Twenty-nine-year-old Dwight Spence is a former teen gang member turned Violence Interrupter and Liaison Officer for UNICEF’s partner the Peace Management Initiative (PMI) in Trench Town, Kingston. Dwight is one of 130 members of the VI team, working in violence-prone communities to intervene with at-risk youth, prevent violent… Read more →←
At 21 years-old, Rasheed Morris is a Violence Interrupter for UNICEF’s partner the Peace Management Initiative, serving the Kingston community of Hannah Town. He is one of 130 VIs in Jamaica, volunteering in violence-prone communities to intervene with at-risk youth, prevent violent conflicts and mediate flare ups. The work is… Read more →←
The energy in the room is light and there is laughter. There are no hints that the young women gathered in this space are anything but ordinary. They are relaxed and open. Until the conversation turns to forgiveness. The girls suddenly flounder. Smiles give way to knitted brows and slumped shoulders. Now, the room aches with the… Read more →←
Sergeant Janet Williams-Richards serves in the Community Safety and Security Unit at the Grants Pen Police Station. Sergeant Williams-Richards recently participated in the first residential training for police on the Child Justice Guidelines, developed by the Office of the Children’s Advocate with support from UNICEF. This resource… Read more →←
When Marcia Demontagnac-Ormsby enrolled at Tranquility Bay Infant School in rural Portland – where she is now acting Principal – she was just shy of four years old. That’s when many Jamaican children traditionally enter basic school. However, according to science and what we now know about the development of a child’s brain, that… Read more →←
My mom left me at a bus stop when I was six years old. She just said, “Stay here. Don’t move.” Being an obedient child, I sat and didn’t move. I waited and waited, and eventually I got up and started walking, which was when the police found me. At first I was lucky to go into foster care, but lucky was only until Grade 9 when my… Read more →←
Breast milk is the best food babies can get during the first six months. However, many babies don’t benefit from this best start in life: on average, women in Jamaica breastfeed exclusively for only about 3 weeks. In the first 1,000 days of life, a baby’s brain develops the fastest – a process which benefits… Read more →←
Young women and girls who are HIV positive are often victims of repeat victimisation. Many were sexually abused as children, and were shunned after trying to name their abusers, who are often family members. For them, stigma against persons living with HIV is one more thing to overcome. Alicia (alias), shares her story below about… Read more →←
Oneil Williams was just six years-old when he was killed while crossing the road on his way home from school in St. Ann. The last his father Devon saw of his son was a small hand waving goodbye. What compounded this tragedy was that the school Oneil was attending, Brown’s Town Primary School, was chosen by his conscientious father so… Read more →←
Watching this video you can see my emotions. In some way I felt as helpless as the children in state care involved in these critical incidents that I was reading about. “April 27: Two wards got into a fight after a rap session. One girl came behind the other with a broken wine glass and stabbed her over the eye. The other twisted… Read more →←
