Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Participants in the Allman Town Male Development Programme listen keenly during a workshop in the St. Matthew's Anglican Church hall in Allman Town late last year. - Contributed photo

It is one of those communities that people often turn a blind eye to. That is because to many it is just another problematic inner-city community where young men stand or sit on the street corners engaging in idle talk while young women straddle down the streets in loose, short dresses and flip-flops and half naked children play in the roadways.

It is just one more of those inner-city communities where unemploy-ment is high and gun violence is rife, hope is scarce and a chance is worth more than a million dollars.

Looking through a lens

But, fortunately for 20 young men in Allman Town, hope is only a click away and they have found another chance looking through a lens.

They are all part of the Allman Town Male Development Pro-gramme run by the SISTREN Theatre Company through the Ministry of National Security's Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP).

These young men are among the most at risk in the society ranging from ages 17 to 26. Some 10,000 in this exact age group were murdered between 1996 and 2005 crime statistics show, and they are similarly the main perpetrators of violence, committing 50 per cent of all murders.

Under the mother-like guidance of project manager, Myrna McKenzie, these young men have armed themselves with a skill and a medium to express themselves - using photography and video cameras to take the place of what could have been guns.

The idea is a replica of a intervention programme by the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the United States, McKenzie explains, where young at-risk black males where introduced to 'shooting hoops' instead of guns.

However, these young men are not shooting hoops, but pictures and for them it holds the key to the future. The course, which started in June last year, is aimed at certifying these young men in the art of photography and videography through the help of Creative Production Training Centre (CPTC).

Taking off the streets

For 22-year-old Jameel, it was what would take him off the streets. Unemployed, there has been little for him to do but roam the streets with friends, leaving himself vulnerable sometimes to police abuse.

"The photography now, it give me something thing to do," he said. "The programme came in place at the right time because now one and two of us have a job and doing a little ting; at the time we were all unemployed just at home going out in the nights and sleeping the whole day," Ricardo Smith from Campbell Town recounted. "The programme gave us a meaning."

It has also brought some healing and restoration in this fractious community, bringing together young men from the four factions of Allman Town - Wild Street, Campbell Town, Smith Street and Prince Albert Street.

"For me, it was like a grooming session and a programme that shows like four different set of people can come together and be one," 23-year-old Timion Fross explained.

He grew up in one of the worst sections of Allman Town, Wild Street, where because of political violence guns barked frequently. "It makes me more wise. It opens me up to other things," he said.

And that is because the young men have been exposed to more than just photography, McKenzie explained. They were taken on field trips around the Corporate Area and out of town to expose them to various subjects.

They also participated in workshops discussing various issues impacting on their own lives. "We talked about things happening on the international scene and how they impact us in Jamaica, the war in Iraq, the oil prices, all of those things," related McKenzie. They were also taught social and developmental skills.

Contracted photographers

Now certified, these young men are working photographers contracted by SISTREN on a rotating basis. Some hope to take their skill further working in the media, while others want to become entrepreneurs and handle their own business. They are also working hard to exert positive influence on younger males in the community, although that poses some challenges.

"The ones dem that have the influence are already in the programme," Ricardo said. "And the rest of them minds done make up already," he continued.

The programme will end in 2008. But they all hope Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller keeps her promise and extends the programme for another few years.