The field of child and youth care has grown primarily from knowledge and practice that comes from Europe and North America. If we take just our recognised pioneers, people like Pestalozzi, Korzak, Fritz Redl, Bettleheim , and more recently Anna Freud , Brentro, Trieshmann, Whittiker, Maier, Hoghoghi, Kreuger, Brokenleg, Garfat to name a few; these are all names of Europeans and North Americans.
Also, almost without exception, the source of growth in our knowledge has come from urban residential child care practice and from findings with delinquent, troubled or troubling youth.
It was probably Brian Gannon , a pioneer in the South African setting, who wrote :
"In the Western world, it was the problems which society saw in the poor, the retarded and the criminal which came to differentiate the literature of our field. ........the writings of Pestalozzi in the 18th century, Carpenter and Bosco in the 19th and Dewey and others in the early 20th century remain relevant"
What has happened in the South African setting is that this essentially urban residentially based European and North American knowledge, skill and practice has either been applied as it is, or somehow minimally adapted to the South African context. The result has been that the methods, Western problem solving and processes in the field as a field of study are applied directly into practice or are tweaked a little to say that they have some African relevance.. Such would be the case in the use of the "Circle of Courage (Brentro and Brokenleg) which we felt comfortable with and made central to practice because it "seemed to fit" our African context.
The point is that we don't really have an indigenous , that is AFRICAN child and youth care body of professional literature and a practice that is ESSENTIALLY African.especially in residential care.
Again attributed to Gannon
" The oral tradition of African and other indigenous child care practices reflect a gap in the child and youth care literature and present a challenge to the field of child and youth care i South Africa."
We have a specific African context in which child and youth care is practised in South Africa and Africa. Two elements of a much wider set of factors have been selected to show how they force our child and youth care to be unique and uniquely African .
The geography, demography and ecology of out country gives us settings characterised by disadvantaged people living in semi-rural and deep rural settings,. in which children are being raised and in which our work must be done.The unfortunate legacy of our past has left us with a clear link between that which is rural to poverty and lack of service provision. It is almost as if the apartheid mind regarded rural poverty as somehow noble, quaint, primitive, cultural and to be preserved. But apartheid was oppressive and destructive and its effects are still to be felt. We have an inherited paucity of services ... even basic services especially in the rural settings in which children live.
This context or life-space requires child and youth care workers to practice with African relevance and creativity In this setting has grown distinctly African solutions to an African situation. The Isibindi Model of care is a good example of this. In this way the rural African setting in our child care here has become the crucible, the hot-house of African child care knowledge, skill and practice.
The second selected element is what I call the African mind. It has to do with the amalgam of cultural values that surround spirituality, human relations, community, time, respect, language and the way we as Africans explain good fortune and misfortune ..... how we make sense of everyday events and of life itself especially social life.
Child and youth care in Africa is really only effective when it is approached through this mode. In the African context, issues and understanding have to be seen, experienced, approached through the African lens, through the 'African mind",, and through the African interpretation of meaning.
Through these two elements of our context alone, and there are many more (like our HIV/AIDS pandemic) it becomes very obvious that we have a child and youth care here that is distinctly African, .... and it works.
This places a huge responsibility on us as bearers of this African knowledge and practice to articulate our practice and theories. I know that we have an oral tradition and that we really good as African to tell our stories, but the time has come We must tell the world what works here and what doesn't. We must write it down, share it publish it.
Believe me ... Europe, America and the world can learn from African child and youth care work.
Thursday, 24 January 2013
Sunday, 20 January 2013
"Cuddly Bunny" "Lobola Value" and now we are "family"
In one of our training courses for child and youth care workers there was a reading for the facilitator. It was to help embroider an exercise on the wearing of "masks". It described a young woman who grew up in a loving family with her older sister. It had to do with the way her parents valued her from the beginning....they called her older sister "the clever one" . Your sister is the "clever one" they would say to her,"but .....you, you are mummy and daddy's " cuddly bunny" She learnt from the beginning to behaves the child not as bright as her sister. After all, that was not the way she was valued and not the way to guarantee her connection with mom and dad. She was valued as the one who was somehow to be cute, crawl onto laps and snuggle up. She was, the "cuddly bunny"
Right into adulthood she rained the most approval and acceptance by being what her parents valued her to be and not the independent, intelligent achiever that she really was.
