One of my followers wrote this piece for everyone living in the ghetto and anyone out there too, enjoy and retweet it, and follow her on twitter handle @Tarieglad
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In the ghetto, out of the ghetto.
I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN THE GHETTO
I AM FROM THE GHETTO
Written by Marie Gladys Chisoro @Tarieglad
Dating back in the 15t century, the ghetto is a system that originated in Europe.
Large populations of Jews were forced to live in specific areas of towns and cities which were enclosed or walled-off.
The word "ghetto" was derived from the Venetian word "foundry", since the very first ghettos were in the foundry districts of Venice.
However, towards the 19 centuries, the ghettos were often established as mechanisms of controlling, exploiting and segregating minority of marginalized communities.
Even in areas of Europe occupied by the Nazis, the Ghettos were used to Isolate.
The system found its way to Africa during the colonial era mainly as a way of controlling movement and behavior of black Africans and separation from colonialists.
This is evident from the South African Townships, created to separate black and white people during the colonial era.
Generally, the architecture of the ghetto is not desirable.
These places are normally in the outskirts of town, reserves, in the west, overly populated with less supervision, people in the ghetto were relegated to a subclass of human existence.
The living conditions were and in some areas are still poor and there are very little resources as ghettos are flooded with low to non income earners.
Today, life in the ghetto is almost the same. It is the same cycle.
Although quite a number of people break out of the ghetto and make it in life, there is still life that begins in the ghetto and ends there.
The psychological impact of the ghetto is huge. It does limit exposure and various intellectual abilities.
It is generally difficult for one to believe in life's endless possibilities if they have been born in the ghetto.
The system exposes you to low standards of living, high alcohol, drugs and high smoking rates, crime and insanely premature sexual and marital debuts.
People marry each other in the ghetto and reproduce other people, who end up just like them - a vicious cycle of atrocity.
My people are generally believed to be naive, gullible and less educated.
That is why to date, politicians target ghettos and reserves, because they need the fastest food, one dollar and one liter of cooking oil to survive the night.
No matter how learned people have become in the present day, bridging the disparity that marginalizes the ghetto has not been successfully done.
The ghetto still reeks of juvenile delinquency, theft, rape, drug usage, violence and lack of healthcare.
It still screams bondage, since the colonial era, my people still suffer the effects of incarceration due to the pigment of their skin, prisoners in places they love and call home.
This account is meant to give you context, for you to understand the dynamics of the system you were born into.
Understand this, it is not anyone's fault to be born and raised therein, but it is your responsibility to break the cycle and the bias.
It is very difficult to deduce the wrongfulness in something if that is what you were made to believe it is the best you can ever find.
However, the world has a list of endless and better things for you to explore.
In that same ghetto, learn, graduate, start a sustainable business, educate others and halt the ghetto ecosystem from breeding.
Do not look at through physical and structural lenses. Ponder about the conditions you have had to survive from health, education, spirituality and crime.
Think about how many times you walk into a room of those who have managed to make it to the social bracket of "elite" and have had to question your worth because you do not reside in a leafy suburb.
This was specifically designed to make you fail. The queue of water at a local borehole that only functions when a politician is in need of a vote?
The pathways that go through streams of rotten sewage?
A group of youth on a bridge taking the deadliest alcohol?
The girls attaining ordinary levels then stop because no one told them about careers?
A society of that is known for noise and a deep language that is not acceptable anywhere else?
That is not normal at all. Defeat ideas that render all those things to be below what vou deserve.
Just because you were born into it does not mean it should define you.
Start with yourself, take the step to develop yourself. You might have been raised in the system, but the real growth is that which happens when you rectify past ills.
Beat the ghetto, beat the system.