In small communities like ours, peace and violence can coexist in complex and often unpredictable ways. While our community may appear peaceful on the surface, underlying tensions can erupt into violence unexpectedly. What about small communities makes them so vulnerable to this paradox?
In our small community, peace and violence have a far-reaching effect on social life. While peace can create a harmonious atmosphere where people cooperate and work together, violence leads to fear, distrust, and division among community members.
A recent study in our neighbouring communities found that communities with high levels of peace had lower crime rates, higher levels of civic engagement, and a stronger sense of community identity.
As a community, we are now fighting hard to ensure all youths are not involved in violence, which can only happen when we have the whole community’s support.
We realized that social change in small communities like ours can be challenging but not impossible. We noted a few opportunities like community organising that would bring people together to work towards a common purposeful goal and Grassroots Campaigns that have been successful, most notably.
Violence can lead to emotional distress; thus, witnessing violence or being exposed to it can cause anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. Some even vent to drugs.
Our community is still fighting for lower crime rates and more peaceful protests against youth violence and community violence as a whole.
Speaking to the youths, Tania Chiwa, one of the ladies on the youth movement team, said that youths in small communities can face several challenges that aren’t always as prevalent in larger cities.
She noted that these challenges are due to limited resources in the community, fewer Job opportunities, and a lack of knowledge.
The community leaders also came to an arrangement that it would be ideal if they open a youth’s youth-friendly corner. These sports clubs would concentrate more on ensuring that our youths are taught different skills and responsibilities.
These youth corners will keep the youths busy, thus keeping them away from violence and crime. Violence in small communities can have far-reaching and devastating impacts on youth.
WRITTEN BY TANIA CHIWA