It took psycho-therapy for her to rid herself of the persona that she was not, and to rid herself of the "cuddly bunny" mask to allow herself to be who she really was.... her real "self"
The sadness of this child, trapped inside her mask, scared to drop it, not able to come out and realise her full "being", resonated with me somewhere.
The body of research called the "value of Children" or VOC investigates this phenomena and its significance for development and child rearing practices.
What follows rests heavily on two research papers flowing from the VOC research project: Sam(2001) and Ware.H (1978)
The thinking behind research into the value of children is that having children is a mixed blessing. VOC is a psychological construct to reflect why people choose to have children. That is, why do people decide about the benefit they will derive from having children vs the cost of fertility?
The VOC thinking is that parents choose to have children because the must percieve some benefit , .. that they will somehow benefit by them.
VOC identifies three areas of value or benefit within which parents believe they will derive from having children: The psychological value, (p- voc), social value (s-voc) and/ or economical value (e- voc). Various weighting in their decision to have a child or children may be given in these areas, depending on geographic, economic and cultural situations of the parents
Parents who place value on the psychological benefit they will derive from having a child,outweigh the stress and discomfort of fertility with the joy, happiness and unconditional love that they will get from it. The perception of this value often varies with the hoped for , or actual gender of the child . The first born in addition to the other psychological benefits is perceived as giving an exciting new experience to the parent(s). The second is often valued for the benefit it will bring the first. A third may be valued for providing a child of different gender to the first two if they are of the same gender and so provide the exciting new experience of the first.
It would seem that urban, Western parents often stop at this point if the value of children to them is p-voc.
Parents who see benefit in having children for their social value choose to have children because society or the culture somehow expects it. The understand society or their culture has this idea that an ideal "family" has children. Often there is a societal or cultural expectation (especially in Africa) that it is the role of women to bear children, or that children completes, binds or commits a relationship.
In many African societal/ cultural thought there is the idea that a son secures the family line and the family name.. It is said that a male cant take the risk of being forgotten by having one son only as then his name may be longer remembered and so he will be longer recognised as an ancestor.
The idea that a parent may choose to have children for economic reasons seems to be more heavily weighted in rural agrarian communities and especially in African and Asian studies. There is an old African thought that the more children a family has, the richer the family. The children are seen in e-voc fertility decision making to become extra hands in the field . They may be conceived for the direct or indirect , immediate or longer term economic support they will provide.
In South Africa there are a number of immediate economic benefits that derive from a child: child care grants, maintenance payments, foster care grants, disability grants, "damages " if the girl child falls pregnant. A girl child can provide domestic help, clean, cook and look after the your child and so allow the parent work.
Parents that place value on having a child for its economic value in the longer or long term, consider, the 'lobola' value of the girl child, care for the ageing parent (girl child), the financing of the family (boy child) ,.or the reciprocal benefit of investing in the education of a child now for support later. There are other such longer term benefits such in the cultural thinking around property rights of the male child.
There is comment that comes out of VOC research that the benefit or value to the parent in choosing to have children or a child has implications in child-rearing practices and as in the "girl in the mask" contributes to the formation of the child's "self" concept and so to the very nature and behaviour of the child.
The effect then of the VOC research on child development theory seems to deserve more attention in developmental studies, and we appear to have somehow overlooked it.
and it has particular importance in child development in Africa.
