A little choir girl sat on the stage while tears ran down her face at the memorial service for Helio Pereira, the much-loved principal of EP Baumann Primary School in Johannesburg.
On April 9, Pereira was discovered brutally murdered in his home, apparently by thieves who stole his microwave, computer and car. While police are still investigating the murder, what is certain is that his tragic death has left a huge gap in a community that is feeling lost and angry.
On the morning when the news of Pereira’s death was confirmed, the school’s management had to decide on the best possible way to tell the learners without causing mass hysteria. The school immediately mobilised social workers from the Johannesburg Institute for Social Services (JISS) and Rand Afrikaans University’s Trauma Unit. The children were split up into two groups where they were told that their principal had passed away. “We decided that no circumstances of his death would be discussed because we wanted to soften the blow,” says Pops Chibabhai, chairperson of the school governing body. The counsellors were dispatched to classrooms after the learners were told. “Some children started crying but I got the impression that they were digesting the news,” he says.
Before the tragedy the school had established a working relationship with JISS and employs a private social worker to assess the children twice a week. “Most child-welfare societies are public services and any school could phone them in situations like these and will find that they respond immediately,” says Chibabhai.
Standing with two other mothers after the memorial services, Yasmine Variava, the mother of a Grade 7 learner, talks about Pereira and his untimely death. “I can’t believe he is gone. He used to solve problems without doing anything. He just listened,” she says. She remembers when her son was in Grade 1 and he was taken to the principal’s office by his teacher for something he had done. “Mr Pereira would not listen to the teacher and first listened to my son,” she says.
Pereira’s passing has many learners asking difficult questions about the meaning of life, and parents are having to find the answers.
Amina Pochee has had two sons in the school and her youngest child is in Grade 1. “There were lots of rumours about Mr Pereira’s death and my son wanted to know if God created robbers,” she says. Her son also asked why the thieves wanted to kill such a good man. “We are all affected by his death. Who will take his place?”
Even former pupils and their parents came to pay their respects. Gerty Brookstein, whose daughter was the head girl of EP Baumann in 1993, says, “I am angry at his death. Mr Pereira was not just a principal, he was a wonderful man.” She says that he was accessible at all times to parents. “He would never send me away or say that I should make an appointment to see him. This is such a tragedy,” says Brookstein.
The school was sent more than 400 e-mails and hundreds of faxes from people all over the country who conveyed their condolences.
At the end of the service , the speaker said: “Parents, listen to your children. That is the best way to honour him.”