Girl gangs. Scary, aren't they? If you've lived in London you can't fail to have been in some way affected by them.
Some of you will actually have been intimidated physically by them: ask any small shopkeeper and he will tell you that they are a far more tricky problem than boy gangs, as it is hard to know what to do with them. Mean, they're girls, aren't they? It's not like you can frogmarch them off the premises.
Most of you will simply be saddened at the sight of so much youth and beauty and promise going to waste in such an aggressive and negative manner.
And then just a few of you might have been in a gang. Or know a girl gang member. And that must be a whole lot more scary. Two girls who know just how hard gang-shaped lives can be are Jummy Ogunyemi and Shakira Gardener. They are both former gang members who got out, shaped up, and are now trying to help other, younger girls stay away from the dangers therein. They both witnessed unfathomable street-level ugliness and crime, including murder, and now maintain that no-one should have to go through that sort of childhood. Helped by an organisation called Young People Matter, they have set up a group called the Big Sistahs in Lambeth, and are organising a one day all girl conference on the 29th October to emphasize all the good stuff about being a young, female Londoner. Ain't nothing quite like sistahs doing it for themselves, and we are impressed.
(Image/Jon Smalldon)