Sam.D.L., Value of Children: Effects of globalisation on fertility behaviour and child rearing practices in Ghana. Research Review NS 17.2 (2001) 5- 16
Ware . H., The economic value of children: comparative study in Asia and Africa: comparative perspectives., Papers of the East- West Population Institute . No 50. April 1978
Right into adulthood she rained the most approval and acceptance by being what her parents valued her to be and not the independent, intelligent achiever that she really was.
It took psycho-therapy for her to rid herself of the persona that she was not, and to rid herself of the "cuddly bunny" mask to allow herself to be who she really was.... her real "self"
The sadness of this child, trapped inside her mask, scared to drop it, not able to come out and realise her full "being", resonated with me somewhere.
The body of research called the "value of Children" or VOC investigates this phenomena and its significance for development and child rearing practices.
What follows rests heavily on two research papers flowing from the VOC research project: Sam(2001) and Ware.H (1978)
The thinking behind research into the value of children is that having children is a mixed blessing. VOC is a psychological construct to reflect why people choose to have children. That is, why do people decide about the benefit they will derive from having children vs the cost of fertility?
The VOC thinking is that parents choose to have children because the must percieve some benefit , .. that they will somehow benefit by them.
VOC identifies three areas of value or benefit within which parents believe they will derive from having children: The psychological value, (p- voc), social value (s-voc) and/ or economical value (e- voc). Various weighting in their decision to have a child or children may be given in these areas, depending on geographic, economic and cultural situations of the parents
Parents who place value on the psychological benefit they will derive from having a child,outweigh the stress and discomfort of fertility with the joy, happiness and unconditional love that they will get from it. The perception of this value often varies with the hoped for , or actual gender of the child . The first born in addition to the other psychological benefits is perceived as giving an exciting new experience to the parent(s). The second is often valued for the benefit it will bring the first. A third may be valued for providing a child of different gender to the first two if they are of the same gender and so provide the exciting new experience of the first.
It would seem that urban, Western parents often stop at this point if the value of children to them is p-voc.
Parents who see benefit in having children for their social value choose to have children because society or the culture somehow expects it. The understand society or their culture has this idea that an ideal "family" has children. Often there is a societal or cultural expectation (especially in Africa) that it is the role of women to bear children, or that children completes, binds or commits a relationship.
In many African societal/ cultural thought there is the idea that a son secures the family line and the family name.. It is said that a male cant take the risk of being forgotten by having one son only as then his name may be longer remembered and so he will be longer recognised as an ancestor.
The idea that a parent may choose to have children for economic reasons seems to be more heavily weighted in rural agrarian communities and especially in African and Asian studies. There is an old African thought that the more children a family has, the richer the family. The children are seen in e-voc fertility decision making to become extra hands in the field . They may be conceived for the direct or indirect , immediate or longer term economic support they will provide.
In South Africa there are a number of immediate economic benefits that derive from a child: child care grants, maintenance payments, foster care grants, disability grants, "damages " if the girl child falls pregnant. A girl child can provide domestic help, clean, cook and look after the your child and so allow the parent work.
Parents that place value on having a child for its economic value in the longer or long term, consider, the 'lobola' value of the girl child, care for the ageing parent (girl child), the financing of the family (boy child) ,.or the reciprocal benefit of investing in the education of a child now for support later. There are other such longer term benefits such in the cultural thinking around property rights of the male child.
There is comment that comes out of VOC research that the benefit or value to the parent in choosing to have children or a child has implications in child-rearing practices and as in the "girl in the mask" contributes to the formation of the child's "self" concept and so to the very nature and behaviour of the child.
The effect then of the VOC research on child development theory seems to deserve more attention in developmental studies, and we appear to have somehow overlooked it.
and it has particular importance in child development in Africa.
Sam.D.L., Value of Children: Effects of globalisation on fertility behaviour and child rearing practices in Ghana. Research Review NS 17.2 (2001) 5- 16
Ware . H., The economic value of children: comparative study in Asia and Africa: comparative perspectives., Papers of the East- West Population Institute . No 50. April 1978
Monday, 31 December 2012
Happy 2013 Year of the Child and Youth care Worker !!!
