On a bright, sunny Saturday morning, 18-year-old Jovan was setting up a Monopoly board on the porch of a small building shaded by a mango tree. At over six feet, he is tall and lean. I asked him who he would be playing with and he told me “No one,” and that some of the pieces were missing. He was just setting it up for fun, he said. Jovan is president of the Mountain View Youth Club. He just finished high school and hopes to be an entrepreneur who specializes in recycling. “I am a patriotic person,” he says. Jovan is also a poet. He likes Gabriel Okara and he writes his own pieces. In fact, he recently performed an original piece at the funeral of a 16-year-old boy who died of ackee poisoning. “I was so nervous,” he told me, “but people said they didn’t notice.”

Before Jovan came along, the Youth Club’s membership was stagnant. There are now 12 regular members and a vice-president. (Youth Clubs in Kingston’s inner cities are a common means of uniting the community, supporting youth and giving them healthy, meaningful activities to do with their free time.) The Youth Club hopes to capitalize on some land out behind the Homework Centre, where they will raise rabbits (and sell the meat to restaurants) and build a greenhouse. They are also looking for more shelves to house the books that are regularly donated.

We met Jovan at Mountain View’s Homework Centre, where we were also welcomed by Miss Ann, who is president of the community association. They are both leaders in the community, which has experienced violence and shootings in the past few years, and they both spoke of the challenges they face in bringing people together.

“We are working to get the full trust of the community,” Jovan says. YOU had previously spent several years in Mountain View, helping to unify residents, however, the project recently came to an end. So did the parenting classes, conflict resolution classes and events that brought people together. It is now up to people like Jovan and Ann to hold things together in neighbourhoods where grudges over geography, relationships and possessions easily smoulder until they erupt into fatalities. In fact, after the meeting with Ann and Jovan, myself and fellow staff member Cush were to meet someone from the neighbouring Rockfort, just a block away, but because this fellow had had conflict with someone in Mountain View years back, he could not walk into the community to meet us. We had to go to his turf. Apparently, the conflict had something to do with his baby mother and he showed us the result: two gunshot scars.

After meeting with this fellow, we also had to meet with two Dons (Pepsi and Popeye) to make sure that they would be on board with YOU working on their turf. (After hearing an extensive description of our plans, they endorsed YOU’s future presence). We then had to meet with Mr. Martin, who owns a community centre, out of which YOU will be running its newest program. In inner-city Kingston, buy-in from unofficial community leaders is paramount. Without buy-in from dons and other people of import, residents view outsiders with suspicion. It seems our trip this morning was successful, thankfully.

The reason for the trip to these communities today was twofold: The first is that YOU will soon be running a disaster-preparedness education program in Rockfort. The second reason was that this coming week, YOU will be welcoming students from Western Carolina University in the U.S. as part of their alternative spring break trip. We will take them into the communities of Mountain View and Hampstead Park so that they can meet residents and perform some community service. We held such an event last year and it was a great success. This morning, fellow YOU staff member Cush and I visited these communities (as well as Rockfort, where YOU will be implementing a new program soon) to do a site visit and finalize some details.

I love running. It is a huge, foundational part of my life. Sometimes I worry that I talk about it too much and turn into one of those irritating, boring, obsessive, evangelical runners. But today is Friday and I have been posting some heavier content lately, so I thought I would post some pictures from a running group that I have started to train with.

We meet early every Friday morning- I get picked up at 4:30! I am used to awaking at 5:00 am everyday, so it is not too bad. My legs are a little in shock when I start moving, but other than that, it is an amazing way to start the day. It is great to find people to run with here, because I really shouldn’t be running alone on the streets. We follow a pre-planned route on the dark streets, leaving no one behind. It is slightly challenging to navigate the uneven sidewalks, but other than that, it is lovely to be part of Kingston’s routine as it wakes up and stretches into a new day. And this group keeps up a pace that is just a little uncomfortable for me, so I am getting faster! On Sunday, we are running a 5K race in the beautiful Hope Gardens. Wish me luck!

Sheryl Hamilton readily admits that as a single mother raising four children, she subjected them to verbal abuse and cursing. That was over nine years ago, however, and Miss Hamilton says that thanks to a Youth Opportunities Unlimited parenting course, she has changed her behaviour.  “Before, I didn’t think I was being the parent that I ought to be,” Miss Hamilton says. “YOU is an excellent program, especially the parenting workshops. They send parenting skills in a whole new direction that is positive. And I have seen the youth look in positive directions, and this helps to stimulate other young persons in positive directions. YOU has had a lasting impact.”

