WASHINGTON, (CMC):

The World Bank says a number of Jamaican students have used a poster competition to highlight the impact of violence on their lives.

The World Bank-sponsored competition was conducted by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), the implementing agency for the Jamaica Inner City Basic Services for the Poor Project.

The bank said the project aims to improve the quality of life in inner-city areas, and Jones Town, on the outskirts of the capital, Kingston, is one of 12 Jamaican inner-city communities affected by violence, benefiting from the project.

At least 50 students at Jones Town Primary School participated in the poster competition, held under the theme, 'How violence impacts my daily life'.

"Violence is terrible in these inner-city communities," the World Bank quoted Nichesha Lindo, a grade-five student as writing on her poster.

"These people are warmongers. Every day, they just firing gunshots and disturbing people. They are going around and even kicking off persons' doors and shooting them," Nichesha was quoted as saying.

"We cannot take this any more. These things are going on every night and every day. This is getting into people's head. We cannot take this any more. Gunmen, please stop it now!"

But the World Bank said Jamaica was not alone in its fight against inner-city violence.

The organisation said children's cries for help are "echoed in many other parts of the Caribbean and throughout the world" - in rich and poor countries alike.

Bernice van Bronkhorst, an urban specialist and a member ofthe task team for the Jamaica inner-city project, said she had the idea for the poster competition about four months ago when her colleagues were looking for artwork for the World Bank-UNODC report.

"We thought the competition would be a good way to produce an attractive and original cover for the book and to give the Jones Town children a chance to express how they feel about the violence they see in their daily lives."

Young killers

The World Bank said many of the posters depict young men either killing each other or killing innocent bystanders.

It said a picture by 12-year-old Samantha Hall, called 'Stray Shot,' shows two gunmen with a girl standing between them, holding shopping bags.

"One of the gunmen calls out, 'Little girl out of the way!'," the bank said.

"But it is too late; the bullet hits the girl, and the girl falls to the ground in a pool of blood."

The World Bank said the posters are being exhibited at the school, and a selection would be displayed at the '20/20 Vision' Conference on the Caribbean that it is co-sponsoring next month in Washington.