This is self proclaimed ............. 2013.. The Year of the Child and Youth Care worker. In South Africa in particular we need to strategise a year that highlights the professionality of the Child and Youth Care Worker. The idea is that we... the people on the ground, the stake-holders par excellence, the people who really count, or should be counted, will use the avenues that are available to us to proclaim and make known our importance in the development of the Nation and the lives of children. I have a hope that what we may be able to do this year will find the support of the international Child and Youth Care community .. world wide or that what we WILL and CAN do to promote the profession in South Africa will serve as an inspiration to other countries where there is a struggle for recognition,, In South Africa we say "VIVA" (long Live) Child and Youth Care "Pambhile" ... ( upward!!).
We have had movements in this country before and those movements lead us into a democracy. Now we will have a 2013 Movement to lead child and youth care into a recognized and respected profession and.... a force to be reckoned with .
Happy 2013. child and youth care workers. ... OUR YEAR... now is the time GRAB IT>!!!
We have had movements in this country before and those movements lead us into a democracy. Now we will have a 2013 Movement to lead child and youth care into a recognized and respected profession and.... a force to be reckoned with .
Happy 2013. child and youth care workers. ... OUR YEAR... now is the time GRAB IT>!!!
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
3 comments .. thoughts for talk 14
1. There was research several years back that came to the conclusion that "institutional" care of children had a maximum benefit period of two years. After that it said, the benefit experienced a "drop off" effect and there was a slow down in development against chronological age.
There seem to be a trend to sentence young people to very long terms of residential programmes of diversion within the institutional setting of, say,a Youth Centre.
Is it possible that the diversion programme itself will have a developmental growth effect that will overcome the apparent negative effect of long term "institutionalisation".
2. Bowlby's research showed that there were long term detremental effects of maternal deprivation A child had need of a an attachment figure to allow for good enough long- term affectional bonding. Rutter later re-assessed Bowlby's findings and concluded that children can develop good enough affectional bonding behaviours even if they had multiple care givers. 5 - or even up to 11 !!!
Really?? Because this give support to the use of staff rotations and shift systems. What do we know about this in Africa?
3. In Anna Freud et al book "Beyond the Best Interests of the Child" the idea is put forward that we have to think ethically when the decision is made to separate child from parent and use a residential setting for care. The criteria for making this judgement is said to be the concept of " irrevocable harm " . Using this criteria for placement outside of the parent means that it has to be established if the child were to stay in the care of the parent and in the conditions attached to the parental situation, the child would suffer harm that was irrecoverable. It seems that it would need the application of, and a high regard for professional opinion.and professional judgement before making a placement decision..
Are we making ethical decisions around the placement of children in South Africa and in Africa?
There seem to be a trend to sentence young people to very long terms of residential programmes of diversion within the institutional setting of, say,a Youth Centre.
Is it possible that the diversion programme itself will have a developmental growth effect that will overcome the apparent negative effect of long term "institutionalisation".
2. Bowlby's research showed that there were long term detremental effects of maternal deprivation A child had need of a an attachment figure to allow for good enough long- term affectional bonding. Rutter later re-assessed Bowlby's findings and concluded that children can develop good enough affectional bonding behaviours even if they had multiple care givers. 5 - or even up to 11 !!!
Really?? Because this give support to the use of staff rotations and shift systems. What do we know about this in Africa?
3. In Anna Freud et al book "Beyond the Best Interests of the Child" the idea is put forward that we have to think ethically when the decision is made to separate child from parent and use a residential setting for care. The criteria for making this judgement is said to be the concept of " irrevocable harm " . Using this criteria for placement outside of the parent means that it has to be established if the child were to stay in the care of the parent and in the conditions attached to the parental situation, the child would suffer harm that was irrecoverable. It seems that it would need the application of, and a high regard for professional opinion.and professional judgement before making a placement decision..
Are we making ethical decisions around the placement of children in South Africa and in Africa?
