Save our children

I attended the funeral of a girlfriend's firstborn son! A tall, handsome dark skinned boy, who would have turned nineteen in a few months. A quiet boy who was shot down...I don't want to say it like this, but, for want of better words... 'like a dog'.... in the streets. My eyes welled up as I looked at my friend, his mother, dressed in black, looking so forlorn, lost! I felt her pain, for there but by the grace of God go I! Too many mothers are burying their children today! Seems like there is a war among our boys and maybe even our girls. I pause, to wonder, when and how did 'we' allow this madness to happen. How was this disconnect created! I looked at the faces of the young men who attended the funeral, I wondered about their lives, what do they endure. I saw the presence of the police and military. I heard that an opposing group had attempted to disturb the funeral because the boy was from a different zone....the church was supposedly in the blue zone and he was allegedly associated with the red zone....I felt somewhat nervous both in the church and in the cemetery,as someone pointed out to me a group of young men in black who had red scarves in their pockets....is this really happening in these islands...am I in a fr...gin movie? I try to tell myself this can't be happening in these islands, but what I felt today must be what is being felt every time a young person is gunned down...the difference for me, is that, finally, it has hit very close to home....my former neighbors child, grandchild, niece, my friend's child, my daughter's playmate, my baby's playmate father...yes, he left behind a son and a 'bun in the oven'....I looked at the young girl with a slightly protruding belly and tears welled up again....I don't know her, she seemed okay on the outside, but who knows!

So my question is how do we save our children from this wave of violence that has infiltrated our islands....I know we have discussed this before in other blogs, but really, is there a way to help this young generation? How do I tell my child not to 'lime' in certain areas....for this is what happened....this boy liked to 'lime' on a particular corner, with his friends...but he lived with his mom, who was just a wee bit late in picking him up that evening....it was approximately 7.30pm.....a drive-by shooting spree caused this death! So are any of us safe? Are our children safe? How do we save them? We must save them somehow!

May already!

Gosh, how they year 2010 have flown...I haven't spent one minute blogging! What a shame! The thought have come and gone and I just didnt make the time to sit and do this!

January was tough.....My car went into the shop, late January with a blown head gasket and a bad radiator....the I was told that my rent was going to be raised starting Feraury 1st, at the end of January, by my landlord, who was unhappy that I was making pottery in a small space in his yard, to the fact that I had to tell his 'kiss my arse' and immediately started house hunting which was a success. Now I am housed in a comfortable three bedroom house with a nice yard, lots of fruit bearing trees and plus I have started gardening.

Febuary saw me house hunting and walking and catching rides in other peoples cars and jumping on those buses which fly all over the island. That was indeed an experience. I eventually got into a rhythm of doing these activities.

March saw me moving and settling into my new digs!

April has ended and I am have a feeling that I am on the brink of finding my way into myself again.