Dennis Coke/ Staff Photographer
The concrete may prove too hard for a game of basketball.Avia Ustanny, Freelance Writer
ROTTING CAR shells, fallen tree trunks and weeds running wild fill the odd, empty spaces in Portmore where parks and recreational areas should be.
In this area, the single greatest conurbation and residential zone in the island, rusty swings without seats and parched areas used as football fields are all in which children have to play.
Where there is nothing, they play in the roadway.
Minors growing up in Portmore, St. Catherine and to a lesser extent, Kingston and St. Andrew, have few and insufficient areas prepared for them to develop physical prowess and socialise with their peers.
While some parents shrug their shoulders in resignation, others are struggling to remedy the lack. Some do not care at all, building car washes and parking trailers on the sites even while others try to upgrade them.
One official from the Town Planning Section of the National Environment and Planning Agency states that the situation in the Corporate Area and the Portmore community is the result of political neglect.
Under the Housing Act, he said, more and more houses have been constructed where there should be parks and recreational areas. Developers are not being held responsible for this, he stated.
How important is sunshine and play?
Director of Help For Parents, a private counselling facility, Sharon Johnson and paediatrician, Dr. Russell Chatoor, have said that the child's need for outdoor play is a non-negotiable one.
The consequences when communities neglect their children can be dire.
Are we prepared to live with them?