Friday, 5 October 2012
running to, from and about...3 incidents, briefly told
RUNNING TO...
He was 17 1/2 and had completed the struggle he had with his sexual identity. He knew he was gay. Over time he built around himself a string support system in the centre of the city to which he went over weekends on whatever other pretense he put out officially to the Homes authorities.
One weekend, on his way out, he said, "Goodbye Mr Lodge".
He never returned. Phoned after a while to say that he was safe and well looked after in the city . He was never searched for. The Department just legally released him from the Act.
RUNNING FROM....
It was one of those"informant" incidents. Bongani had marijuana in his bedroom cupboard.
Every incoming young person signed a contract with the Home. In this contract, one of the understandings in this contract was permission for random searches. On the Homes side it was contracted to give help and support to any young person who used drugs. And this included Marijuana which is illegal in South Africa. The conditions for search were that the young person must be present.... no "secret" searches"
The male child care worker undertook a random search of the full house in order not to "pick out" an individual. When it came to Bongani he quickly grabbed the packet of marijuana from his cupboard and also a fairly log knife. He then told the child care worker to stand back, stabbed at his stomach but the knife entered the child care workers hand just below the thumb.
I was called to find Bongani threatening both the male and the female workers who wanted to block the door and keep him in the bedroom until I came. I told them to back right off and leave him be.
He ran out of the room. out of the house and into the streets of the city centre .
Too scared to come back he had lived off his wits in the centre of Johannesburg for two weeks before we found hi.
RUNNING ABOUT....
These two boys made a habit of running about. They always did it together. A bigger boy who was always regarded as the "influence" on the smaller one. But this may not have been completely true.
Sometimes they set themselves a target.... a destination and ran with the destination in mind "let's got to ....."
Another run about plan was to set themselves a place where the would see for how long they could survive without getting caught. They would often first, either agree on a suburb, or first find themselves a place to sleep, like a vacant house, a building site, large cement pipes, the caves in the koppies (rocky hills).
The third adventure and perhaps by far the most exciting was to run about in the vicinity of the Home itself and live off the Home by breaking in at night to steal and/or to get accomplices to feed them and support their survival.
On one of these escapades they tried to get to an eastern town about 30 kilometers away. They jumped a train but got caught and thrown off. There they were in farmland, so they decided to hide and sleep in the middle of a field of dried mielies (corn), ready for the farmer to 'plough back,. To keep warm they made a fire. he whole field caught fire with them in the middle of it. Fire authorities were called rescued them, and they were brought back
Anyone for a run about... ?????
He was 17 1/2 and had completed the struggle he had with his sexual identity. He knew he was gay. Over time he built around himself a string support system in the centre of the city to which he went over weekends on whatever other pretense he put out officially to the Homes authorities.
One weekend, on his way out, he said, "Goodbye Mr Lodge".
He never returned. Phoned after a while to say that he was safe and well looked after in the city . He was never searched for. The Department just legally released him from the Act.
RUNNING FROM....
It was one of those"informant" incidents. Bongani had marijuana in his bedroom cupboard.
Every incoming young person signed a contract with the Home. In this contract, one of the understandings in this contract was permission for random searches. On the Homes side it was contracted to give help and support to any young person who used drugs. And this included Marijuana which is illegal in South Africa. The conditions for search were that the young person must be present.... no "secret" searches"
The male child care worker undertook a random search of the full house in order not to "pick out" an individual. When it came to Bongani he quickly grabbed the packet of marijuana from his cupboard and also a fairly log knife. He then told the child care worker to stand back, stabbed at his stomach but the knife entered the child care workers hand just below the thumb.
I was called to find Bongani threatening both the male and the female workers who wanted to block the door and keep him in the bedroom until I came. I told them to back right off and leave him be.
He ran out of the room. out of the house and into the streets of the city centre .
Too scared to come back he had lived off his wits in the centre of Johannesburg for two weeks before we found hi.
