EDITORIALS - Organise summer camps in Tivoli

IN THE aftermath of the Tivoli Gardens incursion, many persons have rightly highlighted the need for significant social intervention to help return that community to a semblance of normality after being so long in the clutches of dons and their political minions.

Some of what is required will, perforce, be large and extensive, requiring substantial resources, great effort and a long time to deliver results. But mostly, the demand is of a little effort, imagination and partnership with genuine leaders of the community.

Take, for instance, the current summer-school break. Several hundred, if not thousands of Tivoli Gardens children are on recess. Most have little or nothing to do for the holidays, not least because their parents can ill-afford the camps and/or other organised activities that are usually put on at this time of year.

In this difficult socio-economic environment, where many people hustle for a living, many of these children are under little or no supervision. Yet, such structured play and recreation, important to character building in the best of times, would be particularly valuable to the children of Tivoli Gardens in this stressful period. It should be made to happen.

We would suggest that the Ministry of Youth, Sport, and Culture, through the Social Development Commission (SDC), organise a series of camps and other activities to help occupy these children over the summer. The SDC can elicit the help of private-sector firms and non-governmental organisations to help to arrange, finance and manage these sessions.

We, however, need not wait on the SDC or any other agency to become engaged in any such programme. An investment now in these children is a down payment on a better future for Jamaica.

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