by Jean Lowrie-Chin
Jamaica Observer column published Monday 18 September 2017
Exhausted from endless reports of violence, Jamaica was energized by the
news of the brave Tremayne Brown who jumped into the Trench Town Gully to save
young Renaldo Reynolds. We understand from the Jamaica Observer report
by Racquel Porter, that Tremayne’s father Stanford Brown is an elder in his
Church. It must have been his godly upbringing that helped him to find strength
from the prayers of Renaldo when he felt he could go no more.
What are families and the society doing to nurture Tremayne’s life-saving
courage in their own children? Because
of his heroism, Tremayne did not save only the life of Renaldo Reynolds – he also
saved his own. The returning migrant,
deported from the UK six months ago could only find casual labour at Boys Town.
Now his bravery has brought him offers of jobs and financial assistance, as
well as a soon-to-be-bestowed National Honour.
Tremayne’s example of bravery should remind wrong-doers that they also
have the ability to change their lives for the better. When I read that after
the ZOSO exercise in Mount Salem, St James, scammers were now running like
cowards to other parishes, I recalled the words of the late Professor Barry
Chevannes.
“You are human, not animals,” Prof
Barry asked me to write in my column published back in 2005. “You have the
power of choice. You are not a fly that must breed in the garbage – you can
remove yourself from the garbage. Just as you choose to kill, you can choose, not
to kill. You have a human will – you are
not programmed to kill.”
We can add – you are not programmed to lie and steal, scam away the
livelihood of the elderly and then turn your guns on those who try to steer you
away from your wrongs. Reports are that
these scammers are lighting their spliffs with US dollar bills and washing
their cars with champagne. This, while missionaries of various churches are
sacrificing their lives to care for the poor and abandoned in Jamaica. Will these criminals, some well-educated,
wake up to the stupidity of evil?
We are reminding those who have turned to a life of crime that you are
human, you have the choice of pulling yourself out of the garbage. You can save
yourselves, instead of running like rats from parish to parish, sleeping with
one eye open, and ruining the lives of your own children.
The political representatives of both parties, sworn to serve the people
of Jamaica, know more than most of us of the programmes available to help our
youth out of the desperation that makes them easy prey for gangs. Programmes are offered by the Social
Development Commission, HEART-NTA, the National Youth Service, PATH. There are myriad non-governmental and corporate
programmes that offer scholarships, funding and mentoring for businesses start-ups.
Our 63 MPs and over 200 Parish Councillors could guide their constituents
in making applications for such programmes.
As I write, I know that there is a multi-million Queen’s Young Leaders
fund for applicants who are involved in outreach in vulnerable
communities. Could our representatives
set up desks to assist youngsters to apply for these funds? In fact, it would protect the very MPs from
being viewed as community ATMs. Our churches could establish such a service
also, again sparing their slim budgets while opening up opportunities for needy
members.
The reason that the Tremayne Brown story has remained in our headlines
for so long, is because Jamaica, the home of ‘One Love, One Heart’ is ready to
reclaim this as our way of life. Even as
we support ZOSO, we are hoping that before criminals lose their lives in
shootouts, they will be persuaded to give themselves up, pay the price for
their crimes and free their hearts and their families from the terror of their
depraved existence.
Climate
Change – deadly reality
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have taken lives and left families in poverty
and suffering. As we see the plight of
our neighbours, Cuba, the British and US Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos and
Southern states of the US, it is clear that global warming is not a myth, but a
deadly reality. Reports of the deaths of nine residents in what should have
been a safe haven, a Florida nursing home, will no doubt press the current US
administration to agree to play its part as a signatory to the Paris Agreement.
After participating in an international conference on the environment in
Copenhagen in December 2009, Professor Anthony Chen and Ambassador Anthony Hill
wrote their ‘Copenhagen Letter’ which was published in the Jamaica Observer.
They wrote: “Make no bones
about it: the greenhouse gases emitted by releasing energy from the fossil
fuels of oil and gas, the pressure on the declining soil and water resources,
the demand for food, minerals and fossil fuels, the pollution of the atmosphere
are well beyond the equilibrium-carrying capacity of the earth.”
“In Jamaica,” they continued, “we
face myriad threats ranging from sea level rise and droughts to increased
incidence of diseases. These threats will increase in proportion to the
increase in global warming which in turn depends on the increase in quantity of
greenhouse gases emitted by man-made activity. The greatest harm will come to
the poor and underprivileged who are less able to adapt to these threats.”
They
identified “power generation across the national grid and its consumption by
major industrial users” that could make the greatest impact if a low
carbon-strategy were implemented and warned, “Climate change with its immense
uncertainties and risks ‘threaten human health, disrupt economic activity,
damage natural ecosystems irreversibly, and even (in worst-case scenarios) lead
to mass migration, food shortage, and other global humanitarian crises’.”
If the
environmental initiatives of several local corporations and schools became the norm,
rather than the exception, perhaps we would have saved those metres of beach
that have been lost at Hellshire and other parts of our coastline.
It is not
too late to take Professor Chen’s and Ambassador Hill’s research on board, but
the window of opportunity is rapidly closing.
VPA Peace Day this Thursday
Dr
Elizabeth Ward, Chairman of the Board of the Violence Prevention Alliance says
the organisation will be observing Peace Day this Thursday, September 21 with
activities in various schools. We hope
that educators throughout Jamaica will visit the Violence Prevention Alliance
Facebook page and share their ideas with their students.
CCRP Living Legacy Awards
It has
been announced that 11 Jamaicans from various walks of life will be honoured at
the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) Living Legacy Awards event later
this month. They are: Nurse Marie
Clemetson, Noel Dexter, Michael Fennell, Leonie Forbes, Cecile Jarrett, Norman
Jarrett, Horace Levy, Professor Mervyn Morris, Major General (Ret’d) Robert
Neish, Clembert N Powell and Patricia ‘Patsy’ Ricketts. Congratulations!
