The Peace Cup match is one of the strategies used to unite communities and bring the family together. - Contributed

Children curfews, parenting workshops and football competitions are just some of the strategies members of the Kingston and St Andrew Action Forum (KSAAF) have been using to return their communities to a family-friendly state.

The men and women who make up the forum live in the communities where they have been trying to grow peace, and it shows.

But, father of six, 48-year-old Winston Munroe, a KSAAF representative, notes that peace has come with a price.

"Because we are not at war, we are getting little or no assistance. If you are at war, you are in the press, but we have been doing so well that nobody looks our way anymore."

Godfrey Lothian, the president, hails from Greenwich Park. He says the activities of the group have turned warring zones of the capital into places where children can live in safety.

KSAAF is a voluntary group of persons from 53 urban communities across the Kingston Metro-politan Region and St Catherine.

They feel that already there are signs that they will succeed. In Duhaney Park, work done by KSAAF, the police and the local Peace Management Initiative has ended feuding between Brooke Avenue and Sherlock Crescent - once aligned along hostile political lines.

A 'peace treaty', signed last year, ended 15 years of violence that resulted in several murders and made Duhaney Park one of the most violent communities in the St Andrew South Police Division.

Still optimistic

KSAAF, born in 2003 out of a United Nations Development Programme initiative, continues to see reasons to be optimistic.

"The families are coming back," says Munroe, who lives in Torrington Park.

"In Torrington Park, there was a lot of war and people fled to Portmore. Now, they are coming back."

For the social worker, the question is not academic. The place in which he works is also the place that he and his children call home.

In Torrington Park and in communities across the city such as Duhaney Park - KSAAF representatives have coordinated peace marches, six-a-side football competitions and employment initiatives which have given community members an 'excuse' to like each other again.

The story is the same, Lothian claims, in Hannah Town and Fletcher's Land where community events were used to bring warring sides together.

In this zone as well, programme representative Arlene Bailey implemented a successful children curfew which dictates that no child should be on the road after dark unless accompanied by a relative.

'There are also parenting programmes in these areas.

Bearing fruit

In April 2008, Lothian launched the 'get the guns off the street' campaign. One year later, while he says he has not been given any guns, his self-styled dialogue with dons, 'shottas' and ordinary folk appears to be bearing fruit.

KSAAF has held Monday night forums and town-hall meetings in communities including Boucher Park, Franklyn Town, Whitfield Town, Rose Town, Mandela Terrace, Greenwich Town, Majesty Gardens, Fletcher's Land, Torrington Park, Mountain View and Central Kingston, allowing residents to express their views and needs.

Programme Manager Andrew Geohagen told The Gleaner that the KSAAF representatives have met every stakeholder, including the community dons who said all they want is respect.

Fighting for respect

"They have reasons for becoming part of the criminal underground. They are fighting for respect. They say people come to the communities and promise development, and nothing happens. They are taking their own destiny into their hands."

Other gun users on the periphery, he notes, are more easily coaxed away from using guns for earning money if they have opportunities, including education and employment. KSAAF has responded with plans for improving literacy, computer and Spanish classes and has approached the HEART Trust/ NTA for further training initiatives.

Munroe has visions of establishing community centres and micro-enterprise projects. A proposal, to be submitted to the Rural Agricultural Development Authority, involves using empty government land for raising crops.

avia.ustanny@gleanerjm.com