During their rounds, they address young people about their behavior or the fact that they hang out on the street late. “Sometimes we only see a few young people in one evening. We just keep doing our rounds,” says neighborhood mother Kouatar. AT5. “Even though we don’t see them, they do see us. And sometimes you see them running away, but at least they know we’re there.”
In total there are about thirty neighborhood mothers active in the district. They are in close contact with the police and the municipality. Fatimzahra Baba coordinates the patrols and helps where necessary. “You can see that the neighborhood reacts very positively to the women,” says Baba. “At the same time, it has a reciprocity. These are mothers who are often not seen, or people think that these mothers are not present. But these mothers are indeed there.”
Quiet
The women treat the youngsters like their own children and that approach seems to be working. “When we walk outside, we show the young people: we are here, talk to us and if there is anything you can contact us. But the young people also know that they have to watch out, because we keep an eye on them Kouatar said.
The presence of the neighborhood mothers on the street seems to be bearing fruit, because it is quiet in the district. Other cities in the country have been unsettled in the past month after demonstrations against the corona measures turned into violent clashes between protesters and police.
Apart from small confrontations, things are going well in New West, writes NH News. The neighborhood mothers are proud of their approach. “We call the children our children and they listen well,” says neighborhood mother Hafida.
A similar approach had already been chosen in Nieuw-West. Dozens of neighborhood mothers, representatives of mosques and youth workers were at Plein ’40-’45 in Slotermeer at the beginning of this year. on your feet for days to avoid irregularities. In other neighbourhoods, the riot police came into action after the curfew was introduced, but it remained quiet in Slotermeer.
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