A second chance for troubled youngsters

A COLOURFUL house at Mariental, painted by children, houses The Bridge, an organisation dealing with young people who have come into conflict with the law.

So far this year, 62 children have been arrested in the Hardap Region; three of them were girls. Most of the cases involved assault, housebreaking and theft.”Whenever the Police arrest an offender who is underage, they would call us.A social worker would go to meet and assess the offender and ensure that all the children’s rights are met”, says the organisation’s social worker, Renee von Watzdorf.The aim of the meeting, which includes the child’s parents, is to discuss the underlying problems behind the crime.Based on this assessment, the social worker recommends a suitable rehabilitation programme for the child to the court.This does not mean that children who commit crimes get off easily.”We want a child to realise and take full responsibility for what he has done,” says Von Watzdorf.The nature of the rehabilitation programme depends on the seriousness of the crime and other circumstances.There are, for example, Life Skills camps and programmes, where topics such as self-confidence, anger and conflict management, HIV-AIDS and drug abuse are discussed.When possible, social workers try to arrange a meeting between the offender and the victim to negotiate a solution acceptable to both.Sometimes the juvenile is asked to repay the damage he or she has caused, or work for the victim a certain number of hours a day to make up for the losses.The offender may be asked to write a letter of apology, or carry out a project.”We need to be creative with the diversion programmes.Last year we had a 16-year-old child who had been abusing alcohol with his friends.Later on, he was encouraged to go to a shop and steal something.We set a task for him to make a project about alcohol, and it was enough for him,” Von Watzdorf says.Juveniles who commit more serious crimes and are sent to prison are also considered.At the moment Pastor Johannes Boois, a student social worker at The Bridge, is working with 12 young offenders in the Hardap prison.These juveniles are between 17 and 19 years old.Most were convicted of housebreaking, but some have committed rape and will have to spend the next seven years behind bars.It is hard to re-integrate with society after such a long period in jail.Boois goes to see them once a week to run a Life Skills programme to prepare them for life after prison.On Tuesday they talked about alcohol.”The main aim is to raise these people’s self-respect and self-worth, and to thus make them respect others too.The boys claim they have gained from this programme”, Boois says.The Bridge’s programmes seem to work well.Not everyone makes use of their second chance to get back on track, but most do, especially petty offenders.”This is said to be most progressive and profound child justice programme in this country.It is wanted to be implemented on national level,” says Sonia Carew, The Bridge’s manager.The organisation also helps young prisoners with re-integration into society after their release.They can stay in a halfway house for a while, which is run by a housefather and housemother.Once a month family members are driven to the Hardap prison to meet the young prisoners.If the Police cannot trace the guardians of an arrested child, they are released to the Crisis Bed Facility in The Bridge until the guardians are found.One volunteer, who has spent 15 years in prison, is taking care of gardening, as he has had difficulties in getting a job elsewhere.A small vegetable garden has been set up in the backyard in an effort to make The Bridge more financially independent and to give children from poor families a chance to grow their own vegetables.Often the offenders have harsh circumstances at home.Only one or two young offenders come from middle-class families; the rest can be said to be poor.One third of the people living in Mariental are out of work.”Many parents are not taking their parental responsibility seriously.Sometimes when we are doing assessments, we can smell alcohol on the parents’ breath.They even forget the dates of their children’s court cases,” Boois says.”If we send a child to a home where there is nothing to eat, they will commit a crime again.We should do something with the parents, but there are no such courses running at the moment.”From my side, I would like to see every child in school.If they were busy with their studies they wouldn’t get involved with crime so easily, nor would they be available to assist other criminals,” says Renée von Watzdorf.The organisation has made an effort to get children re-enrolled in school.This year, 21 school dropouts who haven’t committed crimes have been sent to smaller farm schools where they can stay in hostels.The results have been promising.The Bridge is also assisting a 14-year-old boy with his school and hostel fees.He has never clashed with the law, but had lost touch with his family and came to ask for help.The boy previously supported himself by working on farms during the holidays.”Many of these children come from homes that can’t support studying.If the circumstances at home are unstable, it is hard for a child to concentrate on education.Now the funding has been grasped from the emergency budget that ought to be spent in making the organisation more self-sustainable,” says Carew.The shelter’s main programmes are sponsored by Austrian Development Co-operation, the Finnish Embassy and Terre Des Hommes.It takes about N$12 000 a year to keep 21 children in a safe school environment, but it is a good start in trying to solve the many obstacles they face.”It is disturbing to find those same children that have been sent to school begging on the streets on their vacation time.They do it for their