A Kensington resident is on a mission to keep young people away from gangsterism, drugs and criminal activities.
Dyllen Dolf says being a resident he has first-hand experience of the challenges young people face and how easily they get recruited by criminals.
However, he wants to change this by organising motivational talks at schools in the area.
“For many of our young people the circumstance at home is challenging, there is perhaps no father or mother and no role model for them in the community. This leads them to being aggressive at schools.”
His first outreach will take place at Kensington High School on Thursday 18 August.
“The aim of this project is to create a support group for learners experiencing peer pressure, bullying and other challenges. The key focus of the support group will be to motivate the learners to continue their school career.”
Under the theme “stepping into your future” Dolf says he hopes to reach more schools in future.
“I want to reach all schools in Kensington. And when that is successful, I want to reach out to other schools in the province, especially in poverty-stricken areas.”
Dolf explains that he has partnered with the Abakhululi Prison Ministry whose members will address the learners on Thursday.
Sybil Bergover, deputy secretary of Abakhululi, says as an organisation they want to make positive change in communities.
The ministry is a non-profit organisation (NPO) that seeks to rehabilitate and educate inmates and parolees. They also do outreach programmes in high-risk crime areas.
“We give inmate spiritual care at correctional facilities, and we also provide counselling sessions. When inmates are released from prison, we support them to reintegrate with their families and society.”
She explains that prisoners often find it hard to reintegrate into their communities.
“When people hear somebody is being released from prison, everything changes. We walk that extra mile to see that the inmate is back with their family and back into a church where they can grow spiritually.”
Bergover explains that the ministry consists of a group of people from various churches.
“We also do outreach in communities with a high crime rate, and we do prayer walks followed by an open-air service.”
She explains that they invite parolees and ex-offenders to their outreach events to address the community and motivate them to make better life choices.
Bergover explains that they organise this in partnership with the South African Police Service.
“They are dressed in orange uniforms, and we take them to the community because they are living testimonies to our young people. We do this so that we can encourage them not to end up where these parolees and ex-offenders ended up. These parolees also share their stories.”
Dolf says his message to young people is: “It doesn’t matter where you come from in life. The circumstances don’t determine your future, it is where you are heading that makes the difference.”
