Day by Day

PASCAL BENNETT

Day 1. Tuesday 17th June

Registration was a horrible, long winded process which involved a lot of sitting around waiting, as well as trying to convince several service personnel that we are nice enough for them to help us. After 6 hours and a few false starts we were finally registered. We got our passes that proudly declare us as delegates and we went off to the grand hall for the opening speeches and lunch.

Day 2. Wednesday 18th June
Glancing through the programme it's surprising that there's so many speeches planned with dialogue sessions seeming to take a back seat. Today is all speeches but tomorrow looks better with breakaway sessions planned.
I'm interested to see what the ratio of adults to youth is here - at a guess I'd say it's less than 40% youth.

The opening ceremony was a performance of a hip hop piece with all the dancers in oversize white t-shirts so popular in the USA, and went on to combine contemporary african influences with hindi as well as gumboot dancing, all to the beat of african drums. Children with the flags of the world then lined the red carpet for the dignitaries to enter the hall and 'Nkosi Sikelela' was sung.

Rt Hon M Mudavadi, Deputy Prime Minister of Kenya, one of the first speakers succintly summarised his speech's message of investment in youth with the quote, "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

Beki Cele, member of the Executive Council for Transport, Community Safety and Liason, Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) entertained the audience with his humourous, easy-going manner and his colleague, KZN Premier Sbu Ndebele got everyone thinking with his reclassification of the recent violence in South Africa as "Afrophobia" rather than xenophobia. He spoke further about exorcising the morbid hatred of slaves by other slaves resulting from the legacy of colonisation.

While the older and more diplomatic delegates gave much time to the thanking of all the right people, and saying how great this conference is, it was the younger speakers that really inspired.

After the break the combined Plenary and Dialogue session began and here was the start of real dialogue with audience comments coming from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Canada and the Ivory Coast.

Father Mkhatshwa delivered a good practical speech using ordinary language rather than the high register style so often favoured by diplomats. He described "the excessive exaggeration of the importance of money" as a factor that is responsible for so much violence in the world today, and spoke of the power of the media to influence people. He also emphasized the inculcation of moral, ethical, and spiritual values from an early age to combat the contradictory message of "money culture".

Gavin Sheppard of The Remix Project, Canada really did the youth proud with his speech of "idealism and optimism, not jaded by cynicism". His speech in two words is Courage and Humility. "Courage to stand by our convictions, by our promises, by our visions, by our truth, and humility to know that we can do better and that the best ideas may not come from ourselves." He pointed out that alienation of individuals, of groups, of sections of society is the root of the world's problems, "whether malignant like apathy, or cancerous like violence."

His speech ended with the call to action, that "the youth need to be greater than the sum of their parts; and equal to their dreams."

With the conclusion of this first dialogue session, the audience was entertained by a performance by men from the Department of Correctional Services Rehabilitation Program.

Day 3. Thursday 19th June

Today is the breakaway seesions so everyone splits up into smaller venues and hopefully there will be more dialogue and less speech making.

Hip hop and Safer Cities - Art and Culture as a Community Engagement and Development Tool: From policy to the front lines.

Things are moving slowly, like yesterday many people seem to be late, so everyone is behind schedule. This session begins with Kyauna, an 18 year old and graduate of The Remix Project, singing a soulful song without the help of a backing track.

With the audience now in awed silence, Amanda Paris, also of The Remix Project, Schools Without Borders, and Lost Lyrics kicked off the dialogue.

Lost Lyrics is an alternative education system in her home town of Toronto, that began with the inspiration of wanting people to know that the Canadian public education system is biased. The government and school system refuse to acknowledge that Canada is stolen land and minorities voices are silenced. The traditional classroom environment is too boring and lacking in stimulus and an alternative was needed.

The movement called Lost Lyrics began.

Her and a friend, Natasha Daniel took the new approach of combining hip hop with the telling of minority's histories in a way that was entertaining to the youth as well as educating. They started going to two communities that are considered to be "ghetto neighbourhoods" twice a week and meeting with children between the ages of 9 and 16. Their first subject was the Haitian Revolution. This initial effort defined how the project would work, as it was the feedback that the children gave that shaped the lessons to come.

At the end of the term, Lost Lyrics put on a show called the "Live Report Card" which brought the community in to hear from the children what they've learnt and so indirectly educate themselves by benefiting from the children's education.