RUNNING ABOUT....
These two boys made a habit of running about. They always did it together. A bigger boy who was always regarded as the "influence" on the smaller one. But this may not have been completely true.
Sometimes they set themselves a target.... a destination and ran with the destination in mind "let's got to ....."
Another run about plan was to set themselves a place where the would see for how long they could survive without getting caught. They would often first, either agree on a suburb, or first find themselves a place to sleep, like a vacant house, a building site, large cement pipes, the caves in the koppies (rocky hills).
The third adventure and perhaps by far the most exciting was to run about in the vicinity of the Home itself and live off the Home by breaking in at night to steal and/or to get accomplices to feed them and support their survival.
On one of these escapades they tried to get to an eastern town about 30 kilometers away. They jumped a train but got caught and thrown off. There they were in farmland, so they decided to hide and sleep in the middle of a field of dried mielies (corn), ready for the farmer to 'plough back,. To keep warm they made a fire. he whole field caught fire with them in the middle of it. Fire authorities were called rescued them, and they were brought back
Anyone for a run about... ?????
Tuesday, 2 October 2012
Running to..... three conversations
SIPHO
You have a warm bed here, TV and you are at a good school. You get meals every day and you go to Karate lessons.
Yes
Sipho was a bright little 9 year old
Things to you look settled with your Mom right now. She has work again and lives in a one bedroom place. here is a bed for you to sleep.
Yes
It hasn't always been like that.
No.
You want to go live with your mom now.
Yes.
Let's play "what if?" What if it all goes wrong again and Mom lives under a bridge again under cardboard under a bridge?
I'll chose to be with my Mom.
What if a social worker says you should come back to this Home?
I'll choose to live with my Mom.
What if it's bread and jam and tea day after day?
My Mom.
So you know what you lose if you go now. And you know that there's a chance that it can all go wrong again. You know it can be really vary hard?
Yes. I want to be with my Mom.
And what if the Department says "No"?
I'll run away to my Mom.
MPHO
The social worker tells of the conversation.
Mpho is 16 and a big boy not doing all that well at school and nearing the end of compulsory schooling. He did not return to the Home after the mid-year holiday break. After three days of absence and now officially an absconder .. otherwise AWOL and a "no return " at school, she visits the parental house.
I'm not coming back!
She sets out the implications and consequences.
I'm not coming back. I'm going to stay here with my Dad.
Mpho. You didn't come back because you have been lying here on your bed on your stomach for three days. Just look at your back. Your Dad beat you with a 'shambok'. ( a South African whip traditionally made from rhino hide but now mass produced in rubber. A shambok is particularly damaging).
You have at least 11 whip marks on your back. We or you should lay charges of assault against your Dad. And we can look after you if you come back
.
I'm not coming back I want to stay with my Dad. Please don't lay charges. I want to stay here..You don't understand ma'm. My Dad shamboked me because I did something wrong. It's the best thing that has ever happened to me. It's the first time ever that he has shown any interest in me, or what I do. It's the first time he has cared enough to punish me. I believe he loves me now. Since he shamboked me . it's been different. I want to stay with my Dad. I'm not going back
.
I you force me to go back - I'll run to my house again.
I don't care.
I want to be with my Dad.
DENNIS
I just want to be with my mother.
Dennis you have run to her 52 times in six weeks. That's sometimes more than once a day. .. and she brings you back every time..... what does that say to you? What does that tell you?
I don't care. I just want to be with her.
You have a warm bed here, TV and you are at a good school. You get meals every day and you go to Karate lessons.
Yes
Sipho was a bright little 9 year old
Things to you look settled with your Mom right now. She has work again and lives in a one bedroom place. here is a bed for you to sleep.
Yes
It hasn't always been like that.
No.
You want to go live with your mom now.
Yes.
Let's play "what if?" What if it all goes wrong again and Mom lives under a bridge again under cardboard under a bridge?
I'll chose to be with my Mom.
