In an example of South African communities banding together to make a difference for their residents and visitors in safety, Melkbosstranders did something impressive, all for the price of a bottle of wine:
Melkbosstrand, South Africa (06 November 2023) — The Western Cape town of Melkbosstrand, known for its coastal pleasures and delightfully sleepy atmosphere, has a community known as “Melkbosstranders” or “Melkies” that care a lot about the town’s wellbeing.
This is the kind of town where neighbourly spirit is said to still be very much alive, and efforts to uplift the coastal gem are nowhere more evident than in community initiatives.
In an example of South African communities banding together to make a difference for their residents and visitors, Melkbosstranders did something impressive.
Following the success of the Neighbourhood Watch and volunteer group StreetCamWatch’s efforts to help residents feel safer with security cameras around town, locals also decided that security cameras should also mark the beachfront.
The beachfront security cameras initiative was a bright display of community coming together, not least because the initial target was achieved in a matter of hours after Riki Viljoen initiated the idea. The goal was to help Melkbosstrand become even safer for guests and businesses; and Riki’s logic was that that if everyone contributed the cost of a bottle of wine to the cause, the deal could be sealed.
The proverbial wine soon flowed and saw the initial target of the beachfront cameras raised before being surpassed; lending the way for more equipped cameras to be secured.
These cameras are set to face the beach road’s restaurants and the parking area by the NSRI amongst other spots along the beachfront.
Of the community spirit, Riki shared:
“We do beach clean ups, have an incredibly active (and protective) neighbourhood watch and a list of volunteers as long as my arm who are purely focused on being there for each other and for our village.”
This example of community commitment (among so many others) reminds us that when we embrace a team effort to solve problems or prevent them, a lot can be achieved.
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