Alex children yearn to be wanted, belong
ALEXANDRA – Hollander in Alex castigates racism, greed for national ills on children.
Children from social and economically depressed backgrounds can also thrive against any challenge when provided with an enabling environment.
This according to Hollander, Sandra van Oostenbrugge who resides in Alex. The township’s own mlungu (white person) is happily married to a local resident. She has experienced Alex’s lawlessness including a cell phone robbery but shrugged off the incidents as a warning and message from neglected children who yearn for a normal life where all their needs are catered for.
“They are crying to be seen, heard and cared for as is expected in a normal setting of nuclear parenting with solid community and public sector support,” Van Oostenbrugge said of her adopted home where these conditions are generally absent.
This in a township reviled for squalor, crime, violence, single young parents or child-headed households with a low household income which makes life difficult and aspirations for many youth unattainable who then gravitate into vice from a tender age resulting in career-limiting criminal records.
Van Oostenbrugge is no stranger to challenges, having been born in a small country and faced crowding of a different type. She was uprooted to foreign lands spending months in limited space in cargo ships steered by her dad. She said the confined space during the trips caused her and a sister trauma which was compounded by the experience of landing in distant, unknown shores, exposure to various cultures, people and ways of doing things. Over time, her outlook on life changed and she gained a belief in universal similarities rather than differences she found in humanity. “We are all similar regardless of melanin-induced difference. It counts for nothing and is nature’s way to help us cope in different environmental conditions.”
Though the adventures were a privilege, her anti-racial stance helped her when she landed on Durban, Ethiopian, Lybian and American shores to embrace a sense of self and pride in belonging to any conditions she encountered as part of understanding the universe and opportunities it provided for all.
“Most vulnerable and dependent children, including in Alex, also need different forms of exposure to life, travel included, to shape and prepare them for challenges and, not bigotry which only breeds hatred, stunted growth, low self-esteem, anger and crime to survive. These are man-made and should be changed by society.
“When race-based difference is drummed into a child, it’s like a sponge that absorbs the bigotry, turning their brains away from being a potential asset for the future of society and country.” This she said in reference to current racial incidents polarising divisions in the country.
“We should be fostering social cohesion, discard race-based and false safety zones, which deny poor Alex kids normal life, make them vulnerable to crime not of their making while, their mostly white affluent counterparts revel in opulence, guarded by high tech and security companies.”
Van Oostenbrugge said no one will be spared the pains and difficulties from this division when the nation collapses. “Residents should be more preoccupied with developing children and youth’s emotional literacy to help them cope, run social cohesion initiatives to foster unity, exchange skills and, resource initiatives that will uplift economic and social conditions in places like Alex.”
She also urged other race groups to engage more with nearby Alex residents. “This will make residents know each other better, share the bad in their history and work out solutions, erase prejudice and limit young Alex brains from wasting away from alcohol, substance and other abuses.”
She also asked for increased support for SMMEs and access to free Wi-Fi for residents so they are exposed to education, training and work opportunities, away from crime.
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