The Second Chance Outreach programme invited families who lost a loved one in recent gang violence to participate in a “Restoring hope for our future leaders” event held in Cafda Village on Saturday 30 April.
William Cupido, CEO of Second Chance Outreach in Retreat, says often families and victims of violence do not receive the appropriate trauma counselling after a horrific event.
“A lot of youth had family members who were killed; brothers and sisters got killed and then they come to me. When someone dies or someone is shot, they just leave the children and the children don’t even receive trauma counselling and that is what I am here for.”
Cupido says a social worker at Second Chance works with victims of violence and those struggling with substance abuse or gangsterism.
“It breaks my heart to see young people go astray. I do drug counselling, gender-based violence (GBV), domestic violence, bullying, family violence. I take youngsters out of gang-infested areas and place them in safe havens but sometimes it is so heavy.
He says he has one social worker working with him because he had a problem with government social workers.
“They work with a client for three or four months, even a year, then they can’t help a client. Then after that, the client is sent to me. This is the last option. That is why it is called Second Chance.
“We work with rehabs, just to help that client because if you lose that client, you lose them forever.”
He adds that anyone and everyone is assisted, from victims of violence to gang members or drug addicts.
“Anyone is assisted and I don’t charge people. My passion is about the victim, the drug addict, the gangster. A life that gets destroyed, everyone around that drug addict or gangster is hurt because he is hurting everyone around him. If people need assistance, they are referred to me.”
Dr Mark Killian from Eagle Life Apostolic House says it is often the parents who assist their children in hiding guns.
“Many times, as parents, we turn to other ways and other means. It will not take away your pain. I want to tell our young people and parents, it is your sons and your daughters who are committing these evil deeds. It starts with them sitting at the street corner. It is the mothers and sometimes the fathers who hide the guns and warn them when the police arrive.
“It’s not easy for a father or mother to lose a son or daughter at a very young age. Last week, I buried a 15-year-old boy who was brutally shot and killed on the field at the back. Many of you have lost a loved one, nobody understands your pain.”
Mark Nicholson, a community leader from Lavender Hill, says the event will take place in a different community each month.
“Families of those who lost loved ones through gang violence, suicide or cancer, anyone can attend.
“Every month, we will take the programme to a different area so that we can highlight the plight that our coloured people are going through. It’s all about how our people are suffering in silence as well.”
