Domestic Watch focuses on trust in January
JOBURG - Domestic Watch, an independent community initiative spearheaded by Penny Steyn, is kicking off the year with a series of workshops and presentations.
Steyn has been presenting and teaching on topics related to crime prevention and community safety for the past 14 years.
Over this period, she has put together 68 lessons and is starting the year off with the theme of trust for the month of January.
The workshops are usually about an hour and are mostly attended by domestic workers and gardeners. The lessons aim to teach participants awareness on crime prevention, from how to pass on information, to how to keep themselves and the people around them safe.
“We’ve had some extraordinary success stories last year, where criminals were caught,” Steyn said,
Steyn attributed some of these successful arrests to the information that was passed on by domestic staff in the vicinity of the crime, who were better informed on how to record and spot relevant suspicious activity in their immediate surroundings.
Steyn aims to work in conjunction with the police and security companies to create greater awareness.
She encouraged employers to allow their employees to attend the lessons, and mentioned that employers too could also benefit from attending the workshops.
The initiative is based on the acknowledgement that domestic workers in the community generally have knowledge of what is going on in the suburbs, and have information which is potentially useful in fighting and preventing crime.
On the theme of trust, Steyn stated that trust is a soft skill and explained that the nuanced aspects of trust between employers and their employees factor into crime prevention.
“Trust is something you build… when there is a bad vibe between employers and their employees [people may inadvertently pass on information]. It is human nature to talk about something that is unpleasant,” she said.
Domestic Watch workshops have been scheduled for the following suburbs in the Gazette’s distribution area.
22 January: 2pm at St Paul’s Church, 58 12th Street, Parkhurst.
27 January: 12pm at the the War Museum, Eastwold Way in Saxonwold.
28 January: 12pm at the Methodist Church, 7th Avenue in Parktown North.
30 January: 10am at St Columba’s Church, Lurgan Road in Parkview.
30 January: 12pm at Wesleyan Church, corner of Beaumont and Norfolk avenues.
Details: Penny Steyn on 082 461 6968; madpenny@absamail.co.za
