A street boy takes a nap on a grave inside the St. Andrew Parish Church cemetery in Half-Way Tree, St. Andrew, yesterday. - TEXT AND PHOTO BY NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
WHILE MOST of us were celebrating Christmas with family and friends in the comfort of our homes, for at least 15 street boys, the most celebrated of Christian holidays was spent in the cemetery of the St. Andrew Parish Church in Half-Way Tree, St. Andrew.
As I entered the cemetery, I was first greeted in a hostile manner with the warning: "Big man, we don't want no camera in here." However, after assuring them that I was there to listen to their plight, they soon opened up to me. At least one drifted off to sleep on one of the tombstones, but the others were willing to speak. This they did over a game of cards.
POOR FAMILIES
Their reasons for being on the streets range from being from poor families which could not support them, to fleeing the inner city in order to avoid being caught up in the crime wave now gripping the country.
In fact, some of them are from as far away as Negril, Westmoreland, and one from, of all places, Africa.
For 19-year-old Dwayne who told The Gleaner he was on the streets for nine years, this has been "the worst Christmas I have seen. We are very sad as nothing is going on for us this Christmas." He continued that: "The police chase us away from the stop lights every day so nothing is going on for us." Dwayne insists he wants to learn a skill in order to get off the street.
For his part, Garfield Bernard was critical of organisations, including the various centres and individuals, politicians included, who have promised much and delivered very little. "I think they are focusing on the wrong youths," Bernard said.
SURVIVAL
"I would like society to see us as children who are in need and from a poor background as that is what caused us to be on the street. We are not responsible for how we came in this world so we have to love ourselves and and try to survive," he added.
Another youngster told The Gleaner that he would like to see the authorities address poverty, which he thinks would reduce the high crime rate. He is adamant that wiping windshields is a difficult job which is made harder when they are 'dis-respected' by people who accuse them of robbing motorists. He insisted that they are not the ones who prey on motorists.
One boy concluded by describing this Christmas as being as "dead as the cemetery." He was hopeful, however, that the new year will bring a "change for the best."
