model for our country.
Linda van Tilburg (13:19.002)
And it's not only corporations that can support this program; individuals can also support a child.
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (13:26.965)
Absolutely. We raise R1,550 per child per camp, which covers everything from accommodation and food to program resources and transport. We have roughly 100 children per camp, so we look at around R155,000 to 160,000 per camp. However, you don't need to give that much. Individuals can also visit our website and make donations, perhaps to support one child attending camp. We have individual givers, which all adds up, and they become part of our story and support base.
Linda van Tilburg (14:08.93)
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (14:11.399)
No, I just invite everyone to check our website. If you’d like to find out more, it’s education.bridgesretreat.co.za. What we're doing is really special; we call it an "island of hope." Sometimes we look at the problems around us and see a sea of despair, but Bridges is just one of those stories of hope. I’m really excited to be involved in it, and we have a 100-year vision. We're not here for the short term; we really want to be around long-term, impacting young people's lives and making a difference in this country.
Linda van Tilburg (14:50.214)
I know there are similar programs overseas, like the Duke of Edinburgh scheme in the UK. It’s highly beneficial for people who primarily live in cities. You’re talking about these kids who might live on the Cape Flats, just knowing what nature provides you and experiencing group dynamics.
Catherine Janse van Rensburg (15:10.281)
Yes, absolutely. The classroom isn’t always conducive to team-building and good communication skills. Stepping a little outside of your comfort zone and experiencing new things is valuable. I think there’s a limit to what you can achieve in a classroom setting. We are addressing education but not focusing on numeracy and literacy, which many amazing organizations do. We are like the preparation phase, working on the “ground soil” for effective learning to occur.
We look at the whole child and their social and emotional wellbeing. This prepares them to return to the classroom better equipped for learning. Research shows that children who are connected to their teachers learn better in class, and we see that connection between learners and educators at camp. T
Teachers often recognize different sides of their students that they may not see in the classroom. Often, the troublemakers are actually gems at camp; they're full of character and strong leadership potential. It’s wonderful to allow them to connect with each other in this way.