What if a social worker says you should come back to this Home?
I'll choose to live with my Mom.
What if it's bread and jam and tea day after day?
My Mom.
So you know what you lose if you go now. And you know that there's a chance that it can all go wrong again. You know it can be really vary hard?
Yes. I want to be with my Mom.
And what if the Department says "No"?
I'll run away to my Mom.
MPHO
The social worker tells of the conversation.
Mpho is 16 and a big boy not doing all that well at school and nearing the end of compulsory schooling. He did not return to the Home after the mid-year holiday break. After three days of absence and now officially an absconder .. otherwise AWOL and a "no return " at school, she visits the parental house.
I'm not coming back!
She sets out the implications and consequences.
I'm not coming back. I'm going to stay here with my Dad.
Mpho. You didn't come back because you have been lying here on your bed on your stomach for three days. Just look at your back. Your Dad beat you with a 'shambok'. ( a South African whip traditionally made from rhino hide but now mass produced in rubber. A shambok is particularly damaging).
You have at least 11 whip marks on your back. We or you should lay charges of assault against your Dad. And we can look after you if you come back
.
I'm not coming back I want to stay with my Dad. Please don't lay charges. I want to stay here..You don't understand ma'm. My Dad shamboked me because I did something wrong. It's the best thing that has ever happened to me. It's the first time ever that he has shown any interest in me, or what I do. It's the first time he has cared enough to punish me. I believe he loves me now. Since he shamboked me . it's been different. I want to stay with my Dad. I'm not going back
.
I you force me to go back - I'll run to my house again.
I don't care.
I want to be with my Dad.
DENNIS
I just want to be with my mother.
Dennis you have run to her 52 times in six weeks. That's sometimes more than once a day. .. and she brings you back every time..... what does that say to you? What does that tell you?
I don't care. I just want to be with her.
Monday, 1 October 2012
Running from..will professional child and youth care prevent it?
It's the very stuff of urban legend.
Certainly the very stuff of legends in the organisation. And yet there seems to be good reason to believe it. The incident was told to me by my predecessor and he is a reliable story teller.
It goes like this.
There was gang warfare in Hillbrow, an infamous mid-city section of Johannesburg. One of the gangs was made up of young people and youth of Lebanese origin .. known simply as the Lebanese, or if you like, the "Lebanese Gang".The rivals had a name, but it was not mentioned in the telling of this story.
Somehow some of the young persons in the Home, known only to the staff as "the boys" would go into Hillbrow especially over weekend nights as "back-up" for the rival gang. Their story was that the didn't actually fight but stood behind the rival street gang to swell the numbers, increase the threat and fight only when it really became necessary. "The Lebanese knew the "Home boys" at very least, by sight. Gang members on both sides would recognise each other anywhere.
There was a soccer match a the Home. The "Home boys" were playing against some or other side when it was noticed that the Lebanese Gang had jumped the fence and were collecting somewhat out of sight on a lower bank of the field in large numbers and armed.
The story goes that on staff instruction the match was stopped. The entire Home, players and spectators were ordered to get into their houses and lock themselves in. The police were called who then dispersed the attackers with the help of dogs.
Legendary stuff !!
There was a sequel in my time.
There is a procedure by which a boy could be admitted for 48 hours as an emergency Place of Safety. The police or a social worker had the legal power to sign the form and deliver the boy to the Home as a Place of Safety awaiting a magistrate to decide on a future placement or to make the Place of Safety placement permanent. These boys just arrive, sometimes if you are lucky on the strength of a telephone call only... no preparation of the others in the house..just arrive,form in hand in a police van or a social workers car.
It was evening when this Lebanese youth was delivered and admitted. I was told that he had said at the time, " I can't stay here". I think that the background possibilities were not known by the person who did the admittance. He was accompanied to the dininghall for the centralised evening meal, reluctant and scared, but he didn't have an option. His anxiety was interpreted as normal considering he had been picked up in some kind of emergency and very quickly delivered into a strange place with 103 other boys already well integrated into the system.
