Features / easton
The youth group making a difference
A Bristol youth group is confronting the issue of knife crime in the city by teaching its members what to do should they witness a stabbing.
Bristol Horn Youth Concern (BHYC), who works mainly with the East African communities in Easton, St Paul’s and St Jude’s, recently invited members of the Street Doctors to educate a group of 15 young people.
Street Doctors are a nationwide charity that hope to change the lives of high risk young people by giving them the skills they need to deliver lifesaving first aid.
BHYC hope to steer the boys and young men who attend their youth group onto the right path by keeping them off the streets; offering them educational classes, and sports and recreational activities such as last weekend’s basketball tournament officially opened by Bristol mayor Marvin Rees.
“We work in this area because we sometimes see or hear of young people not doing the right thing,” said co-founder Khalil Abdi.
Bristol Horn Youth Concern co-founder Khalil Abdi with members of Street Doctors
“We provide training like this to keep the boys out of trouble and show them how to be good citizens,” Khalil adds.
“We teach them about things like sex education, drugs, how to treat women, but we also show them that they have to contribute to society, so we do things like street cleaning, feed the homeless and help with the elderly.
“We hope that they will grow up to be role models to others.
“A lot of the boys want to go to university in the future, they want to be lawyers, doctors and teachers. They have ambition and they want to change their lives. They all want to come here and the response has been amazing.”
Some of the BHYC members at the Street Doctors session
During the session, the boys learned about the human body, how to prevent bleeding, the proper procedure for getting help and basic CPR.
Knife crime has been climbing in Bristol for a number of years, with a recent police crackdown in Easton resulting in both knives and a gun being found.
“Lessons like today are very important to learn because there are worst case scenarios that can happen and you should know what to do,” said Abdi, one of the boys who came to the Street Doctors session.
“I think I could save someone’s life now, but you should always call the ambulance first!” said Annas, one of the other boys – most of whom were still wearing their school uniforms.
For more information on BHYC and how to get involved, visit www.facebook.com/Bristolhyc or email Khalil via [email protected]
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