.:: Where U Going? ::.

I left school with really bad grades I got D’s and F’s. There was this one time when I was walking home from school and I was robbed twice by the Peckham Boys. They always tried to steal my mobile, money and I just had enough.

I was failing in school and I didn't’t see anything positive happening in my life so the street life appealed to me and I joined a gang at the age of 16. The gang I was in was in was called M, D, K which stands for Murder, Death, Kill.

I started to learn how to earn money the street way – snatching mobile phones and selling them. It was quick money and I would earn £50 a day. Then I started to rob people’s houses too.

There was also a time when me and my friends were on the bus and I just slapped this guy for no reason, then we just took him off the bus and beat him and I left him in a really bad state, he was bleeding badly, I don’t even know what happened to him afterwards.

I came to know the Victory Youth Group, through another person who used to hang out with the gang. He used to hang out with us but then he just left the gang and I wondered why he'd left. After a couple of months I started hearing that he’d changed. I couldn’t believe it so I went over to his house to see for myself, and he told me himself how it was all true and invited me to come to the VYG in Peckham.

When coming to the meetings I realised how much time I'd been wasting. I was surprised that the people there were so positive and welcoming. It was just a different atmosphere. I wondered what made them so different.

I enjoyed attending the VYG so much that I wanted to come the next day because I just loved being there - it felt like home. So I left the gang life and joined the VYG and now my life is completely changed.

I'm 21 now, and left school with the worst grades possible. However, after attending the VYG for about a year, I’m working as an senior manager in a company!

Joshua Glenn