Yesterday (Wednesday) I was assigned my first two legal files by Maria. The first is for a client who has a number of property-related issues (outstanding from a divorce - go figure); the second is for a client who needs assistance claiming money from a bank (it appears he is owed a sum under his insurance policy, yet the bank is refusing to cough up). I won't go into much more detail than that, out of respect for the privacy of the clients, but it is interesting work (particularly as I navigate the South African legal system and new legislation)!
Today I was out of the office for almost the entire day on various social justice projects. The first was a visit to Bonnytoun, a juvenile detention facility for young men (aged 14-17 years) who have allegedly committed crimes and are awaiting trial (and, in a few cases, for some who have been convicted and are awaiting transfer to prison). The drive out to Bonnytoun took just over 30 minutes, as it is located on the outskirts of Cape Town (in fact, quite close to the winelands). The facility itself was much like the juvenile detention centres I have seen back home: sparse units with dormitory-type cells and equipped with bunk beds, toilet facilities and even flat-screen televisions (possibly the only perk). There are about 60-80 boys at any given time, and they are split into two different dormitories - the red dorm (for the younger boys) and the blue dorm (for the older teenagers). There is a grassed area in the centre of the units, akin to an old-school prison exercise-pen. The boys are given three meals daily - at 8am, 1pm and 5pm. Other than that, I doubt there is much in the way of activities (outside of exercise and watching television).
The purpose of our visit today was to run the first session in a series of workshops called "Peace by PEACE", a conflict resolution program that was developed by the Columbia and Yale Universities. We split the boys into groups and worked through a number of activities with them - starting with ice-breakers, then talking about how conflicts start, how they escalate and what we can do to resolve them in a positive way. The boys were asked to give examples of conflicts that they had been involved in. In my group, two of the boys talked about a fight that had arisen when one had stolen drugs (marijuana) from the other. Although this caught me off guard, it was actually nothing compared to some of the other stories. Afterwards, when the PAHRO volunteers were discussing the session, I heard how one boy showed a volunteer the stab wounds all over his body from a knife fight with another boy (over a girl!) and another boy talked about his father beating him after coming home, high on methylamphetamines (or "tuk" as they call it here).
The boys themselves were a diverse group, not just in their age-range but also in their personalities. Some of them looked too young and innocent to be in a remand facility. Others looked older beyond their years. This made sense, as they are in Bonnytoun for everything ranging from pick-pocketing to murder. However, we were able to hold their attention spans for the better part of 70 minutes, and they in turn provided us with many laughs. One of mine was particularly cheeky, offering to show me his stash of weed (apparently family members will sneak drugs in to the boys, so this is not uncommon). At the conclusion of the session, all the boys wanted to shake hands and even get a hug - something which I was reluctant to do at first (wondering if they were going to try and cop a feel elsewhere!) but which I soon realised was harmless enough. Even the shyest boy in my group, who had barely said two words the entire time, lined up for a goodbye hug!
After lunch, I went back to the community centre I had visited on Tuesday, to assist the children with their debating workshop. Today we organised the children into teams and debated the topic, "That schools should not make students wear uniforms". Some very interesting points were made! From there we visited another community centre (in Athlone, another suburb), where we are helping the children prepare for a mock trial, which will eventually be held at the Wynberg Magistrates Court. The group of kids here was entirely different to our small (and placid) group at the previous centre. This group took a lot longer to settle down, were more interested in dancing and singing than memorising their speeches and seemed to be full of beans. That being said, they really surprised me with how quickly they picked things up. And it was great being around such spirited young people - they certainly kept all us volunteers on our toes!
Tonight, as always, Latifa had a fantastic dinner prepared for Natalie (my roommate) and me. Although this is what she calls one of her "simple" meals, it was delicious: deep-fried salmon patties, creamy potato mash, chilli beans, vegetables and rice.
I love that South Africans eat so much carbohydrate-rich food...especially as I work up an appetite on the 20-minute walk home from the main road each evening.
Tomorrow, being a Friday, the office closes at 1pm. No doubt I will find something to occupy my time with, particularly as I have a sunshine-filled weekend to look forward to.
Gosh, what an experience you are having!
ReplyDelete"Exercise-pen" - that chilled me. Was it because pen is a word usually used for animals? Or am I just bone-idle and scared of exercise? You decide.
What about the hugging? Is this culturally normal, or were those boys seeking affection and closeness? And I'm intrigued by the school uniform debate: did they come up with anything that WA students wouldn't have?
Loving your blog, Zarah. Keep up the good work!
@Karen: Seeing it chilled me too. (In that it seemed very cold and inhuman - what with the rectangle of green surrounded by mesh - almost like a zoo.)
ReplyDeleteAbout the hugging: well, I asked Lyndon (our social justice coordinator) about whether this was ok. He said in the past he had told volunteers not to do this, but that the boys are probably starved of affection (particularly from females!) However as I said, I didn't feel threatened by them at all - they were very respectful and the hands stayed on the shoulders! I'd say the handshakes are more a cultural norm - they were quite impressed that I knew how to do those, actually!
As for the school uniform debate, it was probably very similar to what we would have come up with in high school; save for the fact that the argument about then expense of the uniforms probably got more of a workout here (the children are from a school in a low socio-economic area, so even though they wear a uniform, it is expensive to buy and replace).
Thank you for reading the blog :)