From Kevlar vest to sweater vest: a former gangster's story of redemption

As Shenan Charania describes his work as a life coach in a soft but confident voice, it's hard to believe he's ever seen a grade lower than an A+ in his life.

It's quite a jolt when the articulate young man reveals he's a high school dropout.

Then comes the bombshell — the person who talks and looks like a university professor in his sweater vest, collared shirt and glasses used to be a gun carrying, bulletproof-vest wearing gangster.

"You're probably looking at me with pretty judgmental eyes,"  Charania told a crowd of about 200 people at an anti gang forum in Abbotsford Wednesday evening.

"But I'm not here to be liked. I'm here to tell the truth."

His story

The story Charania shares at the forum is deeply troubling, but in Abbotsford — where the lives of several teenagers and young men have been lost recently to a brutal gang war — it's also familiar.

It begins with the bullying he experienced when he moved from Kenya to Canada with his family when he was 11 years old.

He skipped school to avoid classmates who picked on him and by the time he was a teenager, he was stealing cars.

"At age 14, I started doing cocaine," he said.

"At age 15, I dropped out of school. Too many fights."

Charania began selling drugs when he was 17 and before he was old enough to legally buy alcohol, he was carrying a gun and wearing a Kevlar vest.

His crimes became even more serious in his early 20s when his main sources of income were home invasions and importing guns from the United States.

Then he got a phone call that changed his life.

Fork in the road

Charania says he was in a drunken, drug-fuelled haze at a nightclub when his brother called to tell him that his family's house had been shot up.

The news from home sobered him up quickly and he took full advantage of the moment of clarity.

"I had a choice," he recalled.

"Do I retaliate and prove that I'm a gangster or start getting the hell out of this life?"

Charania chose the latter and walked away from the guns, drugs and money.

Now he's trying to help others make the same decision he did.

Missing connection

After years of therapy, counselling and reflection, Charania determined a lack of human connection was what sent him spiralling out of control as a youth.

Sgt. Jag Khosa with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit says that's a common trait shared by many young people who are currently caught up in the gang conflict.

"I can tell you kids are 13 and 14 that are getting involved in the drug trade," he said.

"Each one of these kids have a story."

Charania says hanging out with gangsters who accepted him filled a sense of belonging that he wasn't getting anywhere else.

He says it's easier to recruit a lonely teen into a gang than someone who has meaningful relationships with their family.

Blueprint for survival

"My invitation to all of you here today is connect with your children," he told parents at the forum.

"Share something with your children about yourself so that they can see you as more than just the boss of the house."

By surviving a life that few live to tell about, Charania proves gangsters don't have to end up dead or in jail like many of his friends.

He's not big on giving unsolicited advice but if anyone is interested in his blueprint to survival, he says he's happy to help.