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'Let peace reign' - Inner-city communities celebrate tension-free existence
Published: Tuesday | March 1, 2011 3 Comments
Gregory Grant, a facilitator of Youth Empowerment Programme in Trench Town. - Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Gregory Grant, a facilitator of Youth Empowerment Programme in Trench Town. - Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Tivoli Gardens residents, police enjoy camaraderie
Nadisha Hunter, Staff Reporter
RESIDENTS of many inner-city communities across the Corporate Area are celebrating the lull in violent crimes in their neighbourhoods and are hoping that the comfort of peace, which has replaced barking guns, will extend its stay.
One such community is Trench Town, St Andrew, where persons from the often volatile areas of Angola, Pegasus, Jones Town and Mexico are now uniting.
A visit by The Gleaner to those communities yesterday reveals that the tension which once gripped these areas has virtually disappeared.
Several of the shops which stay closed when there is a flare-up of violence are open and business appears to be good.
Men on various hang-out spots were lively as they talk and laugh with each other.
Gregory Grant, one of the facilitators of the Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP), said various programmes in the community helped to bring about peace.
"The YEP programme helped the community members to think positive. It helped a lot of them to read and write and they now moved on to the world of work. So they really direct their focus on bettering themselves rather than engaging in war with each other," Grant who is a welder in the community said.
"The YEP programme started in 2007 when it was the time of the war when the schemes were divided, resulting in a bitter war. But with the help of the church in the community, we get the youths to get together and put down the badness," he added.
Grant said community members are now freely walking around and engaged in different activities, which is adding to the development of the garrison community.
Positive thinking
The Southside community of central Kingston is also calm and the residents are obviously enjoying the peace.
One community member, 65-year-old Enid Gordon, said she is grateful for the level of love persons are displaying in the community, which is a sign that they are now thinking positive.
"I am enjoying it. I can go out and sell at school gate and no one not troubling me," she said.
She said when gunshots were being fired in the area, persons had to stay inside as a result of which she was unable to conduct business.
A similar peace song is being sung in Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston, which was, nine months ago, the scene of a deadly confrontation between members of the security forces and gunmen.
Wayne Bartley, president of the Tivoli Gardens Community Development Committee, said the residents of the community and members of the security forces are now sharing a good relationship.
"We see where the people and the security forces are interacting with each other, they are playing domino, the security personnel are sitting on persons verandah and it is beneficial to us as citizens, it helps us to feel better," he said.
Bartley has called for persons across Jamaica to unite and maintain peace across the island even beyond today when the country celebrates Peace Day.
'Let peace reign' - Inner-city communities celebrate tension-free existence
Published: Tuesday | March 1, 2011 3 Comments
Gregory Grant, a facilitator of Youth Empowerment Programme in Trench Town. - Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Gregory Grant, a facilitator of Youth Empowerment Programme in Trench Town. - Rudolph Brown/Photographer
Tivoli Gardens residents, police enjoy camaraderie
Nadisha Hunter, Staff Reporter
RESIDENTS of many inner-city communities across the Corporate Area are celebrating the lull in violent crimes in their neighbourhoods and are hoping that the comfort of peace, which has replaced barking guns, will extend its stay.
One such community is Trench Town, St Andrew, where persons from the often volatile areas of Angola, Pegasus, Jones Town and Mexico are now uniting.
A visit by The Gleaner to those communities yesterday reveals that the tension which once gripped these areas has virtually disappeared.
Several of the shops which stay closed when there is a flare-up of violence are open and business appears to be good.
Men on various hang-out spots were lively as they talk and laugh with each other.
Gregory Grant, one of the facilitators of the Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP), said various programmes in the community helped to bring about peace.
"The YEP programme helped the community members to think positive. It helped a lot of them to read and write and they now moved on to the world of work. So they really direct their focus on bettering themselves rather than engaging in war with each other," Grant who is a welder in the community said.
"The YEP programme started in 2007 when it was the time of the war when the schemes were divided, resulting in a bitter war. But with the help of the church in the community, we get the youths to get together and put down the badness," he added.
Grant said community members are now freely walking around and engaged in different activities, which is adding to the development of the garrison community.
Positive thinking
The Southside community of central Kingston is also calm and the residents are obviously enjoying the peace.
One community member, 65-year-old Enid Gordon, said she is grateful for the level of love persons are displaying in the community, which is a sign that they are now thinking positive.
"I am enjoying it. I can go out and sell at school gate and no one not troubling me," she said.
She said when gunshots were being fired in the area, persons had to stay inside as a result of which she was unable to conduct business.
A similar peace song is being sung in Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston, which was, nine months ago, the scene of a deadly confrontation between members of the security forces and gunmen.
Wayne Bartley, president of the Tivoli Gardens Community Development Committee, said the residents of the community and members of the security forces are now sharing a good relationship.
"We see where the people and the security forces are interacting with each other, they are playing domino, the security personnel are sitting on persons verandah and it is beneficial to us as citizens, it helps us to feel better," he said.
Bartley has called for persons across Jamaica to unite and maintain peace across the island even beyond today when the country celebrates Peace Day.
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