Archive for October, 2008|Monthly archive page
Jamaican Poverty
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: jamaica, kingston, poor, poverty, seaview gardens
Comments (8) Can people living on the breadline keep their sense of self respect? Can there be dignity in poverty? Trish and Kenyon from Seaview Gardens – a ghetto area of Kingston answer these questions here.
Basically they are saying that sometimes in the month, they do not have anough money for bus fare and have to ask others for help. that they are constantly in debt and are grateful to friends and family for extra help when they need it. This is not the worst example of poverty in JA but it is still important. They both have full time jobs and yet do not have enough money to heat up hot water because gas is too expensive.
This photo has been taken in Seaview Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica. It is the rubbish which is thrown in the gully. It is such a travesty to see such a beautiful island being treated like this. But people have more pressing worries on their mind – is this a valid excuse? I wonder whether poverty is a valid excuse for a lack of environmentalism?
Now it seems there will be an increase in people living in poverty, according to forthcoming figures from the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).
More shootings in Kingston
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bloodshed, crime, guns, jamaica, shooting
Comments (1) So many shootings in Jamaica but I still read through the details because I might recognise the place or some of the people, so I look carefully at the pictures. This one caught my eye because I have been to this gaming lounge and to Boulevard Shopping Centre many times.
What happened was an off duty soldier got involved with an argument – two guys didn’t like the fact he was dancing with a woman. Such a stupid argument and it ends with four people dead.
The off duty soldier decides to take out his weapon and kills the two guys confronting him and all the people there were trying to hide underneath the pool table. The terroir doesn’t end there either as the solder orders people out from underneath – finds another boy and shoots him too and then shoots himself.
On top of that – the army truck comes a long and whisks the soldier away before the police can do anything. I had a nightmare last night that someone was running after me with a gun. I was terrified. The memory is still with me – so i can imagine the horror of people caught in that gaming lounge. Coming out for a good time and having to witness this. Where will this mindless violence and bloodshed end? Don’t you think it has to do with too much male ego?
Keeping your child safe from harm
I’m a mother of a very cute little boy – he’s one and half and has just learnt to say PARDON when he burps. I also work full time and at the moment I have left him with my auntie. She has to pop out this afternoon- so for about 40 minutes I know that he’s going to be alone with my cousin’s new husband. I only met him recently but I love my cousin and I trust her, but will my son be safe with her husband?
It’s a question probably going through a lot of peoples’ minds in Jamaica right now after the terrible discovery of the headless remains of a child – probably the missing 11 year old Ananda Dean from red Hills, St Andrew.
In response to this, Bruce Golding has come up with a plan. He is going to set up a task force ( as politicians have a habit of doing) . It seems he’s taking a the lead from Esther Rantzen and setting up a crisis telephone line ( not a bad idea at all). Full details of Golding’s plan here.
Here’s a photo of a cute boy (not mine) this boy is from Ocho Rios and I chose it because he’s fenced in, and I think sometimes as a parent when you hear of stories like this and the wider problem of child abduction and abuse, you want to keep them inside and never want them to leave your side.
The wider problem that Jamaica faces and that doesn’t really get talked about much is the fact that more than 50 kids have been murdered on the island so far in 2008.
This reminds me also of Queen Ifrica’s excellent song about child abuse. A thoughtful, painful and very sad song on a taboo subject.
Jamaica Man Gossip
Who says men don’t gossip?
Jamaica’s food prices
Food prices in jamaica are high and rising Rice and flour up about forty per cent. Going to a supermarket is not about choosing which discounted buy one get one free offers you should go for.
None of that!
The Agriculture Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton suggested earlier this year that Jamaicans should start growing their own vegetables again as there is now a high reliance on imports which are more expensive. Dr Tufton suggested the Cassava plant which is pressed and made into bammies, nice with fish.
This is already happening though with domestic crops being grown, but another problem – cost of fertiliser is so expensive that farmers have cut back on using it, so expected crop yields are much lower this year. the government said in August it would help and buy in extra fertilisers for farmers. it hasn’t materialised yet. So the food crisis is set to get worse still. -find out more from Jamaica’s agricultural society
Jamaica Scamming Money
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: internet scam, jamaica, lottery, mobile phones, scam
Comments (1) 
A short while ago I got a call from someone saying they were from the Jamaica Tourist Board and that i had won a trip for two to the Sandals resort and they gave me a name of a hotel I cannot remember now. It was a man’s voice and he gave me another number which he told me to ring to confirm that i wanted to pick up the prize. Well, having never won anything in my entire life, I was sceptical. I asked where he got my number from and he said from the Jamaica tourist board as I had travelled on the country’s airlines and gone through the immigration facilities where you have to give your contact details.
