Observer column for MON 22 JAN 2018
by Jean Lowrie-Chin
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| The generous Jamaican Olympic Legend Usain Bolt committed J$1 million to the rebuilding of Walker's Place of Safety |
I can write volumes about our
experience thirty years ago with a so-called ‘place of safety’ for children. We
had decided to adopt a second child and were told that we could visit the baby
boy who was being kept at a ‘place of safety’ until our home could be passed
for his relocation as the first step of the process.
We fell in love with the sweet
four-week-old, and were concerned that he was so congested and that he was not
being changed often enough. We were
permitted to take him to the doctor and filled his prescription. We brought the medicine, diapers and other
items to ensure that he was well supplied.
You can imagine our distress when we
discovered by the next day that all the items including the medicine had been
stolen. We had to visit more frequently
to give him his regular dosage and change him ourselves.
The facility was a disgrace – we
learned to jump up the steps quickly because they were crawling with insects at
night. We were relieved when we could
finally take our baby home, so sick that over the next three months he had to
be on several courses of antibiotics.
We felt sorry for the manager of the
home, a nurse who seemed frustrated in her efforts to manage the staff. Within
that year, perhaps due to our and other complaints, that so-called ‘place of
safety’, located on the lower end of Lady Musgrave Road was closed.
For us, the story has a happy ending,
as our son Noel, now a protective six-footer and a manager in our business, is
looking forward to the celebration of his 30th birthday this week.
For Anna Kay Moreland and Anika
McCrea, who perished in the fire at the Walker’s Place of Safety last week,
their story had the most tragic of endings.
The wringing of hands reminds us of what followed the fire at the
Armadale Correctional Centre in 2009 which took the lives of seven teenaged
girls.
We are not judging the staff at
Walker’s Place of Safety, because we understand that some of these institutions
can barely make ends meet with the resources they have. However, we must judge ourselves who call
ourselves leaders in this country.
Whether we are members of the private or public sector, we have to
become more committed and passionate about the well-being of our fellow
Jamaicans, particularly the most vulnerable of our citizens.
Too little is being done and too
slowly – it is up to us to push the envelope on child safety. The donations are
important, but these should be followed up with urgent action. The victims of the Armadale fire had to wait
seven long years before damages were awarded.
‘we
are at war with ourselves’
If we do not look to the protection
of our children, whether in institutions, at home, in school or on the street,
we will never be able to solve Jamaica’s crime problem. If children are
ill-treated, we cannot expect humane behaviour from them when they become
adults.
In
his stirring message at last week’s National Leadership Prayer Breakfast, Rev.
Astor Carlyle noted: “Warm and generous are the words our visitors use to
describe us, but the homicide figures show that we are at war with ourselves.”
He
challenged Jamaicans to move out of their self-serving comfort zones: “when
institutions and office bearers of healing and accompaniment misappropriate the
trust vested in us to satisfy our selfish lust, then we are a people at odds
with ourselves indeed .. a daunting side of the Jamaican reality”.
Since
the start of the year, we see the result of our inactivity and insensitivity as
we have lost count of the number of murders committed. We support the state of
emergency in Montego Bay, but we know it did not have to come to this – too
many wrongdoers have hypocritical supporters in high places. No state of emergency will have long term
results if the thug-hugging does not stop.
Step up with
sports
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| Legendary Veronica Campbell-Brown receives Icon Award from Gleaner Manabing Director Chris Barnes |
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| Special Olympian Dave Oddman receives Award from Wisynco's Francois Chalifour |
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| Special Olympian Romaine Austin receives his Award |
Jamaica
cannot be prouder of our National Sportswoman and Sportsman of the Year, Alia
Atkinson and Omar McLeod. At last Friday’s RJR-Gleaner National Sports Awards,
they both spoke passionately about perseverance and hard work, faith and the
ability to handle failure. McLeod noted that our sports stars were so
outstanding that one had to be an international champion to win the Jamaican
honour.
We
heartily applauded Veronica Campbell-Brown for receiving the Iconic Award,
moved by the tears of this humble but determined warrior of athletics who has
earned more medals than even the great Usain Bolt. We also noted the patriotic dedication of Don
Anderson, recipient of the Chairman’s Award, who was Jamaica’s Olympic Chef de
Mission for six consecutive Olympic Games.
We applauded loudly for Special Olympian gold medallists
Dave Oddman and Romaine Austin, both speed skaters on ice, awarded for their
outstanding performances in the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games, held
in Austria. Austin’s gold was the first ever for a Jamaican performing on ice,
related Lorna Bell, untiring Special Olympics Jamaica Executive Director.
How
then, can we infuse these great qualities to heal our wounded nation? There may
be a solution staring us in our faces, as so brilliantly outlined by
GraceKennedy CEO Senator Don Wehby. He referred to the Sports section of
Jamaica’s Vision 2030, outlining a dynamic national plan for sports, including
‘sports for peace’. This ‘Sports for Peace’ had us
sitting up and listening keenly.
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| Don Wehby receives a gift of appreciation from RJR-Gleaner Group Senior Executive Yvonne Wilks O'Grady |
He
made the following points:
“It has an ability to unify people in a way
that is unbelievable. When you look
at the crowd that gathers in Half Way Tree when Jamaica is about to perform on
the World stage. Every man woman and
child is out there some with their pot covers and all are dressed in their
Jamaican colours united to cheer on their champions .. One Jamaica –united with
love and passion.
“It serves as a positive outlet for the
youth providing a channel for expression, building friendships and can
deter risky behavior. It shows what
can be achieved through hard work, determination, self-belief and fair play.
“It facilitates social development in
under-resourced communities. There are so many community sports clubs
around Jamaica with opportunities to nurture the interest of the youth and for
harnessing talent. These clubs need
visionary partners and financial support in order to become sustainable sources
of social reform in their respective communities. Public-Private partnerships can work when we
begin to see these associations as viable business opportunities.”
The
power of sports will have North and South Korea marching under one flag for the
Winter Olympics – what a message for this tiny country Jamaica. Let’s get serious about sports for peace.
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