Christel House ensures that poverty doesn't limit potential

The school provides holistic care, trauma-informed teaching and support to some of Cape Town's most under-resourced children. By Takudzwa Pongweni

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Cape Town is often described as a tale of two cities — one of ocean-view villas and elite private schools, the other of overcrowded flats, informal settlements and generations trapped in poverty.

Tucked away in Ottery, there's a school that doesn't just teach, it transforms. Christel House South Africa is a unique institution: an independent, no-fee, nonprofit school serving some of the city's most underresourced communities. Here, education isn't just about passing exams, it's about disrupting poverty.

"We are almost a contradictory concept. We are an independent school catering for poor children, which means that they don't pay school fees. Our children are all coming from very dire situations. They are mostly back yard dwellers, staying in very poor communities. Some of them come from informal settlements," said Christel House's chief academic officer, Ronald Fortune.

This contradiction is deliberate. Christel House's mission is simple and powerful: to ensure poverty does not limit potential.

"We don't want poverty to limit our children's potential, and everything we do is geared towards that.

"We as educators and we at the school need to find solutions and work around the issues that our children come with to school," said Fortune.

More than a classroom

To turn its mission into reality, the school wraps every child in a web of support that extends far beyond academics. Education doesn’t begin with a textbook, it begins with breakfast. Students receive daily transport to and from school, uniforms, two hot meals and a snack, on-site medical care, psychosocial counselling and long-term career and college planning. It's the kind of holistic care most public schools simply can't provide, but for Christel House, it's non-negotiable.

"Many of our students only eat what we give them at school — breakfast, lunch and a snack. We can't teach a hungry child," said Fortune.