Losing a child to knife-crime is every parent’s worst nightmare.

Now a mother whose son was killed on an estate in Kingston is working with her local community to try to make sure other families don’t have to suffer in the same way. 

Sophie Kafeero launched the Drop the Knife, Save a Life campaign in 2017 after her son Derick Mulondo was murdered on the Cambridge Road Estate in Norbiton.

A year later another young man, Malik Chattun, was stabbed to death nearby. 

Now Ms Kafeero says it is up to the local community to start initiatives like hers to provide youngsters with an alternative to knife crime because the government is not doing enough. 

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“If Sadiq Khan came and stopped here the young people would just stop and probably look at him and just walk away. It has to start from the grassroots,” she said.

She added that traditional schemes do not do enough to engage with young people.

“If you want to go and sit in a room and talk to them, forget it. How do you bait, how do you get them there?” she said.

“These kids knew my son as Uncle Derick and they miss him. He did a lot of work in the community with the kids, playing football,” she said.

“The reason why we are here today is because my son was killed here. We’ve got to start on the Cambridge Estate today where my son was stabbed to death.”

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This week Ms Kafeero helped to unveil a mural on the estate created with local youth and community groups. 

It features images of wildlife and sports, as well as her campaign message ‘Drop the Knife, Save a Life.’

Ms Kafeero said it was essential to start positive programmes on the estate, but didn’t want to shy away from the message about knife crime.

“Somebody told me when I was campaigning for the slogan ‘Drop the Knife, Save a Life’ to be put on the mural, they told me, ‘no, it would be stigmatising the estate, they won’t like it’,” she said.

“I said, no, I don’t like it very much that my son was stabbed on this estate. I can’t just keep quiet and walk away. We’ve got to start positive programmes on the estate and engage people with what is happening. I’m going to neighbourhood watch meetings now. I’ve got to. You know what, I lost a child. I don’t want any other person to go through what I’m telling you,” she said. 

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Despite “not receiving a penny” for her work, she says she feels compelled to help other young people by putting on football and basketball sessions on the estate.

“I have to do it. I’m the one who lost a child, and I will make sure others are going to be safe even if mine is not here. Because he is never coming back. The only way to remember my son is to do something like this,” she said. 

“I remember the day my son was stabbed to death. When people came round that very evening I started talking to them as parents. I told them we parents have got a central role in getting children together, and safe, and we just cannot abandon that responsibility.

“It’s about collaboration, sharing and changing things. But you’ve got to involve the people you’re trying to target.”

Ben Skelton, Area Youth Worker for the social enterprise Achieving for Children – co-created by Kingston Council – worked with a group of 15 young people over the summer to design the mural with Sophie’s campaign. 

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He said, “it’s positive and colourful, creating a natural theme in quite a concrete area as well as showing the things young people are interested in like sport. 

“This is an area of need and deprivation, but there has been a youth club running here since Christmas, and now there are lots of activities going on. We have 30-40 youngsters on the books aged between 11 and 16, and hope to start some workshops about knife crime with Sophie in the coming months.”

Norbiton councillor Olly Wehring added, “for too long, the Cambridge Road Estate has had a reputation in Kingston that is totally misplaced. We’re thrilled that the kids on the estate agree with us that this is a great place to live. Working with the estate’s residents, we’re committed to making it even better.”

Possession of weapons in Norbiton Ward has dropped by 50 per cent between March and July this year, while the number of violent crimes has reduced from 41 in May to 21 in July.

A spokesperson for South West Borough Command said “Norbiton Safer Neighbourhood Team and specialist officers from across the Met patrol Cambridge Estate in both uniform and plain clothes. We conduct proactive stop and searches where grounds exist, conduct weapon sweeps in public and communal areas and execute warrants at addresses concerned in crime. These tactics ensure weapons and drugs are taken out of circulation and disrupt gang activity.

They added “Norbiton SNT have pledged to visit  every resident on the estate and encouraged the community to be a part of their local Neighbourhood Watch so that they can receive timely crime prevention advice and alerts.

“If you would like to speak to your local police officer, Norbiton Safer Neighbourhood Team hold contact sessions on the Cambridge Estate where the community can talk to Kingston Council and police in confidence. These meetings are advertised on the ward page of the Met Police website and also via the Norbiton Police Twitter feed.”