The reason I believe in talking to my children … beating doesn’t work! Sometimes when you beat them, you beat them with anger, you beat them with vengeance, and when you tell yourself that you’re licking them here on the arm, it might catch them in the eye – scrape them, leave bruises, welts, marks and all those things. Talking… Read more →←
Topic: Safety and justice
“I share my story here today for every girl and every boy in Jamaica who is subjected to sexual violence, and they are everywhere. There are children who are keeping horrible secrets in Upper St. Andrew, in downtown Kingston, and all across rural Jamaica” As I listened to Shaneille speak, my eyes welled up with tears. Her voice,… Read more →←
“Mi waan dead di man who dead mi modda.” A two-year-old boy said that. Can you imagine? Children in Jamaica today have so much on their minds to deal with. And now, for the first time in Jamaican history our children will be getting their chance to stand up and speak in Parliament, for a Special Session on Violence against… Read more →←
Born and raised in Trench Town, I’ve seen that my community, more than anything, needs to be led on a path of peace and love, and it starts with the youths. Whether it’s my friends or other youth in the community, I try to teach them the beauty of virtuous living. I try to enlighten them about the things they may be participating… Read more →←
I am what they called ‘unattached youth’, and I can count on my fingers, toes and teeth the persons who have told me that I will never amount to anything. But it is because of my experiences that I have reached where I have. I joined Fight for Peace two years ago when I was 17 years-old. First, I was a part of the boxing and the book… Read more →←
I’ve been involved in badness since I was 11 years old, when I had my little ‘one pop’ (single shot gun). When the Peace Management Initiative (PMI) first approached me I never took it seriously, because I was making too much money on the streets leading a gang here in Denham Town. But just three of us are left from a crew of… Read more →←
People at school are always surprised when I tell them I do taekwondo with Fight for Peace. But now I have a green belt and I help coach! What I really like about it is learning self-defense. You can protect yourself on the road like a lot of times I have to use it at my school, Camperdown High School. Students that are bigger than me… Read more →←
I feel good in myself when I can sit down and listen to someone who has a similar experience to me being in state care. Because what I have been through I can literally say to them – “I am you!” Yet, when I was going through those experiences I could not even imagine that I would be alive today, because I did have a lot of suicidal… Read more →←
In 2017, a 17-year-old student named Mickolle Moulton was murdered. The outrage was intense, and the pain was profound. Her family, friends, teachers and those who wished to pay their respects gathered for a candlelight vigil in her honour. Despite the general atmosphere of sadness, the vigil was one that celebrated her life,… Read more →←
I was raised in West Kingston. Growing up where I did, I soon realised as a child that you got more support being deviant than being good. Good people treated you badly, and friends who were doing bad things also treated you badly. For any child who’s trying to be good in the middle of all that, life is going to be lonely. Most of my… Read more →←