In the dininghall "the boys" immediately recognised him as a member of the "Lebanese Gang". He knew "the boys" as the supporters of the rival gang.
Now, the dininghall situation was closely controlled. It was monitored by staff, table orderlies, and a little body of boys known as "prefects". Even so.animosity and rivalry could not be contained About five of "the boys" stood up so that they would be seen by the Lebanese youth and gang member.
Almost in unison, they gave him "the sign".
The thumb is placed behind the front teeth and pulled forward sharply to make a clocking sound. Then the forefinger of the same hand is stretched asif pointing and drawn slowly across the neck asif slitting the throat.
The message was clear.
The Lebanese boy got up, ran out of the dininghall, ran out of the Home and the property, not to be seen again.
He escaped.
It was fear.
He" ran from....... "
We all talk of pro-active, preventative, professional child and youth care.
Could this have been prevented?
What do you think?
Certainly the very stuff of legends in the organisation. And yet there seems to be good reason to believe it. The incident was told to me by my predecessor and he is a reliable story teller.
It goes like this.
There was gang warfare in Hillbrow, an infamous mid-city section of Johannesburg. One of the gangs was made up of young people and youth of Lebanese origin .. known simply as the Lebanese, or if you like, the "Lebanese Gang".The rivals had a name, but it was not mentioned in the telling of this story.
Somehow some of the young persons in the Home, known only to the staff as "the boys" would go into Hillbrow especially over weekend nights as "back-up" for the rival gang. Their story was that the didn't actually fight but stood behind the rival street gang to swell the numbers, increase the threat and fight only when it really became necessary. "The Lebanese knew the "Home boys" at very least, by sight. Gang members on both sides would recognise each other anywhere.
There was a soccer match a the Home. The "Home boys" were playing against some or other side when it was noticed that the Lebanese Gang had jumped the fence and were collecting somewhat out of sight on a lower bank of the field in large numbers and armed.
The story goes that on staff instruction the match was stopped. The entire Home, players and spectators were ordered to get into their houses and lock themselves in. The police were called who then dispersed the attackers with the help of dogs.
Legendary stuff !!
There was a sequel in my time.
There is a procedure by which a boy could be admitted for 48 hours as an emergency Place of Safety. The police or a social worker had the legal power to sign the form and deliver the boy to the Home as a Place of Safety awaiting a magistrate to decide on a future placement or to make the Place of Safety placement permanent. These boys just arrive, sometimes if you are lucky on the strength of a telephone call only... no preparation of the others in the house..just arrive,form in hand in a police van or a social workers car.
It was evening when this Lebanese youth was delivered and admitted. I was told that he had said at the time, " I can't stay here". I think that the background possibilities were not known by the person who did the admittance. He was accompanied to the dininghall for the centralised evening meal, reluctant and scared, but he didn't have an option. His anxiety was interpreted as normal considering he had been picked up in some kind of emergency and very quickly delivered into a strange place with 103 other boys already well integrated into the system.
In the dininghall "the boys" immediately recognised him as a member of the "Lebanese Gang". He knew "the boys" as the supporters of the rival gang.
Now, the dininghall situation was closely controlled. It was monitored by staff, table orderlies, and a little body of boys known as "prefects". Even so.animosity and rivalry could not be contained About five of "the boys" stood up so that they would be seen by the Lebanese youth and gang member.
Almost in unison, they gave him "the sign".
The thumb is placed behind the front teeth and pulled forward sharply to make a clocking sound. Then the forefinger of the same hand is stretched asif pointing and drawn slowly across the neck asif slitting the throat.
The message was clear.
The Lebanese boy got up, ran out of the dininghall, ran out of the Home and the property, not to be seen again.
He escaped.
It was fear.
He" ran from....... "
We all talk of pro-active, preventative, professional child and youth care.
Could this have been prevented?
What do you think?
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