Gangsters

Principle Daniels is a wonderful grass-roots entrepreneur. As part of his story he would like you to …

Meet Dannie & the Gang Members

Gang members around Nederburg Elementary School in Paarl, Africa, engaged in gun fights and territorial wars for 40 years in and around the Nederburg School. Mr. Daniels, the Nederburg School principal, called a peace meeting with the gangs in 2002 and offered them an acre of land on school property to start a farm. Planting vegetables and selling them at a roadside stand on school property could financially support the gang members, supplying food for their families, and hopefully eliminate the violence.

Gang members, some having fought each other for 40 years, put down their weapons and worked together in harmony. The local Department of Agriculture supplied hundreds of feet of piping and several above-ground sprinklers. The Mayor of Paarl offered them an opportunity to earn city water for their "Peace Garden" if the gang members swept the city streets at night. The gang members agreed.

The Peace Garden came to be in 2003, and since then, Nederburg School has never been broken into, not one shot has been fired, all territorial wars have ended, and the gang members are supporting themselves and their families from vegetable sales. The vegetables not sold are donated to the local hospital, the local home for the elderly, and to the area's poor. The gang members have turned from outlaws to humanitarians, from a drain on society to a benefit and true asset of the Nederburg community. They are an inspiration for all struggling with overcoming obstacles to get ahead.