"I feel like a celebrity," said Tharwah Thomas from Manenberg who helped design and create a mosaic Safe Space bench, which was unveiled on Monday outside Table Mountain Ariel Cableway's lower station.
The bench, a project by NGO BRAVE Rock Girl and funded by the Table Mountain Fund, the Rockefeller Foundation and one of BRAVE Rock Girl's founding board members, India Baird, was unveiled in celebration of International Women's Month, marked annually in March, and the 15th anniversary of the organisation, dedicated to building safe spaces for girls and women.
The colourful mosaic bench, which features red disas found on Table Mountain in summer, along with a leopard to highlight the importance of conservation, was designed and created by women as part of a project by BRAVE Rock Girl called Daring Disa.
The project introduces young women to the beauty and wonder of the Cape's flora, and trains them to be conservationists and environmentalists. The message on the bench reads "Building strength and resilience through nature".
BRAVERock women unveil the Safe Space Bench next to the Table Mountain ticket office. Programmes and community engagement officer at BRAVERock girls, Lee Anne Jenkins, left, lifts the cloth at the unveiling on Monday.
Image: Tamlynne Thompson
Programmes and community engagement officer at BRAVE Rock Girl, Lee Anne Jenkins, said it was a proud moment for the women who participated in the project. "The bright smiles and their faces showed true happiness. It was such a proud moment."
She said the young women who form part of the project, who are from Manenberg, face many challenges back home. "We want them to be recognised for what they do, because it makes one feel good.
"It's also part of the change in the narrative as well - wanting to be the change makers but not getting the recognition when you do something.
"The end result lightened up their world. They are wonderful girls with amazing talents, exploring and doing amazing things. They feel acknowledged."
Ms Jenkins said the Daring Disas project started in August, and making the mosaic art bench was one of its goals.
In front of the bench are the women who helped make the bench, and form part of the Daring Disas project. From left are Dominique Fortune, Zaariah Leonard and Tharwah Thomas, all from Manenberg. With them is Lovell Friedman, a mosaic artist from Gardens, while Tamia Hendricks, Leticia Bailey and Zarah Fataar admire their work.
Image: Tamlynne Thompson
Lovell Friedman, a renowned mosaic artist from Gardens, trained the girls and helped them create the bench. She said she had been working with the young women and training them since 2011, when the first safe space bench was installed at Red River Primary School in Manenberg.
The bench unveiled on Monday was the 66th bench by BRAVE Rock Girl.
Ms Friedman said mosaic art is a labour of love - you have to put all the broken pieces together. It's a lot of hard work and resilience, so it's always rewarding. With this bench, we did two workshops where the women learned to cut and put the pieces of tiles together - putting all these pieces together to create something new.
"We hope this bench will create awareness and beauty and a safe space.
"To create something beautiful always draws people in and this one also creates awareness of environmental issues."
She said about six girls worked on the bench for about two months every day. "It takes a lot of patience - it's community work."
The bench also serves as a sister bench to the other two located on Lion's Head and Signal Hill. The messages on these benches are "You strike a woman, you strike a mountain", and "Your respect is my strength", respectively.
Park manager at Table Mountain National Park, Megan Taplin, said they were happy to receive the bench made by the BRAVE Rock Girl Daring Disas women. This bench is to remind us that nature is a safe space for all of us and where everyone can enjoy our natural and cultural heritage, and also just gives people a place to rest, to look up at the mountain and enjoy the view.
"This is our mountain. People come from all over but we need to experience it and benefit from our national parks so we hope the Daring Disas girls will come do lots of hikes here and feel safe."
She said they love working with projects that assist women. "We are very strong with women in conservation. I've been working in parks for 21 years and when I was younger I was told this is a man's world, but I worked my way up and now I feel like I can make a difference in conservation and in people's lives.
"I want to give them a message of hope that they can be whoever they want to be."
Dominique Fortune shares her experience as part of the Daring Disas project at the unveiling
Image: Tamlynne Thompson
Dominique Fortune, from Manenberg, who was one the first to be part of the Daring Divas, said in her community, nature conservation and environmental health were not household topics, so joining the programme, she didn't know what to expect.
She said being part of the project had exposed her to many things, including hikes up the mountain and camping, and building wealth of knowledge. "Learning that a small plant or animal in an ecosystem plays a specific role or responsibility in making everything work broadened my perspective and helped me think about what my role is, and to work on reaching my goals.
"We come from a community filled with gang violence, drugs and assault. So coming together, doing these projects together and learning new skills was so nice. Our sisterhood grew as well."
Zaariah Leonard said helping with the bench was wonderful. "We experienced sisterhood together.
Ms Thomas said she was proud to be part of creating this safe space, where women can gather, talk and just be.