hyperactive wrote:the parents of those youths failed them. no amount of organization can help troubled youth, more than family.
actually this isn't true, i helped a troubled youth, he was a gangster the kind that is in the drug world, he didn't sell drugs anymore because he had been to one of those youth detention(jail) but he was still look out and or foot soldier, he had weapons and all sort of knives. I took him to friday prayer first, then took him out to eat, made him preoccupied, asked him to join me and my friends for football games. These small things had a huge impact on him, when ever I saw him on the street standing around I took him somewhere, either salaat, restaurant or hang out with other guys. when I was 14-18, my dad had introduced me to all the elders from the masjid, I could not stand outside a shop or wait at a buss stop without an old Somali man asking me about my father and then sending me to the masjid or home. This is the approach I took with this kid, even though I didn't know his father, I familiarized myself with him by using irrelevant facts like "we live in the same area" and "we have siblings going to same school" so that it would create a sense of kinship in him. he eventually started college and got a part time job, he probably will have many other problems and not a strong family to support him but Inshallah I gave him good experience, I even sometimes see him running for Salaat, so it can be done.
btw: i don't encourage people making friends with gangsters, there are plenty of normal Somali people who need your help with language/cultural barriers etc, all I am saying is these criminals can also get help, there is hope for everyone, therefor I support institution to be made for these kind of people.
that may be so, but 16-17 in the west waa ciyaal. they're far too easily influenced by their peers, which brings me to my original point. government housing (in canada in particular, from what i remember) is not the kind of environment you'd want to raise your kids in if you can afford not to. i think the greed of a lot of somalis is coming back to bite them in the ass.
