Online Reporter
CAPE TOWN. − Fernando − or Nando − Johnston is in a gang called the Mongrels, and he wants to try and find a way out with the help of local religious leader Pastor Engel.
The pastor describes Mr Johnston as being young and “born into the gang” since his whole family was involved.
“In this game there are only two options − it is either you go to jail or you die, “ says Mr Johnston.
“I really do want to change direction and I believe there is always a way. That is the reason I approached the pastor − to ask him if there is a plan or way to take me.”
He will join a six- to 12-week programme of rehabilitation run by the pastor and funded by charitable donations designed to get people off drugs and into work.
“The thing is you can now start building yourself up again,” Pastor Engel tells him. “You’ll be able to get yourself a job and make money for yourself. Then you won’t have to hustle and scavenge around here any more.”
“I’m ready to go, pastor,” says Mr Johnston, poised to leave his battered and scarred community in search of a new path.
Those closest to him have gathered to wish him well. His mother, Angeline April, holds back the tears, desperate that, this time, her son will choose life. “Please just make the best of this opportunity, Nando,” she says.
“Yes mummy, I always make the best of a situation.”
But that has never been easy.
“Fernando’s dad was a gangster but my other children’s father was a gentleman,” says Mr Johnston’s mother.
“But because he was a gangster, the children also got involved in gangsterism despite me constantly warning them. It wasn’t easy raising four boys on my own, you know. I’m always encouraging him to make a change, because I love him very much.”
And so far so good for Mr Johnston. Two weeks on from starting the programme, he is still there.
“Nando is stabilising. He’s in a works programme. He’s busy seeing his family, seeing his kids. He did a house visit yesterday. We let him loose and he came back and tested clear with no drugs in his system,” says Pastor Engel.
Hope is a rare commodity here, but it does sometimes spring through the cracks in the streets that have seen so much trauma.
Not all streets, though.
Very little hope is found at Devon Africa and Undean Koopman’s house, which sits in the middle of a battlefield.
The cycle of killings and retaliation that hit the areas being fought over on the very edges of this beautiful South African city is overwhelming for many of those just struggling to survive.
And those caught in the middle often have to make impossible choices.
“Nobody is going to come from anywhere to help or save us. Not from overseas. Not from our local government. No-one is going to come with a magic wand to cure the Cape Flats,” says Pastor Engel.
“As individuals we need to be so determined to build up resilience, create hope for our people and to grow. Because politics has clearly failed us.” − BBC
Bongani Ndlovu