South African-born international renowned actress Lesley-Ann Brandt made her second visit to Lavender Hill last week as part of a long-standing project where she has raised funds for the development of both children and teachers at Levana Primary School.
Lesley-Ann starred in many television shows and films with some of her recent work including Spartacus, CSI:NY, Lucifer, Captain Fall and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live.
It all started when Lesley-Ann visited the school in 2019 as part of a tour and met with Grade 7 pupils and joined a yoga session with Grade 3 pupils.
Five years on, Lesley-Ann never forgot her visit to the school as she witnessed first-hand the challenges faced by Lavender Hill’s youth, including the lack of suitable spaces to implement programmes, so the star embarked on a mission of compassion and teamed up with her yoga teacher, Joe Komar and friends in Los Angeles, and spearheaded a successful crowdfunding campaign.
They raised over R370 000 and she was able to secure an additional R300 000 from Santam.
Lesley-Ann’s passion for sustainability, conservation, yoga, and South Africa’s youth has been the driving force behind her philanthropic endeavours, as noted by Earthchild Project founder, Janna Kretzmar. The organisation partnered with Lesley-Ann to make the tour to Levana possible.
“Thanks to these contributions, a classroom at Levana Primary School now serves over 600 learners and 15 teachers every week, providing yoga, meditation, worm farming, and environmental education. Moreover, it hosts extracurricular programmes run by Earthchild Project,” said Janna.
“As Earthchild Project we are committed to providing sustainable education and skills to underprivileged children in Cape Town through holistic programmes.”
During the visit Lesley-Ann shared her passion for investing in the youth and how her reality could have been very different if her parents and her support system made different choices and that she strives to support initiatives that uplift children coming from unprivileged areas.
“I attend a yoga studio in Los Angeles and we hold 21-day challenges for various purposes and after visiting Levana Primary School in 2019 I went back and asked members to dedicate 21 days to the children at Levana Primary as well as to contribute to the fund-raiser, which they happily obliged.“
