Overshadowed by two tower blocks, known as "L-Block", there is a surreal children's playground in Acacia Road, with a strange monster's head and a large wooden train rather than the usual swings and slides. Walking past the deserted playground, I felt a sense of uneasiness, as I sensed an echo of the sad reality that many young children and teenagers growing up in London have left a normal childhood of playing in the park, to play games with matters of life and death.
Some of the "AC Tugs", photo taken from Genesis' myspace page
Some of the boys from Acacia Road area are in a crew called "Loyal Soldierz", such as two boys called Genesis and Trubled. They make music and their lyrics are fairly typical of the songs that many young people are making all around London as they learn to MC - a lot of the track names reference their area, such as A.C. Mandem, A.C. moving again and A.C. allstars.
The deep rooted connection between place and identity in the lives of these young people can also be seen, for example, in Trubled's choice of name on his myspace page:
"Trubled L.St in my heart St8 banging 4 L.Stone"
(Trubled, Leytonstone in my heart, fighting for Leytonstone).
Young people from Acacia Road, photo taken from Genesis' myspace page
"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." (Acts 17:26)
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