While YOU focuses primarily on interventions with at-risk and unattached youth through its mentoring programs, it supplements these with courses on parenting, employment and life skills training and conflict resolution, among other topics.

For Miss Hamilton, who is from Fletcher’s Land, her journey with YOU began in 2004 when the organization began working with community youth through the mentoring program. This mentoring program was quickly complemented by a parenting course when the community realized it needed to tackle problems with a holistic approach. In order to tackle the conflict, violence and neglect of the children, the community pulled together and threw its full efforts into both the parenting courses and mentoring program.

For Miss Hamilton, the six-week program provided conflict resolution and mediation skills and how to communicate effectively. These skills and tools came in handy as she raised her four children as a single parent. “It was great,” she says, adding that her children now like to remember how it used to be and compare it to present day.

With the encouragement of the Citizens’ Security and Justice Program, the parenting program has since morphed into the Fletcher’s Land Parenting Association, which still meets once a month. The community has now united in its efforts to mind the youngsters and impose a rule stating that they must be off the street by 5 p.m. “I think the YOU program helped the community because parents are more responsible. They started to look out for other person’s children,” Miss Hamilton says, adding that crime and violence has lessened.

Miss Hamilton, however, has not only improved her parenting skills. In a testament to her perseverance and dedication, she has returned to school complete her education with the motivation of giving back to her community. Miss Hamilton is in her final semester of a social work degree at the University of West Indies and is in the process of applying to do a Master’s degree in Canada. She also completed a semester abroad at George Brown College in Toronto. And this was all achieved through sponsorship from the CSJP. Eventually, Miss Hamilton would like to apply her skills and education by working in community development. “Social work has changed how I view people and society. It is a helping profession that restores social functioning and how you cope with the environment. Social work does help persons to restore their coping skills. “

And Miss Hamilton’s children do not ever let her forget her achievements, she adds with a smile. “If I step out of line, they tell me to remember my social work training.”

Now young adults, her children are also a testament to her dedication and hard work, as they have achieved success on their own accord. Her 25-year-old is a financial advisor at Sagicor, her 21-year-old is in her final year at UWI, and her 20-year-old is in her first year at UWI. Her youngest is in sixth form at Excelsior, where he competed in a Challenge Quiz.

The success story of Miss Hamilton and YOU’s programs are just one of many emerging from inner-city communities. By telling these stories, we provide evidence that when positive interventions are implemented in troubled communities, people are able to leverage this opportunity and spread the positive changes on a larger scale.

We headed out of the city today to Cane River Falls, a small community about half an hour east of the city. It was a beautiful, cool green valley surrounded by steep hills and a stream cutting through. The hike itself was straight up for the beginning, then downhill on some treacherous trails. I did not, however, wipe out, which is an accomplishment. I attribute that in part to three young men from the community who were our guides and who lent us a hand over boulders and streams several times. Apparently, Cane River Falls was Bob Marley’s favourite place to wash his dreadlocks.

Last evening, everybody met at Devon House to celebrate a successful day of summiting at the Diaspora Youth Connect event. I am going to write a longer post about it as it was fruitful and thought-provoking. Here are some pics from our gathering last night. 

I am reposting this great blog about an event going on today. It is intended to engage youth and address the Jamaican diaspora. Post and pics to come. Have a great Friday!

This morning as I set out on my run, I noticed it was cloudy. As I rounded the corner onto the intersection of Hope and Waterloo Roads, I noticed a gigantic black cloud to the south, right in the business district. There is nothing like seeing a massive, dirty cloud on the horizon to prompt some apocalyptic-type thoughts. It was creepy. My mind immediately turned to the Riverton Dump fire, which happened just before I moved here.

As I neared the business area, it became clear that the fire was closer than I thought. In fact, it turns out the kitchen of the Wyndham Hotel is on fire. It was burning furiously as I passed, spewing some dangerous-looking smoke. There were several fire trucks, dozens of police cars and even more bystanders. Everybody was chatting, in a relaxed fashion, and taking pictures. Motorists were being redirected. I was a bit taken aback that the police did not shut off the area to pedestrians, as the smoke was thick and the fire was not yet under control. The kitchen of the hotel is a separate but adjoined structure off the main building. But no one was told to leave. I continued on to run in Emancipation Park, worried that my asthma would be triggered by the bad air. I was fine though, and was in good company with some of my fellow regular runners.

On the way back I learned that firefighters had only just gotten the fire under control as they had to let some gas burn off. I don’t think anyone was injured, even the news cameraman climbing on top of a fire truck to get a good shot of the flames licking the kitchen’s roof. Hopefully damage was minimal. Photo courtesy of Fabian Ohara photo via BlackBerry Messenger from the Jamaica Gleaner’s web site.