Last week, Chuka paid a visit to Renton Close on Brixton Hill, to see their new community garden.

The project, run by Simon Ghartey encourages children from Renton Close and nearby areas to build and maintain an allotment on the green spaces of the estate. We were given a tour of the garden by Simon and Debbie Etienne, Secretary of the Renton Close Tenants and Residents Association.

The children all aged under 11, work from 3.30pm to 6pm after school each Thursday. They learn to dig and prepare a plot in addition to planting and caring for vegetables like tomatoes and pumpkins. As well as teaching them new skills, the initiative has the benefit of putting the outside space in the estate to functional use, receiving a positive response from local residents.

Although the garden has only been up and running for a few months, it was named the second best community garden in the 2008 Lambeth Estates in Bloom Competition.

Chuka was really impressed by the garden:

“It is not just a question of giving our young people things to do, it is a question of finding them interesting and different things to do - this is a great way of doing that and enabling them to contribute to the environment they live in, in a fun way.”

Carys Afoko

My good friend Dawn Butler, Member of Parliament for Brent South, has written a piece on the Guardian’s website today - “Turning the tide of teenage crime”- which I would recommend to anyone who cares about youth issues. In her piece, Dawn says:

“I believe crime will only get better if the community, and our society, gets stronger. There are still a multitude of problems in society that can beat the hope and aspiration out of the young – all the negative publicity, the labels, celebrity culture. Sometimes it seems that technology has replaced simple conversation. Today’s young people need adult interaction – without this we can’t prepare them for the transition from childhood to adulthood.”
I could not have put it better myself.

Dawn (pictured with US Sen. Barack Obama) is the Labour Party’s Vice Chair for Youth. Writing in the Guardian myself in November 2007 - “Labour’s lost love” - I said of Dawn:
“There has been much talk of politicians lacking authenticity and - automaton-like - being unable to talk in a way that connects with the person on the street. Step forward Dawn Butler, one of Labour’s two black female MPs, who won many plaudits for doing precisely the opposite when given the chance to second the Queen’s speech in the Commons the other week.”
Her article today provides further evidence of this.

Dawn has set up a fantastic website – My Life My Say (www.mylifemysay.co.uk) – for young people, where young people can make their contribution on the big issues of the day and find out how to register to vote.