SUCCESS STORIES

J'ca Observer report on Mediation club
SCHOOLS LAUNCH PEACE INITIATIVE IN TRENCH TOWN

Observer Reporter
Tuesday, April 15, 2003

A group of students from the Trench Town and Charlie Smith Comprehensive High Schools in Kingston, recently came together to form a Peace and Love in Schools (PALS) Peer Mediators Club.

The club, which is hosted at Trench Town, was the brainchild of students from both schools, and was established to improve relations among students and members of the wider community.

"This can help the young children and the community to come together and do the thing that is right", club member, Thealton Robinson explained.

Both schools are situated in Trench Town, an area that has a history of violence and poverty.

The majority of the students are drawn from Trench Town and its environs, and as a result, teachers at both institutions are making an effort to channel them away from the cycle of violence that has gripped the area.

Through the club, students will therefore be taught a number of skills that will allow them to not only function in society, but will provide them with the tools to help effect change in their communities. For example, students will be given lessons in how to resolve disputes and how to forge better relationships.

Administrators from both schools are also being trained in the art of mediation, and teachers were charged to pass on their skills to younger students ,who will occupy the places left vacant by those presently in the peer mediation club after they graduate.

Denise Titer, a guidance counsellor at Trench Town Comprehensive High, told the Observer that although the school is situated in the inner-city and most of its students hailed from humble backgrounds, violence was almost non-existent inside the school compound.

"We have squabbles, but it has never reached the stage where a child has taken a gun to school. We have found knives though, because we do our spot checks. However the relationship between both schools has always been good", Titer explained.

Lameta Lugg, a guidance counsellor at Charlie Smith, expressed similar sentiments.

"I have taught at inner-city schools all my life and I can tell you that I have seen less violence at Charlie Smith than anywhere else", Lugg told the Observer.

At Wednesday's launch, PALS training officer, Norma Rochester, addressed the students and teachers, highlighting the benefits of becoming a peer mediator.

The students also used the occasion to elect officers for the newly formed Peer Mediators Club. They are:

*Michelle Smith of Trench Town, president,

* Le-Var Campbell of Charlie Smith, vice-president,

*Patricia Pottinger, of Charlie Smith, secretary and,

*Sawnette Harvey of Trench Town, assistant secretary.

Club members also selected three public relations officers-- O'niel Beckford, Roxan Nelson and Stacy-Ann Arthurs-- to publicise their work and to forge links between students and members of the community. Twenty-nine students took part in the project.

PALS was started seven years ago by the Kingston Restoration Committee. Last year, the project was the beneficiary of a grant of $4,000,000 from the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica.