ABB helps young
South Africans fight drugs and violence
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| Conquest for Life:
changing
South African kids' mindset and giving them the skills to get jobs
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Johannesburg,
26 July 2002 - In
the South African township of Westbury, people say giving birth to a boy is
a curse because either you will lose him to gangs, or he will go to jail, or
get killed. As part of ABB's social responsibility policy, the engineering group
is working with a local initiative to help young people build a future free
from gang-based violence and drugs.
Conquest for Life (CFL)
Director Glen Steyn grew up in Westbury and got involved in a gang at the age
of twelve. The death of his stepbrother in a gang related incident in 1993 sparked
him into setting up an organization that aims to break young people's dependence
on gangs and change their environment so they can make new life choices.
The local ABB meter
factory has supported Mr Steyn's initiative since its early days. ABB's Corporate
Social Investment Project Coordinator Joos Lemmer is Chairman of CFL's management
committee. He said, "Westbury is a 100 % coloured area. At times the press
spoke about it as being the drug capital of South Africa.
"Gangs in Westbury
knock the hell out of one another. And they last a long time. You can be born
into the gang your grandmother was in. If a young person leaves a gang, it may
reduce their family's security and income - so they may be forced out of the
home."
Mr Lemmer said some young
gang members rely on car theft and other robbery to sustain their drug habits.
According to ABB Sustainability
Affairs' Michael Robertson, the group seeks to enhance the sustainable development
of communities where it operates - economically, environmentally, socially and
educationally - by engaging with stakeholders and pursuing common efforts.
But, he says, it has to
be approached sensibly. "ABB is a business, not a charity. So we seek out
local projects which satisfy local needs and which in some way - in the short
or longer term - also benefit ABB.
"In the Conquest for
Life project, [ABB is trying] to stabilize the local communities where we have
operations and where we draw labour, so that the quality of life of the community
is enhanced and so is the quality of potential future ABB employees, suppliers,
customers, etc."
One key CFL programme supported
by ABB - the In and Out Project - gives 14 to 25-year-olds a three-week break
on an outdoor camp 47 km from Johannesburg. Away from peer pressure and the
expensive clothes and flashy cars of the armed gang and drug lords that Mr Steyn
believes act as role models, participants are encouraged to think as individuals.
The scheme aims to break the influence of gangs, and begin building alternative
trust relationships.
Mr Lemmer said, "There
are dormitories, sports facilities, obstacle courses. And a victim counsellor
programme. At the end, we involve the parents too, otherwise the young people
go back home and nothing has changed.
"ABB doesn't pay operational
costs, but I go and see what facilities they need, for example if there aren't
enough toilets, showers, drinking water, lights or electricity, we pay for them
to be put in place. We like to see that the money goes where it's needed."
Last year 94 youths took
part in the camps, and coordinators liase with about 450 participants a week
in follow-up support.
Mr Steyn said participants
of the In and Out Project often become teachers in CFL's "Youth Enrichment
Programme", where they give food and after-school help to children with
learning problems, and build relationships with the children's school and parents.
"There is an 80 percent
unemployment rate in Westbury," said Mr Steyn. "We need to change
these kids' mindset, give them the skills to get jobs, and support them on their
way to moving up."
One of these young people
is Brandon Johnstone who grew up in Westbury. When he discovered CFL three years
ago,
he was nineteen years old and had had no training. He said: "I used
to sit at home all day. I couldn't find a job. Then a friend here told me about
Conquest for Life."
Mr Johnstone went on to
take part in a range of activities for CFL, including making household detergents
to sell in the area, and teaching children peacemaking skills through games.
He had on the job training,
fixing old computers donated to CFL by ABB, and now runs a busy computer centre.
"I now install the software, and teach IT to children and parents,"
he said.
"Most of the people
I've worked with that went through the programme left with a with a skill or
two, and most got jobs."
According to Mr Steyn, the
impact of gangs is already being reduced. He said, "The community has noticed
the difference. You can feel the improvement here."
ABB Metering manufactures
water meters, and markets water and electrical meters, for municipalities, utilities
and industry. The operation was established in South Africa about 60 years ago
and has been located at Industria, Johannesburg, for at least the past 50 years.
The operation employs about 140 people, a high proportion of whom live in the
disadvantaged areas of Westbury and Soweto. More than 80 per cent of shop floor
employees live in these two townships.
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