St Catherine SC plagued by social ills

BY KIMONE THOMPSON Sunday Features editor thompsonk@jamaicaobserver.com

Sunday, July 18, 2010

PACETA Wright is sitting outside her friend's shop when a beige-coloured motor car, carefully navigating the rough road, drives by. "Hey! Hello!" she shouts, trying to get the driver's attention.

"You know how long mi nuh see har?" she adds, running towards the vehicle.

The women greet each other and chat for a few minutes. When Wright returns, she explains that though they live in the same community and serve on the same community organisation, she hasn't seen her friend in several months.

"How come?" the Sunday Observer inquires.

" 'Cause she live down there so and me live up here so," she says.

Wright is referring to the situation in March Pen/Corletts Road, a community off the Spanish Town bypass, where an imaginary border based on political affiliation divides families and friends. Those at the top -- associated with the Clansman gang -- don't go beyond the border, and those in Big Tree -- linked to the One Order gang -- don't venture into the top half, and vice versa. To do otherwise is to invite often lethal acts of violence.

To exit the community, Big Tree residents use a side street parallel to the border and through Duncan's Pen.

"Is since the police deh here mek she can drive here," Wright says of her friend. "If the police never deh here we couldn't even be outside... Since dem come nobody nah dead again."

Police have been operating in the area since early May after arsonists torched a house, but violence had been building since late last year, when members of the rival gangs clashed over the building of houses in an area widely held to be a One Order stronghold. Ten people have been killed, eight others shot and injured and five houses razed.

But in a rare show of unity, residents from both sides, who are generally distrusting of the police, agree that their presence is welcome. They also agree on the community's biggest problems: poor roads and high unemployment. Social programmes like those run by the national security ministry's Community Security Initiative (CSI) have, however, been working to address some of the problems, with focus on training and job placement, and the residents feel the effects.

"The best thing that happen to us is CSI," says one female resident, while confessing that "CSI alone cyaan help."

The concerns in Windsor Heights, previously called Sufferers' Heights, are not dissimilar. There is high unemployment, an abundance of bad roads and residents from at least two of the seven districts -- Compound and China Town -- abide by border rules.

To lift the community's image, a group of young people, led by Andre Johnson and Phillip Ellis, have vowed to make a change.

"We created a small business group and got a grant from PSDP (Private Sector Development Programme) for four projects: an Internet café and homework centre, clay and pottery making, furniture and block making," Johnson tells the Sunday Observer.

The projects operate out of containers and are dubbed Container Project II.

"The community had to put in 10 per cent in order to access the grant and we got it through Miss Webster," he adds.

Sharon Haye-Webster is member of parliament for the St Catherine South Central constituency, which extends from March Pen Road and Hill Run in Spanish Town to Gregory Park in Portmore.

The two young men, confessed reformed deviants, are proud of the progress so far.

"Since the Container Project II, we have achieved a lot," Johnson says.

Among the achievements are the growth from initial fascination with the computer to Internet use of some community members, and an upcoming community-wide sports competition.

"The community is coming out of that fragile stage where flare-ups and tension were the order of the day and the competition is going to break up the tension left over in the atmosphere," says Ellis.

Central Village residents wish they had something similar. They complain about the lack of sustained community development activities and that, they say, is the cause of increasing teenage pregnancy and violent behaviour among boys and young men in their community.

"We need some social development. I think that will help the youth to stay out of trouble. We need some skills training and sport development," says one man.

He and several others are upset that the training centre close to the Central Village police station that ceased to operate in the 80s, is now home to a canning factory.

"It provides jobs, but the jobs are very (few) and the pay doesn't really help the people because it's cheap labour," says Lloyd Salmon.

However, Michael Grant, owner of a glass window business in the area says the value of employment to vulnerable youngsters, no matter how small, must not be taken for granted.

"I saved six of them (from a life of crime and violence). I would love to employ six more, but I just don't have the equipment or the space," he says, noting his difficulty accessing small business loans.

There is also the plight of senior citizens, who find it difficult, both physically and financially, to go to Kingston to access Government services.

"It's difficult to go all the way to Duke Street and come back again," says Samuel Watson, who worked with the Sugar Industry Research Institute for more than 20 years.

"This is no way to treat me... I could have left (Jamaica) a long time ago but I decided to stay because I wanted to stay and build the country, but I'm not getting any benefits or compensation in my old age. I stopped working from 2002 and all now I haven't got a cent from Government," he claims.

Everywhere you go, including New Nursery, Twickenham Park, Portmore Villas, Phoenix Park, Caymanas Bay, and Caymanas Estate, the main concerns run like a broken record -- high unemployment, poor roads, no sustained social development, and no piped water in some areas.

In De La Vega City attention is trained on the youth.

"So much kids in the community who are bright and skilled and can go further but nothing is set in place for them," a mother of three recent high school graduates complains.

She says one of her sons who left sixth form at a traditional Kingston high school two years ago has to date been without a job, and mentioned many more -- including a teacher's college graduate -- who couldn't even land summer jobs.

She discredited back-to-school and Christmas treats which many MPs practise, saying there is need for sustainable initiatives.

One example of De la Vega's promising youth is 15-year-old mechanic-in-training, Romaine Bent.

"I like to invent things. I like to see how things work," says the boy of his interest in fixing cars.

"I teach him when school on holiday because it look like is dat him love so mi just gwaan put it in him head," says his uncle Alwayne Bent.

In Thompson Pen, an informal community along the banks of the Rio Cobre, residents say the hurricane season has brought a new wave of fear. Some of them have been slated for relocation to St Thomas but until that comes through, they have to contend with leaky roofs, shaky structures and a deceivingly calm river at their back door.

In nearby Greendale, residents demand frequent police patrols to stem the tide of hold-ups.

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St Catherine SC plagued by social ills