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100 Years, 100 Murders - Growing Up In The Killing Fields Of Denham Town
Published: Sunday | May 4, 2014 5 Comments
Erica Virtue, Senior Gleaner Writer
Hundreds of children on Easter holiday break were out in the streets of Denham Town, one of Kingston's many violent inner-city communities.
The decibel level of the noise from their play can do serious damage to the eardrum.
The streets are their playground. That is when they get a break from the trigger-happy, gun-toting criminals firing high-powered weapons in a community where nearly everyone is hustling or unemployed.
Beneath the laughter, however, the children carry the heavy burden of violence in their youthful days. Emotional scars which will mark them for life.
In one small area, less than a quarter of an acre, eight children with a combined age of 100 years - the youngest at nine and the oldest 14 - told The Sunday Gleaner that they have already seen, or have knowledge of, more violent crimes than their years combined.
The violence involved neighbours, close family members and even friends, who have been injured or killed by the gun, knives or machetes.
Published: Sunday | May 4, 2014 5 Comments
Erica Virtue, Senior Gleaner Writer
Hundreds of children on Easter holiday break were out in the streets of Denham Town, one of Kingston's many violent inner-city communities.
The decibel level of the noise from their play can do serious damage to the eardrum.
The streets are their playground. That is when they get a break from the trigger-happy, gun-toting criminals firing high-powered weapons in a community where nearly everyone is hustling or unemployed.
Beneath the laughter, however, the children carry the heavy burden of violence in their youthful days. Emotional scars which will mark them for life.
In one small area, less than a quarter of an acre, eight children with a combined age of 100 years - the youngest at nine and the oldest 14 - told The Sunday Gleaner that they have already seen, or have knowledge of, more violent crimes than their years combined.
The violence involved neighbours, close family members and even friends, who have been injured or killed by the gun, knives or machetes.
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