ONFIDENCE A Mentoring Ministry Empowers Youth to Overcome Their Circumstances by Jessy Anne Walters for NCM Communications
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hree boys clamber on to a no-longernew school bus and are welcomed by cheerful greetings and high fives. Wearing ripped jeans, faded tees, and worn-out sneakers—the uniform of childhood—the boys begin chatting away to their peers and leaders about homework assignments, basketball games, and siblings who bring stray cats home. Out the bus window, a sea of identical brick buildings, children running around, and used furniture scattered on lawns begins to fade from sight. It’s hard to imagine that just over two miles away from Nashville, Tennessee’s world-famous Broadway—where rhinestones, cowboy boots, and bright lights take center stage—this neighborhood is struggling with drug abuse, gang activity, and a surging rate of gun violence. Stephen*, age 11, Malik, age 10, and Jordan, age 10, are all from this neighborhood, known as Napier Community. All three live with fear of bullets flying into their home or family members not returning from a simple walk to the corner store. Children living in this community are not only under the daily pressures that
come with school and growing up in general, but they’re also under the pressures that come with living around violence. “This boy was in a gang and he was
messing with my brother,” Jordan says, “so he got a pistol and shot our apartment.” Sitting together, the three boys discuss the most recent hardships of their
neighborhood as easily as some kids discuss sports and video games. “My sister isn’t allowed out of the house,” Stephen says, matter-of-factly. Why? Chances are that she will become a victim of gender-based violence. The other boys nod in agreement. “It’s nasty stuff,” Jordan says. “That’s why my mom always keeps my sister in the house. She lets us go outside, but she only lets my sister out if she’s with us, so if someone tries to get my sister we can defend her.” Ducking at any loud noise that sounds like gunfire, moving from home to home due to poverty, and sisters not being allowed out of the house due to fear of attacks are all part of daily life for these boys. J.C. Napier Homes is a governmental housing project that sits in a district with Nashville’s highest violent crime rate and one of the highest rates of poverty in the city. The vast majority of homes here are headed by single mothers, and the average annual income is about $9,500, compared with the city’s median household income of $53,400. “It’s not the worst place to live,” Stephen Winter 2016 | 13