families.Unfortunately, people often think that we are just keeping them out of prison, though what we try to do is to focus on a child’s needs,” Carew says.Most of the cases involved assault, housebreaking and theft.”Whenever the Police arrest an offender who is underage, they would call us.A social worker would go to meet and assess the offender and ensure that all the children’s rights are met”, says the organisation’s social worker, Renee von Watzdorf.The aim of the meeting, which includes the child’s parents, is to discuss the underlying problems behind the crime.Based on this assessment, the social worker recommends a suitable rehabilitation programme for the child to the court.This does not mean that children who commit crimes get off easily.”We want a child to realise and take full responsibility for what he has done,” says Von Watzdorf.The nature of the rehabilitation programme depends on the seriousness of the crime and other circumstances.There are, for example, Life Skills camps and programmes, where topics such as self-confidence, anger and conflict management, HIV-AIDS and drug abuse are discussed.When possible, social workers try to arrange a meeting between the offender and the victim to negotiate a solution acceptable to both.Sometimes the juvenile is asked to repay the damage he or she has caused, or work for the victim a certain number of hours a day to make up for the losses.The offender may be asked to write a letter of apology, or carry out a project.”We need to be creative with the diversion programmes.Last year we had a 16-year-old child who had been abusing alcohol with his friends.Later on, he was encouraged to go to a shop and steal something.We set a task for him to make a project about alcohol, and it was enough for him,” Von Watzdorf says.Juveniles who commit more serious crimes and are sent to prison are also considered.At the moment Pastor Johannes Boois, a student social worker at The Bridge, is working with 12 young offenders in the Hardap prison.These juveniles are between 17 and 19 years old.Most were convicted of housebreaking, but some have committed rape and will have to spend the next seven years behind bars.It is hard to re-integrate with society after such a long period in jail.Boois goes to see them once a week to run a Life Skills programme to prepare them for life after prison.On Tuesday they talked about alcohol.”The main aim is to raise these people’s self-respect and self-worth, and to thus make them respect others too.The boys claim they have gained from this programme”, Boois says.The Bridge’s programmes seem to work well.Not everyone makes use of their second chance to get back on track, but most do, especially petty offenders.”This is said to be most progressive and profound child justice programme in this country.It is wanted to be implemented on national level,” says Sonia Carew, The Bridge’s manager.The organisation also helps young prisoners with re-integration into society after their release.They can stay in a halfway house for a while, which is run by a housefather and housemother.Once a month family members are driven to the Hardap prison to meet the young prisoners.If the Police cannot trace the guardians of an arrested child, they are released to the Crisis Bed Facility in The Bridge until the guardians are found.One volunteer, who has spent 15 years in prison, is taking care of gardening, as he has had difficulties in getting a job elsewhere.A small vegetable garden has been set up in the backyard in an effort to make The Bridge more financially independent and to give children from poor families a chance to grow their own vegetables.Often the offenders have harsh circumstances at home.Only one or two young offenders come from middle-class families; the rest can be said to be poor.One third of the people living in Mariental are out of work.”Many parents are not taking their parental responsibility seriously.Sometimes when we are doing assessments, we can smell alcohol on the parents’ breath.They even forget the dates of their children’s court cases,” Boois says.”If we send a child to a home where there is nothing to eat, they will commit a crime again.We should do something with the parents, but there are no such courses running at the moment.”From my side, I would like to see every child in school.If they were busy with their studies they wouldn’t get involved with crime so easily, nor would they be available to assist other criminals,” says Renée von Watzdorf.The organisation has made an effort to get children re-enrolled in school.This year, 21 school dropouts who haven’t committed crimes have been sent to smaller farm schools where they can stay in hostels.The results have been promising.The Bridge is also assisting a 14-year-old boy with his school and hostel fees.He has never clashed with the law, but had lost touch with his family and came to ask for help.The boy previously supported himself by working on farms during the holidays.”Many of these children come from homes that can’t support studying.If the circumstances at home are unstable, it is hard for a child to concentrate on education.Now the funding has been grasped from the emergency budget that ought to be spent in making the organisation more self-sustainable,” says Carew.The shelter’s main programmes are sponsored by Austrian Development Co-operation, the Finnish Embassy and Terre Des Hommes.It takes about N$12 000 a year to keep 21 children in a safe school environment, but it is a good start in trying to solve the many obstacles they face.”It is disturbing to find those same children that have been sent to school begging on the streets on their vacation time.They do it for their families.Unfortunately, people often think that we are just keeping them out of prison, though what we try to do is to focus on a child’s needs,” Carew says.