Laventille elders gallant, selfless

THE EDITOR: I find it very disconcerting and almost flummoxing to appreciate the excuses advanced as arguments by persons who either ought to know better or don’t have a clue as to what they are talking about, but arrogate to themselves the authority to make pronouncements that are at best a “vaps” to the reader. I refer to two current Laventille-related issues which have caught the eyes of the national community just as the gang wars, murders and multiple social decadence that  emasculated geographic Laventille in recent times.

The first has to do with the obvious positive contributions of The Council of Elders of Laventille in arresting the debilitating and frustrating gang and related criminal activities emanating from the area. I view as almost asinine any comment that will suggest that the conduct of the elders themselves is about self-aggrandisement, gratification or egocentric jaunts. Who in his right mind in these treacherous days will literally put his precious life on the line to pursue a cause that has neither financial nor material endowment for those so engaged? In fact, this level of sacrifice is usually ascribed to martyrs and those who have an extremely deep conviction in a situation or philosophy (be it religious or political ideology).

I have read the very minuscule and desultory negative comments by authors who, in my view, either have no children, are unpatriotic or are simply an amalgam of purposeless protoplasm. I have drawn this conclusion in light of the fact that of the many [perils the elders of Laventille have exposed themselves to, the only contribution anyone can find to pen is one which attracts a headline “Vain Threat from Elders;” all in a “vain effort” to discredit and nullify the gallantry and enviable work of the elders in arresting the gang-related killings in the Laventille and environs community. Such a mind is not only mischievous, but reminds me of the Latin expression “non compos mentis” — translated means “of unsound mind.” What else can it be? The police-soldier combination did not achieve the desired result! Government’s social safety-net policy has not taken grip! Moreover, without the timely intervention of The Council of Elders of Laventille, one can just imagine the level of exacerbation with the emerging routine violence in the nation’s schools. The humpty dumpy scenario has certainly been averted, thanks to the elders and the positive intercessions of the faith-based community and initiatives of the Parliamentary representatives and the Ad Hoc Committee for the eradication of crime in Laventille. All have positively impacted on addressing community violence in their various manifestations. It is probably instructive for the Ministry of Education and Sports and Youth Affairs to take a page from these highly successful interventions.

The other matter I have grave difficulty in comprehending is another minority comment of the cogent case made by Mr Lennox Smith, Community Development Consultant, in which he attempted to link poor funding procedures to the failure of indigenous social intervention delivery programmes in Laventille and environs. The lone dissenting author attempted to convey the impression that quite a few of these projects have been successful by making reference to St Vincent de Paul, Living Waters and one or two ”alien organisations” which have not emerged from the bowels of the community in response to Laventille-specific social problems. The author did not “miss the boat,” but exemplifies the proverbial “There is none so blind as he who refuses to see.” Mr Smith’s argument was not only well articulated in the news article which carried it, but also displayed empirical analysis in sync with the reality of the Laventille experience. So that to disagree with Mr Smith’s conclusion is simply not to have a firm understanding of the subject matter to which his article referred.

Uncontrovertively, if recognition and appropriate institutional support were given to organisations such as the South East Port-of-Spain Cultural Work Shop, MLIO, Spree Simon Community Organisation, The Beetham Improvement Committee, The Morvant Laventille United Community Group, The Ark Of The Covenant Children’s Home and the other dozen or more Laventille-centred community organisations the present crisis in which Laventille has found itself today could have been avoided. Mr Smith is on record on this matter. So to use the Fernandes foundation, the Salvation Army, and credo as successful Laventille projects/organisations is a “terminological inexactitude.” Nothing can be further from the truth. These are not Laventille and are national in scope. I have no qualms with the “CRY” organisation however, since it represents a genuine Laventille-based intervention expression. The counter comments to Mr Smith’s assessment therefore lack coherence, and are in many instances contradictory which illustrates in microcosmic form the difficulty of achieving co-operation and unanimity in Laventille. Here it is we have a hodgepodge of nonsensical incongruents portrayed in a news article as “Support For Social Programmes In Laventille,” when in reality it is the promotion of others at one’s own demise and detriment. Oh! How much more can we hate our own. Loving our own is not being ungrateful to small mercies provided by others. But why must we have others do for us what we can do for ourselves? This is the message Mr Smith is attempting to convey, and that the state, private business sector and service institutions must recognise their facilitatory roles in buttressing indigenous community-based Laventille organisations. Think about it!

ALFRED GEORGE
Trumacaque