Well, being a journalist, I did abit of phoning around – the number the guy gave was a voicemail number. I then rang the official tourist board and explained what had happened and they said they didn’t know anything about this promotion. Well it was then i realised it must be a scam and I left it at that.
I am hearing now that this is a huge scam and could be funding guns and drug rings originating from the island. i also hear that it is spreading across the US and Europe.
I have to say I am not easily fooled, but the guy on the phone was pretty convincing, he knew my name and mobile number – how did he get this information? That’s what i would really like to find out.
Out, Proud, Jamaican and a Policeman???
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: caribbean, gay, homosexuality, homsexual, jamaica, out, police, proud
Leave a Comment There is a citizen journalism project run by a cable channel, and someone posted this vid which is just excellent. the interview is of a policeman in the Jamaican constabulary who never hid his sexuality. He suffered as a result of course, but I find his story and his attitude completely unusual but entirely uplifting.
Sizzla in August Town
I went to August Town one time when the war was going strong and the roads were all blocked off. Everyone told me I was mad for going down there but I was doing a report on the gangs at the time and needed to get into the community.
What surprised me most when I was there was how everyone would talk about “Sizzlas men” and that is was they up the road who were causing so much of the trouble. I was abit naive at the time because I had been listening to a lot of Sizzla’s music and could not equate the man who was singing sweetly about love and strength and happiness and other sounds rasta beliefs, that he was neck deep in the gang warfare in his community.
Well he has also been ordered by the August Town community to leave the area. Sizzla’s house and fenced off bit is called “Judgment Yard” . There have been previous reports of large stashes of weapons being found there. I’ve heard that Sizzla arms people in the area and is being held responsible for deaths and shootings.
No wonder he rarely gives interviews, i’m sure there are quite a few questions he would rather not answer. he did do this interview with Robbo ranx. you can hear it here.
Needless to say, he did not get any difficult questions.
More on Jamaica’s Dons
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: don, dons, duddus, jamaica, zeekes, zeeks, zekes
Comments (7) 
Christopher 'Dudus' Coke
So there were always two don men that are still widely known. Two men who will probably go down in folklore and where rumour and legend follow. They are the two Dons of West Kingston Zekes and Dudus. Christopher Dudus Coke is the don from Tivoli gardens and at the time of writing, still going strong. He is keeping a low profile although I heard he threw two parties in March this year – this is the only pic I could find – relating to raid to have him arrested in 2001, led by Operation Kingfish and the ex scotland yard detective, Mark Shields.
There was intelligence to say there was a cache of weapons coming in to the area, but he was tipped off and police found only with a small amount of marijuana, so he was later released.
The other don is, Donald “Zekes” Phipps, languishes in prison after what must have been a deal by the politicians to catch a big “name” to provide some legitimacy to Operation Kingfish - the crime operation which works with Scotland Yard in the UK and the DEA in the US.
Zekes has been back in court recently because he wants back this money (18 million Jamaican dollars) that he claimed did not belong to him when the police came and raided his house. read about this here
I found a bareboned factfile on him – he’s been arrested many times previously and always got acquitted (friends in the right places and money in the right hands) but this does not tell you about his supporters. One time in 2004 when he was arrested, there were rumours he had been hurt in poilice custody and a crowd gathered, he had to come out with a megaphone to let everyone know he was alright! His skinny frame and hesitant voice does not reveal the power that he by all accounts and purposes had.
i would love to know what connections these powerful dons and the police and the politicians, to be so widely known for so long, i mean Dudus is known as the “President” for christ sake !
There are a number of rumours I have heard of homosexuality in the gangs and of some dons.
Now, everyone wants to be a don which requires more and more brutal violence to get to the top.
Jamaica’s Crime Victims
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: crime, jamaica, victim support unit, victims
Leave a Comment As crime increases, so do victims of crime. As a consequence of this, Jamaica’s Victim Support Unit is inundated. They say they are also having to change their working strategy because of the increasing severity of crimes they come across. i thought it would be good to see how the unit operates and what they can achieve. Read more here
It must be very difficult on the people who work there to have to offer support to victims of crime and with the lack of adequate justice, is there any real closure for being a victim of crime?
