Empowering youth in Tafelsig West: A fight against gang recruitment.
Young people had ample time to play different games of their choice at the Kilimanjaro Hall.
Image: Phiri Cawe
Connie Adams wants to see a brighter future for children of Mitchell's Plain.
Image: Phiri Cawe
The Tafelsig West Community Policing Forum brought together young people to empower children not to do crimes or join gangs.
Image: Phiri Cawe
Parents of Tafelsig West are concerned about several issues in the area, including gangsterism and drugs.
The Tafelsig Community Police Forum (CPF) said gangsterism was rife in Tafelsig and said they were also concerned by the growing number of young people allowed to join gangs at an early age.
On Monday, June 30, the CPF had a strong message for young people in that area: not to allow themselves to be recruited into gangs. The forum brought youngsters from the ages of 13 to 17 to a fun and games day at the Kilimanjaro Hall. The aim was to give young people messages of encouragement and hope for a better future.
Organiser Connie Adams said young people were tired of long speeches; that is why they decided to have games and, in between, to have short speeches.
“The area has a problem with gangsterism and drugs. Young people are vulnerable to these things. Now that schools are closed, we are trying to bring them under one roof so that they do not stand on street corners. The gangs are drawing in youngsters at an early age now. We want to change their mindset and give them something to dream about. That is why we have RLab with us,” said Ms Adams.
She hoped the day would yield good results.
“Now that it is the last day of Youth Month, we as leaders have to interact with them. This is just to motivate our children to finish school and become somebody in life. Not everybody can become a gangster. We need good people, and these children are our future. We need to catch them before the gangsters catch them,” she said.
CPF secretary Ben de Vos was also there to encourage and motivate young people. He said today’s youths should be mentally strengthened to be resilient to many societal ills. Mr de Vos blamed poverty and socio-economic challenges for the behaviour of children. He said young people are easily taken and recruited into gangsterism because of poverty in many households.
“We are reaching out to children. The idea is to take them away from crime. We want to make them resilient to gangs. We created this platform for them to have an alternative. But the ultimate aim is to break the cycle of crime,” he said.
He encouraged the youths to work hand in hand with the organisations that could help them. He said there are programmes at the police station that can help dropouts get back to school.
With fewer speeches, children continued enjoying themselves with different activities. Those who attended promised to be good citizens.