Thursday, May 27, 2010
Violence in Kingston
Sorry I have not updated until now. As many of you know, 10 days ago an extradition request was issued for known drug lord Christopher "Dudus" Coke, a Jamaican. The US Gov't has for 9 months been asking the Jamaican gov't to hand him over for trial. However, Dudus is politically tied to the majority party and Prime Minister of Jamaica. After issuing an arrest warrant, the community in the stronghold of Dudus began digging in for war. Police stations were attacked and burnt down, roads were blocked off, and people started dieing. (see cnn.com, msnbc.com, www.jamaica-gleaner.com or www.jamaicaobserver.com) This weekend things went downhill and hit a climax on Monday and Tuesday.
Thankfully, our school in Kingston went on a pre-scheduled holiday break last Friday, before things cut loose. After the violence erupted, the school has remained closed except for our teens who are taking CXC exams (standardized tests). The school is located in a part of the city that has not seen any disruption, but because many of our students commute daily, they have decided to keep most of the kids and staff at home. I left on Saturday before violence occurred and planned to return yesterday, but for the time being will not be going back until it is deemed safe. The work team that was scheduled to be at my school this coming Saturday will now be going to the Montego Bay campus, so I will be there beginning Saturday. The peoria team schedule for June 5th will not be coming at all. It is still undetermined what the remainder of June / July teams will decide.
Please pray for Jamaica, for the decisions the government needs to still make, for the men and woman who are fighting for justice, and for the innocent people caught in the middle. Pray that this leads Jamaica to search inside themselves to see if the consequences of their actions and non-actions are what they want for their future. It is not dissimilar from situations we face in America, the sins are the same at the root and much of it stems from broken homes, drugs, money, and power. Pray for the corruption within the government / political system to be exposed and forced to change. If not dealt with, this monster will simply grow and become more dangerous.
Thankfully, our school in Kingston went on a pre-scheduled holiday break last Friday, before things cut loose. After the violence erupted, the school has remained closed except for our teens who are taking CXC exams (standardized tests). The school is located in a part of the city that has not seen any disruption, but because many of our students commute daily, they have decided to keep most of the kids and staff at home. I left on Saturday before violence occurred and planned to return yesterday, but for the time being will not be going back until it is deemed safe. The work team that was scheduled to be at my school this coming Saturday will now be going to the Montego Bay campus, so I will be there beginning Saturday. The peoria team schedule for June 5th will not be coming at all. It is still undetermined what the remainder of June / July teams will decide.
Please pray for Jamaica, for the decisions the government needs to still make, for the men and woman who are fighting for justice, and for the innocent people caught in the middle. Pray that this leads Jamaica to search inside themselves to see if the consequences of their actions and non-actions are what they want for their future. It is not dissimilar from situations we face in America, the sins are the same at the root and much of it stems from broken homes, drugs, money, and power. Pray for the corruption within the government / political system to be exposed and forced to change. If not dealt with, this monster will simply grow and become more dangerous.
# posted by Blake @ 9:03 PM 
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