WITH customary hype a national campaign was launched in August by the Prime Minister to rescue street children. Mr. Patterson did say that some sort of national survey would have to be done to determine the scope of the problem; in effect, there could be no quick fix.Collaboration was promised with several projects being undertaken by a variety of social institutions. In the interim also there has been a raft of other announcements in the same vein.
Among them there has been the promise of a Child Care and Protection bill described as "landmark social legislation" and slated for Parliament by the end of October. It is still pending.
In October too there was another grand announcement of an anti-child labour campaign with the usual passionate talk of commitment to the rescue of the youth.
Last week, as year 2001 petered out, we published a letter from a victim of violent harassment by street boys, who have become one of the more visible signs that the organised rescue is yet to take root.
Ms. Dixon's letter, she told us later, drew a spate of responses sympathising with the terror she felt when damage was done to her vehicle simply because she declined the offer to get her windshield wiped. Young hoodlums apparently target women drivers at the intersection of Hagley Park Road and Maxfield Avenue in the Half Way Tree Area.
A reaction also came from the Rev. Canon Robert Thompson, Rector of the St. Andrew Parish Church, in a Letter of the Day published in yesterday's Gleaner. In expressing concern and sympathy with Ms. Dixon and other motorists harassed in the vicinity of St. Andrew and at other street intersections in Kingston, Father Thompson told of the church's own initiatives at youth rehabilitation.
He mentioned also the collaboration with the Government's so-called "Possibility Programme" as the Prime Minister had dubbed it in August. The objective is to broaden the scope of the St. Andrew Care Centre now under construction on church lands, Father Thompson said.
This church effort is of course commendable; but the continuing horde of young people at street intersections throughout the city suggests that the grand design is still just that. With violence now creeping in, the prospect is ominous.
