‘It pains my heart’ - Rose Town man laments senseless loss of lives, wants to revive initiative to rescue youth
Published:Saturday | January 2, 2021 | 12:11 AMJonielle Daley/Staff Reporter
Melbourne Absalom, a violence interrupter (VI) working with the Peace Management Initiative in Rose Town in Kingston, is calling on the “society at large” to play a greater role in curbing crime and violence in such inner-city communities.
Absalom started his work in the community in 2000 through the Hope for Children Foundation. When that programme ended in 2004, he then birthed the Information Affairs and Crisis Taskforce (IACT) to deal specifically with young men in the community, but that has been dormant since an explosion of violence in Rose Town in 2011. He explained that one reason for the violence spiralling out of control since then is because the fight caused splits in gangs.
“Me wah start back this programme. Dem youth ya need somebody influential fi talk to dem,” he said. “A whole heap a life go down inna Rose Town. A whole heap a life waste foolishly and it pain mi heart,” added Absalom.
Programmes kept peace
Speaking with The Gleaner in the wake of three murders in the community last weekend, he recalled years gone by when various programmes, including special church services held for the youth, were successful in attracting and engaging young people.
Though the St Andrew South communities have a history of gang violence, things were not usually as heated in Rose Town when surrounding areas were at war. Absalom attributed this to numerous programmes such as the evening classes at St Andrew Technical High School, made available through IACT and other partners that allowed young men to acquire up to five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects.
There were also programmes led by the HEART/NSTA Trust to help youth acquire certification in several areas, as well as dispute resolution training.
He recounted the priceless expressions of young men meeting influential people and attending conferences at various hotels. One young beneficiary’s jaw dropped as he met Yendi Phillipps while she was reigning Miss Jamaica World in 2007, Absalom recalled.
He said that, as simple as it may seem to some, those conferences and hotel experiences that showed them a different side of the world, and the possibilities that had been running from 2000, were life-altering.
“That was able to change their mindset. Dem see a different life,” he said, adding that, currently, the majority of them are not able to leave the community to go into downtown Kingston because of warring factions around the area.
“Being a part of the IACT really elevated nuff a we,” explained one of the beneficiaries.
Created a brotherhood
He lauded that programme as the main thing that pulled him from the streets as a young man in a time “when the youths were being engaged in violence and everybody wah turn gunman and shotta”.
He credited the programme with turning out a lot of successful men and creating a brotherhood between men who passed through the club where, to date, they continue to assist each other, even to get jobs abroad.
The IACT foundation came to a standstill in 2011 after 11 young men who were sent to Trench Town for the launch of a peace and justice centre were almost ambushed on their way back home.
“The only way me see a change in the community is to get back the younger youths to pay attention to what is positive,” said Absalom.
Absalom has made recent strides to revive IACT. He has acquired the space and desks and chairs, but needs assistance to restructure the programme.
“We understand what a gang leader is all about. My problem is how we really get them back together,” he said, adding that he is willing and ready to step back out there, as he is still respected.
He believes that the society needs to pay more attention to inner-city children as, many times, they are born to young single mothers or lose their fathers early to gun violence.
“How you break that cycle is important,” he stressed, adding that the youth should not be left to operate based on revenge and trauma.
“Not just the church, all a society haffi come out and mek di youth dem know say dem a nuh cannibal, them a human. Come talk with them nuh, one and one?” he begged.
Melbourne Absalom can be contacted at 876-367-3212.