hello! sawubona! yebo! howzit! hoe gaan ‘it? dumela!
simple greetings or powerful weapons?
ours is a country torn apart by unusually high levels of crime and
violence. there are many contributing factors to this such as poverty
and unemployment, but socio-economic factors alone cannot explain why we
will often gratuitously maim, torture or even kill one another.
for answers to these questions we need to look a little deeper;
perhaps probe the painful areas of our past that have created this
atmosphere of anger and bitterness; an atmosphere that so often
overflows into outbursts of horrific violence.
we believe that by regularly doing small things that prick this
‘bubble of anger’ we can each play our part in creating an environment
in which crime, particularly of the violent kind, will not flourish. we
believe that by respecting one another and actively restoring every
human being’s dignity we will see dramatic decreases in violence in our
country.
for some this may mean doing things as simple as smiling at a car
guard and saying hello. for others, it might mean treating your staff
more fairly. your personal hello is dependent on your circumstances and
is as unique as your dna. it’s not important what we do, but that we
each do something to become a ripple in a wave of change.
| We
invite everyone to help create an environment in which crime won’t
flourish. we encourage all South Africans to replace silence and
certainly negative, abusive and discriminatory language and deeds with
positive words and actions. we can't
all create jobs or alleviate poverty. what we can do though is get out
from behind our walls of fear, humanize and respect one another and in
doing so build small bridges of peace.
we have reached over 6 million people in just under a year. we have done this through:
make no mistake, we condemn all crime but most particularly, violent crime. we support all the ‘skop, skiet and donder’ crime fighting efforts of the police, law courts, government and business. but whilst we support all of these external government measures, we invite you to do what YOU can as an ordinary citizen. |
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A hello, a wave, a smile, a thank you. this is what it’s all about; creating an atmosphere in which crime cannot flourish. now if all you wish to do is greet people – that's great, but we see this as a start. how about going beyond hello? help someone. fix something. mentor
someone. go beyond hello in whatever way your circumstances allow. big
or small it doesn’t matter. if you can, consider an apprentice. if you
have staff, educate them about AIDS or domestic violence. if you have
pupils, teach them not to do crime. if you see an opportunity, grab
it. if you see a wrong, right it. we reckon we’re all jolly busy – so these are practical ideas we all have the time to do in your neighborhood, community group, school or business: |
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When you next have a dinner party and the topic of crime pops up, here are some juicy little facts to throw into the pot of seething negativity:
To book a talk for your staff, clients, pupils or congregants mail justin@scsh.co.za. |