Gavin Sheppard of The Remix Project took the podium next and explained with the help of a video just what The Remix Project is all about. They have three programmes running which are the Media Arts programme, the Creative Arts programme, and a Business programme. All run over a period of 6 months and each accept only ten students at a time, so one needs to show a lot of potential to get in. Everyone who applies for the courses is granted an interview. Those who are lucky enough to be accepted develop, hand-in-hand with the co-ordinators, a 6 month plan, setting out realistic goals of what they want to achieve.

After completion of the 6 months, there is a period of informal follow up to further support the young artist or entrepeneur.

The Project has three exit strategies: One is education. Because they work with the education board, The Remix Project can earn students high school credits, and various colleges and universities have offered scholarships to course-graduates. The second is industry. While they can't guarantee a job, students will get at least an internship and The Remix Project strives to find suitable mentors for their graduates. The third is that of entrepeneurship. Canada has many grants available for people to start their own initiatives and The Remix Project can tell its graduates which doors to knock on.

The next speakers were Andrew Lens from Schools without Borders (SWB), and Sandro from Soldiers Never More. Both are projects based in Rio De Janeiro but SWB is a Canadian initiative.

Both organisations are alternative education systems. SWB runs a cultural and social exchange programme that sees students from Canada spend two weeks in Rio and then students from Brazil spend two weeks in Canada.

SWB's latest project is a collaboration between themselves, The Remix Project and IBISS, another Rio-based organisation. By 2009 they hope to have a Media school up and running in one of the slums offering free education in music, photography and video.

Soldiers Never More is a project that operates in 56 poor communities in Brazil, educating around 2000 children a day in both school and sporting activities.

A short documentary video of Soldiers Never More's work explains the problem faced by the youth in the slums, the hopelessness of no future in either construction or the drug trade, and the trade's lure of money. With few resources to improve their situations, many people fall into the trade for material gain. The traditional escapes of football, capoeira, and percussion are not enough and the youth need an education that will teach them a profession, which leads to the excitement about the proposed Media school.

The next two speakers were Lydette and Dagmawi, of Harvard University and Cornell University respectively. They are involved in some very interesting academic work to give African Hip hop a greater prominence in the world's eyes, the role of hip hop in education, and in the preservation of indigenous languages and gave very interesting presentations.

Durban's own Ian Robinson aka 'Ewok' finished off the speeches with a talk about his own organisation, LifeCheck Youth Development Initiative. What began as 'Bling Free' and a few DJs, Graffiti artists, and B-boys has become a regular open mic session once a month at the community supported Bat Centre. The Bat Centre provides the venue, a wall for grafitti, and various workshops for those that are interested.

The session disbanded shortly afterwards to catch the tail end of lunch and concluded a very succesful workshop.

a brief interview with Cameroon's Solange

INTERVIEW WITH Solange Nga Tsala

BY: KYLE VENKTES

Today, on the second day of the International Youth Crime Prevention and Cities Summit I was fortunate enough to meet Solange Nga Tsala a delegate from Cameroon.

Solange is involved in various youth related organisations of which are very beneficial to the youth of Cameroon. By attending the International Youth Crime Prevention and Cities Summit, Solange was hoping to exchange ideas with other delegates and also gain international trends of how other youth organisations operate. Solange is involved in several programs in Cameroon, getting the youth to express themselves through a city youth counsel run by the police, and to give the youth an opportunity to add input into how their respective communities are run.

Solange is enjoying her stay in South Africa and described Durban as an international summit host city as ‘modern’. She is also happy to be attending this conference because she feels that her work with youth of Cameroon is confined,in the sense that they have a local limitation and need to gain ideas from other countries.

We hope indeed, that she will be successful...

Police and Youth Dialogue: 18/06.08

Police and Youth Dialouge

Report back from Plenary Session

BY: KYLE VENKTES

The aim of the Police and Youth dialogue was to highlight problems faced by the justice system concerning youth and children. In many countries democracy is described as being ‘good for the children’ yet, the question is asked, 'Is democracy good for children?' Discussants stated that not only are young people the future but they are also the present. When a child is born, he or she is not born with any political direction and because of this it is the innocence of the youth that can save a nation.

The first discussant to address the delegates was Ms A Santos, Judge for juvenile justice in San Salvador in El Salvador. Ms Santos stated that the up-bringing of children in an environment where parents often cannot afford basic necessities for their children (ie. food and water) pose as a problem. Children are forced onto the streets and into prostitution, drugs and gang related activities because after school children lack extra-curricular activities.

