Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
College courses give youth hope
Former gang recruits, drug addicts tell of their troubled lives before getting bursaries, writes WARDA MEYER
TESTED by life’s struggles and misfortunes, a group of youths from gangriddled Peninsula suburbs and poverty-stricken rural areas are proving that it’s possible to rise above their circumstances, triumphing by getting their education back on track.
Uneducated and unemployed, the group are among a fortunate few plucked from their lives on the streets by students recruiters, in conjunction with the provincial Community Safety Department.
Here, the former gang recruits and drug addicts share their stories of their troubled lives before taking advantage of bursaries offered at Northlink College campuses.
JODY ADAMS hails from a middle-class Manenberg family and, like many youths from the area, strayed into using drugs at an early age. From there, it seemed his life was on a downhill run.
The 18-year-old high school dropout recalls getting into bad company from the age of 16.
“I left school not long after my mother moved out of the house, leaving us alone in the care of my grandmother. My dad passed away while my mom was still pregnant with me.” He admits he was no angel. “I started doing drugs, mixing with the wrong crowd and stealing stuff out of my own home to feed my habit.”
But he’s relieved he’s put his days of smoking dagga and doing tik behind him.
“That was the lowest point in my life. It was the beginning of what could have been the end of me.”
While he never joined a gang, Adams did hang out regularly with friends who belonged to gangs.
Today, however, he’s proved he has the strength to rise above poverty, gangs and drugs.
“Many people believe that the life and circumstances you are born into are those you will carry for the rest of your life, but that’s not true,” he said, explaining that his life changed radically the day he stared down the barrel of a gun.
“When I realised I was about to be shot, I thought to myself if I got out of this, I had to make a change.”
Encouraged by an aunt, last year he joined the Chrysalis Academy (a three-month life skills programme). And after completing the course, he enrolled at Northlink College, where he is now training to be a traffic officer.
Despite making radical changes, including staying away from bad influences, Adams remains haunted and fearful of the ongoing gang violence in the area.
“I can’t communicate with my old friends any more. All they talk about is gangsterism, and now that I know what law enforcement is all about, knowing that I am learning on a daily basis about the law, governance and the criminal justice system, it’s hard to mingle with the old crowd.”
He said the current gang violence gripping Manenberg had everyone on a knife-edge.
“The shootings start at any time of the day and night. Where I live I have to walk past all the gangs just to get to the train station to go to college. It’s a 10-minute walk and every day it feels as if the stretch of road is getting longer.
“When I leave after 6am to be at college on time it is still dark, and in the evenings when I return it is just as bad. Having to come into the area not knowing if it’s safe, or if the gun battles are continuing, and not knowing if you will make it home alive, is the hardest part.”
TARYN CLAASEN, 20, of Macassar, wants a life in law enforcement, and chose the SAPS as her future employer.
“I live in the rough side of Macassar and I was on the wrong path, heading straight for trouble, until I was told about the Chrysalis Academy, and later Northlink College.
“I was very bad when I was in high school. I dropped out of school in Standard 9 (Grade 11). I used drugs, mostly tik, and I partied and drank.”
She’s frank that her behaviour broke her mother’s heart.
“But I wanted to prove to her that I could do better, that I could make something of my life.”
That when Claasen joined Chrysalis Academy.
“And now I’m doing the Safety in Society course at Northlink,” she said proudly.
Like many other youths from gang-ridden and poverty-stricken areas, Claasen turned to a life in law enforcement.
“I have little faith in the police who work in my area, and I want to change that. We are learning a lot here, and if more of these caring students end up working as cops in gang-infested areas, things might change,” she said.
JOVAN VAN WYK, 20, grew up in a world of gangsters, drug addicts and school dropouts in Wesbank, Kuils River.
“When I was 16 years old I mixed with the wrong crowd. I started doing bad things, hanging out on street corners and mingling with known gangsters.
“My parents could not handle it and I was put out of the house. I moved from one family member to the other. I smoked dagga and drank alcohol.”
But Van Wyk managed to matriculate, then applied at Northlink to do the Safety in Society course.
He says he’s taken the first step to making his family proud, turning his life around and working to qualify as a law enforcement official.
“If I had not come here, I would have been a gangster today. I would likely have been killed by now, so I have a lot to be grateful for.
“I’ve been picked up by police a few times, but now I want to help enforce the law,” he said.
SAMKELO SIDWELL ZWENI, 23, is studying to be a traffic cop, and has high hopes his choices will turn around the circumstances of his life growing up in Zolani township, in Ashton.
“I come from a place where there are poor services, no infrastructure and no hope for a better future. In Zolani township there are a lot of difficulties for young people. People get involved in drugs and alcohol abuse, and it’s ripping families apart.”
But Zweni is passionate about improving his quality of life, and also that of his family, particularly his unemployed mother.
“I want to better myself, and I will do this by taking the experiences I gain here back to my community. This programme has helped me with discipline and building confidence. It’s my only lifeline,” he said.
STEVEN ABRAHAMS, 24, grew up on Zandvliet farm in Ashton, where his parents are employed as farmworkers.
But he won’t be following in their footsteps, after enrolling for the Safety in Society course at Northlink College. He has high hopes that, once his studies are complete, he’ll be donning a traffic officers’ uniform.
“Being a farmworker was not the life I wanted. But there are hardly any opportunities for youths in rural areas. I had two options, either work in the canned fruit factories or become a farm worker. “I did not want either,” he said. Being one of eight children was not easy, and he speaks frankly about growing up in very difficult circumstances.
“There was never money. Even I had to work on the farm to make money after finishing school,” Abrahams explained.
YOLANDI COOKSON, 23, of Bellglen in Macassar, wants to become a traffic officer.
Home is a poverty-stricken reality, and while her struggle wasn’t with gangs, that didn’t mean her options weren’t severely limited.
“The area where I live is rife with gangsterism, drugs and teenage prostitutes. There’s little hope for youths in the city’s poorer areas, and options are limited.”
The opportunity to attend Northlink College was a welcome lifeline.
SHORVONN MARNEWICK, of Bishop Lavis, is about to complete her Level 4 at Northlink College, after which she’ll join the police, helping protect citizens from criminals.
Marnewick grew up in a home with an addict mother and an absent father, who has been in prison for most of her life.
Then, when she was just 17 and in matric, her mother died, leaving Marnewick and her two siblings on their own.
The trio pulled together, and Marnewick said their situation prompted her to help others.
“And now I have an opportunity to do just that.”
She recalls the pain of learning, in high school, that her mother was using tik.
“That ripped our household apart. She stopped being the mother figure and we had to do everything for ourselves. That changed the course of my life, and helped mould me into the person I am today.”
Marnewick encourages other youths growing up in gang areas to draw strength from their experiences, and to change their lives for the better. “My father sold drugs and he was locked up. I knew that’s not the life I wanted.
Community Safety MEC Dan Plato, who has personally gone into areas to sign up youths for the Northlink courses, said his department had been focusing on diverting youths away from a life of crime.
“Since we started this programme, hundreds of youths have grabbed the opportunity to study further with the bursaries that are available at Northlink,” he said.