AFTER the recent brutal murder of a teenager in the northern areas of Nelson Mandela Bay, a local youth organisation has decided that enough is enough.
The Fight Of Our Lives (#TFOOL), will be taking to the streets on Friday, July 3, for a peace walk against violence in the community.
The peace walk will commence at the corner of Stanford Road and Mpuko Road, Jacksonville, at 16:00. Co-founder of #TFOOL, Christopher Adriaan, said that those taking part in the walk would be marching with banners and posters to the home of Ruwaan Johnson, who was shot dead while standing outside his house last week, 11 days after celebrating his 16th birthday.
The group will be gathering in an open field opposite the house in order to maintain social distancing protocols. They are also planning to say a prayer and light candles in remembrance of the former church youth member and other lives which have been lost.
These include Revaldo de Kock (22), who was also shot dead in Gelvandale last week.
“Ruwaan was a God-fearing young boy who was taken away from us in the most inhumane way possible,” Adriaan said.
“He was soft-spoken, loved soccer and going to church.
“Ruwaan was one of many children that were taken from us so unfairly. This is why we, as the youth, are saying that we need to stop the violence, abuse and murder.
“We must take a stance of peace in order to get the help needed to stop the violence,” Adriaan added.
He said that the walk was also a call for peace in the community and served to give a voice to the voiceless, since so many innocent children were killed as a result of gang wars.
“The sound of gunshots is all too common in our community. We are praying for an end to this senseless violence, but we also need the government to step in and put stringent measures in place to bring about peace.
“We want to be recognised and make everyone realise that our lives matter. We are tired of being casualties of gang violence.”
The organiser of the event, Jamie Hendricks, said that it was still very difficult to talk about the incident that took Ruwaan away from them.
“We lost one of our own; that is why we need our voices to be heard at this walk,” he said.
According to Adriaan, they were expecting a turnout of approximately 40 people, comprising mostly children under the age of 18.
Everyone taking part in the walk is encouraged to maintain all safety protocols and no one will be allowed to join if they are not wearing a mask.
“There will be no physical interaction between people and marshals have been appointed to make sure that all safety regulations are adhered to,” Adriaan said.
