Reflection 4
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SAFE HAVENS IN LONDON If we want to live in a more peaceful and cohesive society we need to build up our communities, and CitySafe Havens are a means of achieving it. Ultimately it’s people taking responsibility for their own communities. We are living more isolated lives than we used to, our communities are more broken, we hardly get to know the people we live amongst. This in turn engenders more anti-social behaviour and crime. We tend to wait for someone else to solve these problems for us, but the Government or Police cannot do this by themselves. To be really effective they need the support of each and every one of us. CitySafe Havens work by fully engaging with local businesses, and forming relationships to help to build community. CitySafe Havens need co-coordinating and the local school is the ideal organisation to do this, it also enables the shopkeepers and the students to get to know each other. The whole point of CitySafe Havens is to build community into one where we all care and support each other. This is the Gospel message of Jesus and it is ours too. Strong communities are safer communities, strong communities are peaceful communities and CitySafe Havens help communities become strong.
See Lesson 4 ‘Organising for Peace Locally Building CitySafe neighbourhoods’
by Margaret Mizen Jimmy Mizen’s mother and co-founder of the Jimmy Mizen Foundation (Jimmy was killed on a London street on a Saturday morning the day after his 16th birthday in May 2008)