AN OVERVIEW OF MY COMMUNITY
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this essay is to give an overview of the concept community. Firstly, this
essay will explore the identity of the community. Secondly, it will discuss the principle of
caring, compassion and psychological sense of community. This will be followed by the
discussion of attitudes and ideologies of culture, and the concept of social justice based
on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework of human development. Lastly, this essay
will discuss the effects of plastic pollution on families, communities and the environment
by applying psychological concepts and systems understanding.
1. Who are we as a community?
Visser (2012:7) defines community as a group of people with diverse characteristics
who are connected by social relations, share common viewpoints, and participate in
collective action in geographic location or settings. Zeerust is a commercial town
located in the North West province. This town was established in 1867. The town
consists or comprises of farms and multiple villages. It is home to thousands of its
residents who rely on farming and livestock herding as a source of survival. However,
there are those that have branched out to seek other forms of survival among others
becoming small business owners, working in retail stores and financial service
providers.
Zeerust was originally a farm on which a church was built. It was formerly known as
Coetzee-Rust which was then abbreviated to its current name. The cornerstone of the
economy in this bushveld town is mixed farming and mining of minerals such as lead
and chrome, North West Parks and Tourism Board (nd). Many inhabitants speak either
Setswana or Afrikaans. The community members share common attributes that form
part of a trustworthy community. Crime rate has increased drastically since the town
was established. Despite the increase in crime rate, community members strive for
humanity and do not disregard other members because of their socioeconomic status.
One of the community’s major concerns is the failure of the local municipality to provide
services including basic needs such as water.
2. Caring, compassion and a psychological sense of community in my community
, A situation identified in this community is that of poverty. In a village of Gopane, a group
of young people volunteered to construct a home for orphaned children. The household
consists of girls aged between 3 and 23. This is a young-adult-headed household as the
parents have passed on. The shack in which they live do not provide enough space for
them to sleep, cook, and do homework, treasure family moments and go about their
daily lives.
This initiative was started by Kabelo, who is a neighbor to the children and could not
bear to see the children continuing to struggle while he had the ability and resources to
assist them. In order to achieve the goals of the initiative he enlisted the assistance of
his friends, community members and local business owners. The purpose of this
initiative was to fight poverty and lend a helping hand whenever one can. A charity walk
was organized to raise money for constructing the house. The community members
heeded the request by not only focusing on building the house but also donated food,
clothes, sanitary towels and furniture.
In doing this the community gave the children a sense of belonging. The children have
realized that they are not disregarded because of their socioeconomic status. This
process has shown them that the community cares and has accepted them. The
community members felt empowered to participate in this process because they are
also directly or indirectly affected by poverty.
3. Levels of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological framework of human development applicable
in my community
The culture adopted by the community is that of substance abuse including tobacco,
alcohol, heroin, glue, cocaine and cannabis in adolescents. These substances are
abused in various settings like school, home, butcheries, taverns and the bush.
According to Andreula (2015), adolescents are faced with the main stressor of bicultural
identity. This occurs when their identity straddles that of their nuclear family and the
wider community that the family is seeking to assimilate into.
Teenagers abused drugs because social regulations were inadequate to prohibit them
from using substances. Some teenagers have mentioned using drugs to be sociable,
feel good or comfortable. The lack of parental supervision contributed to an increased
