CONVERSATION

Last night I had the privilege of meeting a boy who was born and brought up on Kingshold Estate (the estate in Hackney that I referred to in a previous post).  I was working on a volunteer shift for Street Pastors, the Christian organisation who send volunteers out on the streets at night to show God's love in the community by talking to people and helping them with practical needs.

This boy was probably about 19 or 20 years old. He was standing with a large group of boys, and when we approached them they ignored us and refused to chat, saying they were "in a rush" but then continuing to stand in the same place long after we had walked away. We later bumped in to two boys from this group in another location, and at this time they opened up to talk once they realised we were not from the police.

It was heart-breaking to realise the depths of experience these boys had at such a young age. One of the boys, who was trying to persuade us that there is no God, asked us to tell him where God is. When we replied that God is everywhere, the other boy asked angrily, "If he's everywhere, why doesn't he stop someone getting stabbed?" As I got talking to this boy - I will call him by his initial, J - he gradually opened up to tell me how he had recently been moved to live in another part of Hackney by his mother because he was getting in to too much trouble on Kingshold estate. He told me he has been arrested so many times. He used to have a job working with children in a community centre in Homerton, but he lost his job, and now he doesn't work. He knew one of the boys who is now in prison for the gang rape that took place at Kingshold, and he has another friend who has a court case coming up for a possible three year sentence. I asked him if he has any needs that he would like me to pray for, but he said nothing.

At one point in the conversation after a few moments of silence, J came out with the statement "Money is the root of all evil". I don't know why he mentioned this, or if he even realised that this idea comes from the bible, but I found it an interesting confirmation of something I have been thinking about a great deal as what I believe to be one of the main root causes of gang culture. I talked with J about the truth of this statement and the fact that I believe this is responsible for a lot of the gang-related stabbings that take place. J agreed with me, but said that "money is power". It is this search for power that seems to be causing so much pain and emptiness in the lives of boys such as these.

The two boys then left as J received a phonecall and had to "go and sort something out". Maybe we will never see these two again, but there are countless more boys and men - not to forget their mothers, families and girlfriends - across the city who are desperately in search of power but are ultimately powerless in the face of death.

"Who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are out of the way..

Jesus.. was moved with compassion toward them."

(Heb 5:2, Matt 14:4)