Welcome Witbooi joined a gang when he was young so that he could feel like he belonged to something. His father would regularly tell him that he would amount to nothing, and this became a common occurrence for Welcome.
Welcome states that people in the gang used to applaud him for abusing and hurting other people – people looked up to him for causing pain to others. Kidnapping, fighting and violence were normal activities in Welcome’s day to day life, and he got further involved with the gang carrying out large robberies and violent crimes.
Eventually sentenced to prison for his crimes, Welcome discovered another side of life, and enrolled in the prison programme called the One Man Can. This made him realize that he didn’t want to spend the rest of his life being angry and violent, and made Welcome realize that he wanted to leave his gang days behind him.
Welcome left prison a few years ago, and is a full time support worker for young boys, showing them that there are alternatives to gang life. He maintains the view that support systems need to be in place for young people with anger issues, and today Welcome spends his time counselling young boys, and lobbying to get world leaders involved with the One Man Can foundation.
Anger doesn’t have to be a prominent emotion within young persons lives, and there is a lot of help out there! The British Association of Anger Management is dedicated to providing anger management training to those who need it, and they provide a wealth of services to those involved with anger issues.