Mum left dad when I was one. She ran away because of the violence. Sick with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for most of her life, we didn’t have a lot of what other kids did cos of the lack of money, so we just roamed the streets. Me and my brother were just little street rats!
I always liked art and music but I never went to high school. Creative Youth Initiatives gave me a massive chance when they realized my potential, producing a CD with Sony called ‘Sounds of the Street’. It opened a whole new creative perspective for me. Mum and I had a great relationship till I was about 14. Then I became rebellious and started sneaking out. Mum would ground me and in the end, I ran away. For 12 months I lived at a refuge at Kings Cross. Here I had my first girlfriend who at 15 was one year older than me. She fell pregnant, but lost the baby. I was smoking weed and drinking everyday. Graffiti painting and vandalism became my way of life that year. I was just about to become a ward of the state when my brother found me. I ended up going home to Mum and finding an apprenticeship as a panel beater. I was still running wild and hooked up with a second girlfriend who introduced me to speed and ecstasy pills. I was drinking heavily and committing crime also. My habits just got worse and worse and I couldn’t hold down a job. A rehab in the city helped for a little while; but the influence of a past acquaintance got me back onto alcohol, ice, pills and weed. The crime I had been involved in as a juvenile meant I was in and out of the Court system. I got into some serious trouble when at a party one night my mate got jumped. We found the blokes responsible and belted them up. In critical conditions, one unconscious and possibly dying, I was arrested and told I could be going down for murder. I thought this is bad but I was still blaming them saying they deserved what they got. I started hitting the drink even harder and thought I was going down. My mum and brother have always been believers and I even went to Sunday school as a kid. My brother told me about ONE80TC. I called up and they had a bed for me, which was mad. With serious charges of assault, causing grievous bodily harm, the courts handed down a sentence of 12 months incarceration. An appeal was lodged against the severity of the sentence which enabled me to continue in the ONE80TC program.
The Solicitor spoke of ‘anger’ becoming a pattern of learned behaviour and a caseworker from ONE8TC shared his experiences. “Often the consequences of a dysfunctional family life can lead to an inability to process anger. Life’s frustrations and disappointments will seem to be overwhelming and are often outworked with aggressive reactions.”
Remarkably the Judge noted this different perspective and was encouraged to hear that ONE80TC emulates attitudes of and is connected to the
Now my dreams are getting bigger. I have a purpose and a future to look forward to. I want to run my own massive Christian Youth Centre covering a lot of different aspects including art classes, counseling and music. You can tell so many stories through art and music where you wouldn’t normally open up and say anything.
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