You all know that our club has been working all year to become recognized as a “Peace Club.”  Of the many requirements, one is to work with a community entity that helps youth and helps to rehabilitate young people who have had a rough time in life.  The Ventura County Juvenile Facility was suggested.  Jeff Burgh, Jeff Hata and I met with the Chief Probation Officer, Mark Varela, to see if there was a way to help them with their programs.  Mark will be visiting our club on Thursday, June 21, to talk about the programs to help the young people inside the Juvenile Facility.  He said that one of their primary goals is to keep the kids from returning after release.  To do that, they work to help them learn how to solve problems without violence and how to interact in a peaceful, cooperative way with others. 

One program is in cooperation with the teacher at the all-year school inside the facility.  A gentleman from the Ventura Arts group works with the kids in writing poetry.  They can express their fears, anger, pain and challenges in words that can provide insight for them and perhaps help to address solutions.  I am sharing a couple of those poems with you this week.  They were motivated by hearing, “Imagine” by John Lennon.  They are pretty dark…

               

Imagine there was peace and no war

                Imagine there weren’t any diseases

                Reminiscing on my homes

                That got killed in these snake pit streets

                There’s nothing I can do

                But keep it G

                And pray for the deceased

                Thank God I made it to 18

                And I’m not 6 feet deep

                “Lord forgive me for my sins but here I come”

 

                S.L.

 

                                An Unknown Peace

                I don’t know what peace means to me

                I’m still working on it

                I try to put my mind to something

                But it drifts

                To that night my heart broke in pieces

 

                They say there is a light

                At the end of every tunnel

                But I haven’t seen mine

                So, I don’t know what peace means

                I’m still working on it.

 

                M.N.

 

 

Harriet Clune

President 2017-2018

Rotary Club Ventura East