Image Text:

TEAMWORK: (from left) Virdell Francis (standing) with three of his team – IT consultant Joao Cristovao, fellow director Mena Tesfaldet and administrator Val Thompson

RESPECT. It’s a word people often use today without perhaps pausing to think about what it really means.

But respect is the cornerstone of the From Boyhood to Manhood Foundation (FBMF), a pioneering project which began 15 years ago on the streets of London and is now branching out to the West Midlands with a base in Birmingham.

A disused Connexions office in Alfred Street, Aston is the new home for FBMF which has an enviable track record for steering excluded, troubled boys away from a life of guns and gangs.

Led by Virdell Francis and his team, they know what they are up against. But they also know their project is second to none - and they can’t wait to get started in Birmingham.

“We always say to the boys that respect comes in three parts,” explains Virdell, at the Birmingham launch.

“Firstly you have to honour yourself, secondly honour your environment and thirdly treat people as you would like to be treated, regardless of their differences. The last bit is very important,” he emphasises.

“We’re here to give daily support to those boys who have been expelled from school and now obviously have no way of getting to college."

“The lure of gangs is so tempting when they have nothing to do all day but hang around the streets. And for many we know there is no way back from this.”

The project, aimed at boys from the ages of 12 to 17, is known as Calling The Shots. Scheme organisers already have a number of local teachers on hand who are ready to help on a daily basis.

They have a ‘midnight bus’ project where boys vulnerable to the postcode issue, can be reached in their own ‘territories’ by a special bus where they receive mentoring and counselling.

Virdell also runs ‘outward bound’ style courses for the boys with his old school friend Chris Mason, who he also served alongside in the British Army. Chris runs his activities from a base in Ombersley, Worcestershire.

“These are terrific experiences for youngsters to get out into the countryside, camp there and see life from a difference perspective,” says Virdell.

“Chris has run similar courses in Northern Ireland with youngsters from Catholic and Protestant backgrounds. Once they are out of their own home environments they forget about their differences. The same applies to boys trapped in the gang culture.”

The whole programme is based on a psychological and spiritual foundation, as Virdell’s sister Rameri Moukam, who is a psychotherapist, explains.

“We work with them from their potential, not their symptoms,” she says. “They all have the potential to be magnificent young people.”

The project’s leaders are proud of their record in Southwark where local crime reduced by two percent when the scheme was launched and rose by 14 percent when it was temporarily forced to stop.

The Metropolitan Police, the courts and prisons have all backed FBMF and it’s also had a glowing evaluation from the University of Cambridge.

Since it first began in 1996, more than 500,000 youngsters who have been excluded from over 56 London schools have been through its programme.

Money for the Birmingham scheme is extremely tight but Susila Dharma Britain, a charity which has been helping humanitarian causes since 1969, has helped them to secure the base from where they will work.

“The whole scheme is driven by what the youngsters want and what they want to get out of it,” adds Virdell, who has successfully run similar schemes in prisons.

“It’s all based on the concept of respect – it’s not a fad. We know it works.”

* For further details about the project please contact Virdell on 07784 464294.