Ms Hanna Buyne the second discussant is judge for juvenile justice in the Netherlands. Buyne explained that as a judge, she was often put in the situation where a young person would be convicted and would have to find a way not to just punish, but rectify the problem. Organisations in the Netherlands seek help for the younger siblings of youth who go on trial to prevent them from making the same mistake (and in turn being arrested and going through the same procedure). Organisations also look at why convicted youth behave the way they do. Buyne concluded by saying that it doesn’t take parents to raise children, but a whole village to raise a child.

Susan Pienaar of SAPS mentioned the Community Policing Forums of which members are elected from and by the community. The members are linked to a policing committee who advise at a provincial level. Within the Community Policing Forums, youth desks are enabled to gather input and ideas from the youth.

The fourth discussant, Ms Marie Johansson-Meinke of the Swedish National Police is a Superintendent specialising in children and youth. At first, these youth organisations were started by communities, the police then adopted the idea and community youth boards consisting of local youths were implemented. Johansson-Meinke said that the youth boards were not entirely successful because the youth board members were not of violent and poor environments and had no direct feel of crime and poverty.

In conclusion it was said that more focus needs to be placed on strategies to combat crime with the youth and more emphasis needs to be placed on extra-curricular activities. More pro-active organisations concerning the family need to be implemented, discussions need to take place about youth in war and conflict. Delegates and discussants both want to see INTERPOL come out with a strategy to alleviate crime with the youth. The most important question raised was, does legal action concern crime only take place after legislation or is there more we can actually do?

Youth initiatives that would pave the way for a brighter future (Q and A)

Youth initiatives that would pave the way for a brighter future:

Interviewer: Meyuri Pillay

Interviewee: Claire Bright of the Clairebright Youth Desk Forum based in Bluff, Durban.

Q] What does the Organisation and its programs offer young people?

A] “ We accommodate people from the age of six to thirty five, so its not only a youth program but we provide services for parents as well as older people whom require our help. Our programs aims at helping mainly young people realize their mistakes and help them learn from them, and make a positive change into their lives.

Q] What steps do the programs entail?

A] “Our programs are formed to help reform children who have possibly partaken in theft, violence or victims of rape, to help them either reform or cope with their experiences. We provide them with skills for employment and educate them on consequences of crime. We take them on tours to prisons and mortuaries, by doing this they will realize that crime can never solve anything, it only makes things worse.”

Q] Do you have external facilities that cater for special cases?

A] “Yes we do, the organization has links to the Trauma Unit, Special Victims Unit for rape cases. We provide the youth with counseling facilities to help them deal with various issues.

Q] Who are the hands behind the organization and how do you drive the campaign?

A] “We do work with Provincial Government to get the programs implemented, also with the support of community services. The organization drives the program by visiting schools and partaking in drug busts that would search students for potential criminal materials. We talk about the importance of education and the consequences of crime.

Q] Why have you joined the UN Habitat program?

A] “We hope to get as many people involved as possible to support this good cause, to encourage young people to join and show them that good things are being done to help our future.

Latin America: Untold Fears

Latin America: Untold Fears

By: Meyuri Pillay

The twin issues of Crime and Politics regularly make the headlines, but when young people from vandalized communities express their fears for safety how often do we take notice? Latin America has some of the most shocking statistics related to violent crime on the planet. These days Latin America struggles to uphold the values that were once considered important in making us realize the truths that are so often shadowed with denial.

Xiana Garcia, a keen youngster from Guatemala City, Mexico, traveled to South Africa in search of informed minds and receptive ears. She won a competition by writing an essay that told the story of Mexico and the constant struggle of the youth in everyday life. The Mexican youth are facing a growing epidemic of drug addiction and gang violence where they are often confused and mis-lead by both their peers and the community at large into precarious situations. Gangsterism is rife, offering a sense of belonging in their difficult lives; many of these youngsters come from poor backgrounds with broken homes and have a constant need to prove themselves.

Movies often portray Latino-gangs as rough, powerful groups, commanding respect from members by incorporating six-on-one beating sessions that render a couple of scratches and bruises. The reality of the situation however paints a grimmer picture where by the initiation requires the potential candidate to steal, rape and murder to prove their loyalty to a cause that is likely to claim their own lives. Parents in these communities struggle to find ways to keep their children in schools and with a growing amount of young people being recruited into gangs and partaking in criminal activities, communities are often paralyzed by fear. “We don’t come out of our homes after dark, the roads and paths are unsafe and dangerous especially for women.” Xiana is one of the Latin American youth delegates and wants more youngsters to hear that Mexico is not all about drugs, poverty and gangsterism; instead Mexico is a country that holds much hope for the future of its people and its youth.

