Can anything good come out of Tawes Pen, the tough inner-city community on the outskirts of the old capital, Spanish Town, and regularly makes the news for its sporadic bouts of violence?

For one area youth, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.

“Tawes Pen is not just about politics and violence, we also have quality,” insists Sadia Pitter.

Pitter’s reference is to the several university scholars, nurses, teachers and the many other decent, law-abiding citizens who live among the dense population that calls Tawes Pen home.

And as if to prove Witter right, last Sunday the community shone bright with hope and pride when one of its own was crowned “Model Father 2005”.

The top dad, 46-year-old Delroy “Father” Pedley, an entrepreneur and mediator in the Central St Catherine community, was honoured by Fathers Incorporated, a group of men devoted to promoting quality fatherhood, at an award ceremony at the Alhambra Inn in Kingston.

Pedley was nominated by several participants in a workshop two weeks prior. He was one of 15 competitors.

But “Father” was not honoured merely for the role he played in his immediate family, although he was praised for that too. Biologically, he has fathered two children – a 21 year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.

But for the residents of Tawes Pen, he is the well-respected father of the entire community, a Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) enclave that regularly clashes with political rivals and is torn by gang violence.

“Everybody look up to him, everybody look up to this man because if we did not have someone like this man in the community, then I don’t know what would happen,” said Peter Smith.

“Father” is a household name in Tawes Pen and the wider Spanish Town, having elevated himself to an area leader – in a good way. He is a peace activist who wants to change the face of his community for good.

“Father”, the residents say, is the only Tawes Pen resident who can fearlessly trek through other communities in Spanish Town which are home to rival gangs.

He got the nickname from a porter at the Spanish Town Hospital years ago. According to “Father”, he often used his vehicle as an ambulance, taking pregnant mothers in his community to deliver their babies there.

“Everybody would call me to take them to the hospital and one day a porter referred to me as ‘Father Abraham’ and the name has stuck with me to this day,” he said.

It is easy to see why he won top honours.

“They call me ‘Father’,” he said. “But it is not because of what I can give to them physically but the mere fact that I am always there for them.”

“The greatest thing you can do is really not to hand out things physically, but give good advice because you can run short of material things, but you can’t run short of wise words,” he added.

“Father” grew up as a Boy Scout. And, in his early years, had tried his hand at many things, including the creative arts.

Today he runs his own small business – the Little Lion Gas retail shop – where he sells liquid petroleum gas (cooking gas). But he uses a good part of his days to tend to the other business of the community.

He is chairman of the development committee and also serves as the middle man between the charitable group, Food for the Poor, and the needy residents – especially the elderly – in his community.

On Friday, as he sat in his makeshift office at his business place near the train line that stretches through the community, only a few of the area youth passed without hailing their “Father”.

The Sunday Observer was told this is a daily occurrence.

In his capacity, he has dealt with all the pressures that come with being an area leader.

“In this community we have good (people) and bad (ones), but I have to walk the straight and narrow,” he said. “Living here, I have to deal with both the good and the bad and I have learnt one thing – the fact that I cannot segregate.”

He hoped his model father award would inspire other youth.

“There is good, bad, right and wrong and they can choose and use these examples to take them through life,” he argued.

Meanwhile, the residents of Tawes Pen will continue to look up to “Father” in their times of need.

“He is the peace management man in this area and can reach out to the gangs, no matter where they are from,” said Glenn Whyte.