HOPE for London Knife Crime

Thursday 23rd October 2008

With knife crime and gang culture rising in London, leaders are becoming increasingly desperate in finding ways to keep it under control. London Knife Crime: A Fresh Idea is a new initiative that is being set up in an attempt to combat the rising violence within inner-city youths.

Established by African-based foundation Campaign of HOPE who teamed up with Hackney Police and the Hackney Youth Offending Team, the enterprise aims to encourage gang culture youth from Hackney to attend a two-week outreach and discovery challenge in Lagos, Nigeria, with the hopes of a subsequent documentary, entitled Living the HOPE, to be released recording the extraordinary experience. The hopes are that the documentary will act as a tool to engage London youth in the unique journey, and help change lives and perceptions of London's knife crime culture.

Campaign of HOPE was set up by Kambani Arts, a non-profit organisation that supports under-represented African artists through cultural awareness initiatives. After the death of Rolabu Idowu in 2007, a paraplegic and member of Kambani Arts, the Rolabu Foundation was established in his name to champion disability in the arts. In aid of his foundation, a unique scheme has been set up in Nigeria to promote the base of the foundation set to be built by 2010 and entitled Centre for HOPE. This scheme aims to construct a centre from bricks pledged by supporters from around the world. With 'Bricks of HOPE' available to be purchased online at £5 each, the building will be entirely funded by pledgers, and will offer the names of the buyers and their location inscribed on each individual brick. What the Hackney Police and the Hackney Youth Offending Team aim to gain from this scheme is to encourage gang culture youth to go to Lagos and help construct the Centre for HOPE itself. Both British organisations are hoping that the scheme will prove to be an opportunity for a powerful documentary to highlight an alternative approach to the fight against knife crime in London.

Kambani Arts director Chima Ezeilo described the plans for the unique initiative as a 'distraction for the gang culture youth', and hopes the experience will 'refocus their thinking' upon their arrival back to the UK. Ezeilo explained that the scheme will involve five children, along with a supervisor, from the Hackney Youth Offending Team to reside for up to nine months in Lagos to help construct the Centre for HOPE, as well as be enlisted in an adventure pursuit trip during their stay. 'They will be exposed to life experiences in Nigeria, while having fun.' The children will be signed up to a strict activity timetable during the trip, and once they have returned to London they will be integrated into 'constructive forums' to recount their experiences to fellow youths.

London Knife Crime: A Fresh Idea is already garnering interest from families within Hackney, but Ezeilo admits that it will only make an impact if enough revenue is raised. Therefore, he is currently seeking funding from commissioning bodies, such as Channel 4 and the BBC, that may be interested in taking advantage of the Living the HOPE documentary. 'The most interesting aspect is the documentary. Having the opportunity to demonstrate an impacting experience and showcase it in the documentary can encourage others to take a similar path.'

Plans for London Knife Crime: A Fresh Idea are set for late 2009. For more information visit: www.campaignofhope.com, or call 07956 451 477.

WRITTEN FOR NEW NATION NEWSPAPER