“Like Mexico, in South Africa the poor are separated from the rich and able from the unable,” says Xiana, and so often these discriminations may very well lead to crime. Criminal offences and neglect often occur in the poorest of areas within the poorest of families.

The United Nations Habitat Program aims to help change these circumstances by saving public spaces and allowing these communities to regain their place of comfort and activity. The program welcomes ideas from similar communities all over the world that will unite to find solutions that would hopefully initiate the beginning of a prosperous future for these communities.

Youth are partners in our desisions

YOUTH ARE PARTNERS IN OUR DECISIONS

by Amanda Onamandla Mathe

'Youths are partners in our decisions.'Those where the main words of wisdom conveyed by the United Nations representatives at the opening of yesterday's International Summit on Youth Crime prevention and Safer Cities in Durban, South Africa. It was further pointed out that often youths in nations across the world feel out place and not part of the decision process of the government and various organizations.

The International Youth Crime Prevention & Cities Summit has opened up a number of discussions and debates amongst the youth as well as the leaders of the many countries represented at the conference. The speeches seemed to carry one goal in mind: the inclusion of the youth in the decision making process , as often has the youth have been blamed for either causing constant disturbance to society or not playing an effective role in building society. However one needs to consider where the line of communication begins between the leaders of the world and the youth and why it is so difficult for our voices to be heard amongst the politicians who don’t seem to understand our views and concerns.

A lecturer from the Assumption University in Bangkok, Thailand said she was here to learn to improve her knowledge and gain a better understanding from this summit, in order to be able to apply it in her country of Myanmar. She believes that the conference provides exposure for a better understanding of society and an experience of the world in one place. Interestingly her main aim is to gain knowledge from information presented to her through the presentations held at the summit. She said there is need to observe, process and learn the information before you can come up with plans to change the youths in many societies. Her scope came across clearly as she said it is to help to make the citizens of her country better as person who is a teacher. I asked her what faculty does she represent and it was the Faculty of Nursing Science and she basically teaches her student community health. The factors that she focuses on are factors leading to alcohol, drug use and delinquency among the youth of Myanmar.

Mr. BH Cele stated in his speech that 'youths are dying alive', re-iterating the fact that crime is no longer a situation or a problem but a generational pandemic that was destroying the futures of the world when children are killing children. But, my problem is, if there is such increasing amount of violence; what is being done to break the chain? Is there a weakest link that leaders of the world are missing, or simple the vicious cycle of poverty? The lessons that need to be observed, processed and learned in order to better the youths of our country are lessons that need to be considered carefully, because its not only about being part of the decision making process but being part of the change that the youth would want to take part in. It seems that all the youth want is to be heard and given straight answers by the leaders that govern them and their futures.

Welcoming Luncheon 17 June 2008

Welcoming Luncheon 17 June 2008

By Shavika Maharaj

Attended by over 1000 international delegates, Your City conference held in Durban South Africa, aims to provide a platform for discussion and deliberation over issues relating to youth, crime and policies that contribute to making our cities safer, and by extension more habitable.

Hosted by eThekwini Municipality, and working in conjunction with the provincial government of Kwa-Zulu Natal and UN – HABITAT, this event started off with an opening welcome address by eThekwini Deputy Mayor, Logie Naidoo who gave a warm introduction of Durban to international delegates, urging the public and all delegates to make the most of the conference and in essence benefit from the information received. Whilst the orchestra signaled for the next speaker, the MC for the event (Ms. N. Masondo– Director of Social Crime Prevention in the Department of Community Safety and Liaison for the province of Kwa-Zulu Natal) g delivered an introduction to the night’s guest speakers. A panel of interpreters was available to assist with translation into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Zulu and South African Sign Language.

The first speaker, a Mr. Lous Zamorano, Director General of Urban Infrastructure and leader of the “Rescue for Public Spaces” Programme, Mexico provided an inspiring account on the utilization of public spaces for social and community development whilst Ms M Shaw, the Director of Analysis at International Centre for the Prevention of Crime chose to demonstrate her presentation on the Summit’s background paper via a slide show that worked effectively with visuals ranging from a railway station in Cape town, that street kids are forced to seek shelter in to a representation of the grime in Durban’s very own Warwick Avenue.

Closing remarks were made by Mr. B.H Cele, member of the executive Council for Transport, Community Safety and Liaison, KZN, South Africa, who emphasized the importance of communities recognizing youth as having the potential to change societies around the globe for the better. He then invited delegates to join VIP’s at a Welcoming Cocktail Function branded ‘A Hip-Hop Celebration’ at uShaka Marine World.