By Esther Awotwe, 2nd year MDP student
These powerful words greeted me at the
door when I first reported for my domestic field placement at the office of
Gang Action Interagency Network (GAIN). GAIN is a grassroots community
organization with about 25 partner agencies and organizations in Winnipeg
dedicated to curbing gang violence in the city. The mission of GAIN is to collaborate
community resources, consistently share service and awareness information,
build strong relationships within agencies and the community in order to
effectively administer gang prevention, intervention and exit strategies for
gang involved youths. Gang related violence in Winnipeg is a reoccurring issue
which is of great concern to GAIN and its partner organizations.
The city of Winnipeg in 2011 recorded an unprecedented high of 39
homicides with over one third of these crimes involving youths aged 14-24. Coming
from an Indigenous development background these numbers were quite troubling
and worrisome to me and instinctively the first question I asked myself was where
did we fail as a society? What support systems are available for our youths who
need help? Even if support was available, how has it been administered? Is it
through labelling, ‘us’ versus ‘them’ or rather through a reciprocal system of
love, mutuality and responsibility? As I began to delve deep into these initial
thoughts during my orientation at GAIN, “Ogijiita
Pimatiswin Kinamatwin” the words that greeted me began to make sense to me.
Ogijiita Pimatiswin Kinamatwin
originated from an Ojibway Elder and Ogijiita
means the spirit of both a warrior and a provider of the community. Pimatiswin means “good life” and Kinimatwin means “to walk a good life”.
GAIN in collaboration with its partners
seek to help the youth to reclaim their future through strategies and programs
that seek to empower the youth to be brave warriors; people who are not afraid
to confront the past, surmount all obstacles and build the necessarily skills
to posses their bright futures. I was therefore excited to learn that I will be
working on the mentorship component of the gang exit strategy. An arduous task
I must say but I am excited to draw on the skills developed in the MDP Program
and in my human resource degree to work on this exciting project. Communities
that children grow up in do have a profound effect on the adults they become so
it is imperative to create safe, enabling, peaceful and loving environments now
for youths in order to enjoy violence free communities in the future.
Mentoring provides an opportunity for the
youth to be role models and develop life skills that allow them to be positive
citizens. An important aspect of adopting mentorship as a component of gang
exit strategy is the socio-cultural identity it offers the youth; knowing who
they are, where they come from and imbibing the cultural and social values of
high self esteem, respect and reciprocity is crucial to the emotional strength
that these youths require to lead the good life. I am excited to see how the
mentorship component unfolds as I interact with all the various partners for
this project.
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