Look after the young to benefit the country
Dear Editor,
The recent killings in Tivoli have left our organisation saddened to know that Jamaica has now been placed at the bottom of the heap of humanity. At night I have nightmares of a big vehicle in the May Pen Cemetery surrounded by wooden coffins – our brothers and sisters murdered.
We grieve with their families. Could all of this have been handled differently? The big question is, why did it happen?
The security forces lost men too and we grieve with their families and pray for their recovery soon.
We hope that after this disaster the government of Jamaica will get a glimpse of what is so rotten in this country on so many fronts. There’s too much disintegration of the family. There is a Chinese saying: If there is peace in the home, there is peace in the community, if there is peace in the community, there is peace in the nation; if there is peace in the nation there is peace in the world. Get the family right and all will be well.
I call upon Prime Minister Bruce Golding to increase the National Youth Service budget and also the budget to enrol more young people into the army. Get the priorities right. I call upon the European Union to help fund the recruiting aspect of the army which has been discontinued for the last two years because of lack of funds, leaving qualified applicants frustrated, sitting on walls waiting to be called for service to Jamaica.
I also call on the European Union to help fund the National Youth Service – a fine organisation that turns out hundreds of well-trained young people, who do not use guns and are developing into fine human beings. We can reduce garrisons significantly by taking young people from them and training them at the NYS.
They become living testaments to what can be done by this organisation. I have living examples of this for the last six years. Readers, don’t turn your heads away. You say you are looking for answers to solving crime. They are staring you in the face! The solution is right here.
Rosemarie Greene
Spanish Town Citizens Against Gun Violence
Spntwncitizensagv@cwjamaica.com
