CHURCH leaders have assured that they will continue to help West Kingston residents who were this past week confined to their communities as gunmen and the security forces traded bullets during an operation to apprehend alleged drug lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

The residents, who were unable to venture far from their homes due to the imposition of a State of Emergency since last Sunday, complained about not having food to eat. And from as early as Tuesday, food was distributed by church groups who had heard their plight.

General secretary for the Jamaica Baptist Union Karl Johnson said despite the barricades in the area and the sound of gunshots, the group was able to get someone in Tivoli Gardens to distribute food to residents on Tuesday. They intend to continue the distribution of food as well as medication in the coming days.

In addition to the work to be undertaken by the Union, the group plans to work along with umbrella church groups in the island to assist with the restoration of the affected communities. In a joint press release last week, five of the six umbrella church groups — the Jamaica Association of Evangelicals, the Church of God in Jamaica, The Jamaica Council of Churches, The Jamaica Association of Full Gospel Churches and the Jamaica Pentecostal Union — oulined a series of interventions they have planned for the area.

“Our hearts and prayers go out to the members of the security forces and to the innocent members of the community for whom this experience is extremely grave and traumatic. We are especially mindful of the families which have lost loved ones and we trust that they will sense the comforting and sustaining presence of God during this period,” the release said.

One of the initiatives to be undertaken by the group is the establishment of a hotline that people can call for prayer and counselling.

“We are setting up a counselling line. It is a straight hotline for persons who are affected in one way or another — not only residents, but the police, the soldiers (and) family members,” executive chairman of the Church of God in Jamaica Lenworth Anglin told the Sunday Observer.

Meanwhile, members of the groups helped political ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair to package and distribute 2,000 food packages to residents of Tivoli Gardens early last week. Blair, who visited the community on Wednesday, along with Public Defender Earl Witter — at the request of Prime Minister Bruce Golding — said sourcing food was a grave challenge for the residents.

The West Indies Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists said they, too, will assist with the restoration of West Kingston through the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) whose representatives visited Denham Town on Thursday to hand out relief items.

“We gave out nearly 500 or so food items, such as rice, meat and tin stuff like mackerel (along with) baby items like pampers and sanitary kits. We also gave out soap and toothpaste and that sort of a thing,” said ADRA director Wenford Henry.

The Catholic church has been offering counselling services for the residents in West Kingston where two of its churches are located.

“The priest (at St Anne’s), along with his assistant, have been relating to the people and counselling. We just hope that we can put in other things too, as the smoke clears away, because naturally the people are probably traumatised down that area, and we are ready to help in whatever way we can,” said Archbishop of Kingston Donald Reece.

Parachurch groups such as Food for the Poor, the Salvation Army and Missionaries of the Poor have also rallied to help the residents. Chief executive officer for Food for the Poor Ryan Peralto Jnr said they have been supplying the Jamaica Red Cross and churches in West Kingston with food, medicine and other supplies for distribution in affected communities.

More than 70 persons were confirmed dead and 500 detained at the National Arena in Kingston during the operation which halted activities in sections of the Corporate Area. Peralto said that in an effort to restore dignity and empower residents, more jobs needed to be created for the residents. He believes both the church and the private sector have a role to play in this regard.

“Over time, the church has been very benevolent at helping people out. Some people have taken that and built themselves. Some have sat back and done nothing. What we have, as church-based organisations, to do is to make sure that we can get them to make something of their lives,” he said.

Father Richard Ho Lung of Missionaries of the Poor said his group has been busy attending to the needs of West Kingston residents who have come in for help. Some went there for medication after the nearby Kingston Public Hospital announced it was only seeing emergency cases owing to the violence. Ho Lung said the brothers remained at the centres in West Kingston throughout the entire operation to comfort residents. The group spent most of Friday preparing and distributing food and soup to residents in the affected areas.