’My 7-year-old boy has to join a gang to help our family survive’

Cape Town – A 7-year-old boy under pressure from his family to join a gang; a 13-year-old girl who kept an aborted foetus in a cooler box under her bed for two days; and a 14-year girl who might not be able to talk again after she was raped, had her throat slit and was left for dead on the beach.

These are but a few examples of why Manenberg Safety Forum chairperson Roegshanda Pascoe, who is still under witness protection after testifying against gangsters in a murder trial, is doubly motivated to launch an intervention through the House of Hope, a place where traumatised Cape Flats residents between the ages of 17 and 29 can rebuild their lives.

The facility will serve as a halfway house on the journey from being a high-risk youth to a rehabilitated youth, able to face life’s challenges with confidence and fulfil one’s potential.

’’I really don’t know what to think any more, crime is just rising all the time. There is a greater urgency to start with the House of Hope because younger and younger kids are increasingly being recruited into gangs. The youngest recently was a 7-year-old boy that we heard of in Manenberg, where a parent couldn’t afford to send her child to school,’’ Pascoe said on Friday.

’’The mother said if her child doesn’t belong to a gang, then how are they going to survive. Parents are shutting down their conscience just in order to survive another day.

’’Why is a child in the position at that age where it’s dependent on him to ensure that his family can survive by being used by gangs? There is no place for such a child to go in our community, where he knows he is going to get the kind of support he needs.’

’’We also want to do it with the girls. Just this month we had a case where a 13-year-old girl gave birth at home. She kept the foetus in a cooler bag under her bed for two days.

’’She had a relationship with a 20-year-old man and her parents didn’t even know she was pregnant. No attention was paid to the child in general to check how she was doing.’’

Last month, registered counsellor Imanuella Muller, who recently obtained her Master’s degree in psychology at Stellenbosch University, said gangs in the Western Cape are luring girls as young as 12 years old to work for them. The gangs use fear and intimidation tactics to recruit women and young girls and keep them trapped in gangs, she said.

’’There is no family and community unity. It’s a case of everyone having to see to their own survival, physically, emotionally and otherwise. On the farm we want to equip children with the necessary tools to enable them to become who they were destined to be,’’ said Pascoe.

Pascoe has targeted a farm as an ideal location for the House of Hope. She is hoping local donors will step forward and is also receiving assistance from the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime with strategic planning to help obtain funding.

’’We learnt that the kids who suffered a lot of trauma have a better chance of recovery if they are out in nature and out of Manenberg. We want to give them a lifeline and a farm is one of the ways in which we can achieve this,’’ said Pascoe.

’’Due to the knock-on effect of gangsterism and drug abuse, we will include the parents and entire families as secondary beneficiaries, and the rest of the community will become tertiary beneficiaries.

’’The farm we would like to buy is in Stellenbosch. It has barracks which are already serving as living quarters and has a mechanical working place. So the existing infrastructure will assist us in helping to do skills development, environmental and agricultural work.

’’We are trying to raise money to buy the farm, which the owners have been trying to sell for some time. The owners are keen to sell the farm to someone who is going to do the kind of work we will be doing.

’’We have done a lot of workshops at the farm and have looked at sustainability as there is a lodge, where catering can be done to generate an income. We can train the young people to work on the farm; back to the basics training, like how to survive in nature and be happy with a lot less.

’’The House of Hope is a dream of mine and a colleague for nearly five years. We have done our homework and we have looked at urban and rural areas.

“Many children are already written off in primary school as problem children. But we believe the impact trauma has had on these kids’ lives is being ignored.'’

’’If we don’t offer an alternative, then we are just going to do what the government does, who have a vision and a dream but nothing happens in the end. The kids who are the first beneficiaries must build on this vision.

’’Young people between the ages of 18 to 26 seem to be the group who is currently most exposed to the vulnerabilities that lead young people towards joining gangs. This is the age where people are either leaving entering the job market after leaving school or tertiary education.

’’However, we find that most of the youth in poorer communities are unemployed and often without having completed formal education. Moving around in many poor communities in Cape Town it is immediately evident by the high number of youths, children and adults that are either sitting or standing around on the streets.

’’Many of them are desperate for a life free from poverty and the daily struggle to get food while fearing for your life. Gangs often provide nutrition, money, access to drugs, safety and security, a sense of belonging.

’’Ideally the first group of recruits should be involved in the development of the property. Here they will be actively shadowing the entire process of bringing the House of Hope to fruition.

’’During the construction of the House of Hope, the new recruits will be learning the basics of construction from building professionals. The first group of recruits will eventually be enlisted to be mentors to the later recruits.

’’Initially, we would rely on volunteers from our communities to supervise the first group of recruits. Our communities are full of passionate, experienced individuals who will also offer life skills coaching to the recruits.

’’The State currently provides similar facilities that always have a waiting list and those currently in the system are court-mandated, which means they need to do the crime before being able to get support from the State. Private facilities, while doing good work, are unaffordable for the majority of people who need the service.

’’Recruitment will take place via an application process and motivation by parents. Referrals from community workers and social workers, law enforcement, schools and the Department of Justice will also be considered.’’

IOL