By Rachel Gondo (Zimbabwe)
In the bus on my way to Vollsmose I was told that it’s a ghetto. The bus was full of immigrant-looking people, and I expected Vollsmose to be an overpopulated area with rowdy youth patrolling the streets. To my surprise I met with a group of intelligent and confident young people, just graduated high school, united by their multiculturalism.
Young people all over the world face a lot of social pressure. For the youth in Vollsmosse it is not any different. Having to constantly defend their race, religion and culture does not make life any easier. Although their basic needs are taken care of - education, health, shelter, clean water and food - by the state, welfare also refers to the psychosocial well being of a person.
To provide this need the ´Unge2Unge´ project is an initiative of the youth in Vollsmosse to send a positive message to their community and the rest of Danish society. This group of strong young people have set on a task of being good role models for other young adults and teenagers in their multicultural community. The youth project was motivated by the great deal of negative publicity the community has been receiving from all sorts of angles.
In Zimbabwe, the youth have also been facing rough times. This has in my opinion affected the positive growth of my generation. Due to the economic hard times my country went through, most young people were forced to abandon their studies. Girls as young as 12 were forced to turn to prostitution in order to bring food to the table for the rest of the family. Young boys resorted to serious crimes such as hijacking and armed robbery.
Youth in any country are the future. The young and the old must identify with each other regardless of race and/or religion as I believe that we are what we are because of each other. A positive and constructive mind in the youth is healthy for any nation’s welfare. I was encouraged to keep pushing for a positive image for the youth in Zimbabwe by the young, passionate people in Vollsmose. I realised that we are together in this fight.