It took him knocking his head and six long years to realise the desperate plight of the youth.
For Bronwill de Bruyn, growing up in Westridge, wanting to simply play in the park near his home, led him down a path of destruction at the age of 16.
“I was a gangster and addicted to drugs. I woke up with the pigs, sleeping in a shack in Knysna. That was how I ended up,” he says.
Now working with the youth, he aims to occupy them with positivity to keep them from falling into the trap he once did.
After turning his life around, he also participated in various initiatives to give back.
“I used to be on the Ward 81 Park Buddy programme, revamping all the parks.
“The revamping of these parks encouraged me to bring the kids back to the park.
“It is no use we revamp all the parks, but we are not actually reaching out to the kids to get them back to the park,” he says.
Chosen to Restore Hope, the organisation De Bruyn founded two years ago, focuses on youth interventions, especially for at risk youth and helping those who are afflicted by drug addiction.
“Because of social media, all the wrong things are displayed, like how they should dress, what they should listen to, and it’s all toxic. I just want our kids to be kids again,” he says.
“Opening these spaces allows that. At the same time, getting these kids to play here is eliminating the bad elements, because if it is used for play, there is no room for the bad.”
His passion for the youth stems from his own real-world experience with social ills.
“I grew up in Westridge and became involved in gangsterism at the age of 16,” he says.
“Getting in is easy. Leaving is very hard.”
Through these youth interventions, De Bruyn believes he can spot early signs of social influence and intervene.
“By watching them play and interact, you can see the signs. My goal is to stop this from happening,” he says.
Besides his interaction, he is calling on other reformed gangsters to join his plight.
“Those who have the same story as me, those who left, know what it is to leave. They know what it is like to be in a gang. Come and join me to change the path of these kids,” he says.
How he eventually left his old life behind was the promise of a new life.
“My now wife, then girlfriend, told me she was pregnant and that I needed to make a choice. I chose to leave all that behind,” he says.
While the gang he joined is no longer present in the Westridge area, he admits there are still influences on young children.
“We don’t want them to look at the gangster on the streets and want to be like them,” he says.
“We want children to take back the spaces and play in safety, not worried about getting hit by stray bullets. We cannot allow a minority to keep us out of our spaces,” he says.
For more on the organisation, it’s programmes or to get involved, contact De Bruyn on 078 091 9720.
