Police Visit OVC

One thing I was really hoping to achieve while here in Mwandi was to break down the barriers between the OVC kids, staff and the Police. Having worked with the Police while here, it became very clear to me why kids would fear these Police – I can only say it is unlike any policing I have ever seen at home! The Police are quite busy so it did take longer than I had hoped for them to come to OVC, but today they did and their visit was a HUGE success!
Sergeant Musumo attended a group counselling lesson with me and I wasn’t surprised that the kids were a little frightened at first! What intrigued me more however was that Musumo appeared a little frightened too! But once he got going he delivered an amazing lesson on being of good character and I was surprised he had never done this before. I tried to not act surprised as he justified to the kids why they may see them beat some people, but this is their culture so I suppose it is an important issue to discuss. We discussed honesty, commitment to education, career choices and the new friendship and trust they have with their police. I was so impressed and feel great to have been part of this. At the end of the session I presented Musumo with a gift from SA Police, the hats, which he could part with as gifts to his new friends. The kids absolutely loved it and despite having different career choices from Policing, all agreed to be Police for the day!
The staff of OVC were also very excited by the success and I really hope this is a relationship that can continue. Enjoy the pics – especially my fellow colleagues who helped put things together for me to bring.
Cheers :-)