Understanding Immigration and addressing youth challenges
What was special about the Diepkloof workshop was that most of the participants were elderly. These were not your typical elders but the kind that had vigour and heart to change what could still be changed.
The Diepkloof community was very receptive to the information shared regarding migration and why South Africa lets it happen. The lucky part for them was that the representative from CORMSA (who gave the presentation) is based in the Diepkloof area also. He offered his services to educate and inform anyone interested in issues of International Migration.
As much as the group consisted of elderly people most of them were worried about the youth in their community. There were complaints about how the local government misleads the youth and creates frustration regarding unemployment. The youth were the biggest concern in the meeting because there was a sentiment that most of them had become complacent and gave in to their struggles without educating themselves about solutions.
The outcome of the meeting was promising because an agreement was made that this meeting was the first of many. The problems listed were mostly centered on service delivery, housing problems and the land mines around the area. It was decided that forums would be created to address these issues, and that different key members of the community should be included in the process.
Many of the issues were fuelled by lack of information regarding where to access services. The community agreed that ACTION would set up links between the community and the relevant stakeholders. The links would serve as a way to educate and empower Diepkloof. This was the last Local Peace Committee workshop for the year. The upcoming event is the Local Peace Committee Awards Ceremony that ACTION is hosting to create awareness and acknowledge the work done by the different Peace Communities.
This is a special thanks to the communities for letting ACTION into their work and finding ways to foster peace within their own environments. “There is no way to Peace, Peace is the way.” Mahtma Ghandi