Members of the East Street Junior Centre in performance. - File
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Michael Reckord, Gleaner Writer
In the heart of Jamaica's [b style="color: blue !important; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: 700; position: static;"]capital city (and, by extension, of the nation), just a short, breathless run from a number of violence-prone communities, there exists "a safe haven".[/b]
It is the Institute of Jamaica's (IOJ) Junior Centre on East Street, Kingston. The "safe haven" description was used by Jacqueline Bushay, director of the centre's Programmes Co-ordination Division.
She spoke of the centre and her work there with passion as I interviewed her last week.
She said "the mandate of the Junior Centre is to provide the facilities for young persons between six and 18 years old to develop skills in the visual and performing arts, enabling them to develop aesthetically, intellectually, and culturally".
BUILDING SELF-ESTEEM
The programme, she continued, aims "to develop the entire young person, to build self-esteem, to mould them to become citizens of Jamaica making valuable contributions to our country".
Participants in the multifaceted programme draw, paint, sing, dance, drum, act, and do expressive speaking. Each course is offered at least twice a week.
The centre has not only been doing that work for more than 70 years, but has been growing over the period in a number of ways. Founded in May 1940 as a lending library (the first lending library for children in Jamaica), the centre started offering the visual and performing arts activities in 1941.
In that year, too, the centre expanded to Half-Way Tree, into the old Court House there. A Junior Centre was established in Greater Portmore in May 1996 in a building situated between the post office and the library. The facility which was given to the IOJ by the Matalon family for children's development in the community.
"It's doing very well," Bushay said of the programe and cited figures to prove the statement.
"On any given day at the East Street centre we have between 30 and 40 youngsters in the regular afternoon programme (which is run weekdays during the school term from 3-5 p.m.). At Portmore, it is roughly the same," Bushay said.
For the Saturday progamme, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., the numbers in Portmore jump to between 50 and 60 youngsters. However, there is no corresponding jump at East Street. About a quarter of participants are in their late teens while the others are younger.
Mrs Bushay told me there is also a summer programme, which runs from July 1 to 26.
The success of the programmes is to be found not only in the large numbers of participants. Awards earned is another measure. On the landing of the stairs leading to Mrs Bushay's office is a large cabinet full of medals and trophies won in Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's (JCDC) competitions. And the walls of her office are covered with framed, prize-winning paintings and drawings.
"We have consistently done well at JCDC," Bushay said. Two national awards have already been earned for this year. She added that, in past years, the artistic works of two girls - then sixth former Natalia Surgeon and second former Akacia Forbes - were officially recognised by the United Nations.
However, Mrs Bushay was emphatic that the programme is about more than winning medals. Even more important to her is the building of self-esteem. Through the discipline learnt from working hard at something over and over, she said, "many suddenly realise they can do something and do it well".
Many children who were called dunce in school discover previously unknown talents at the centre, Mrs Bushay stated with pride. "Parents are baffled sometimes; they didn't know their children had these abilities. We have children in the programmme who may never get a gold medal, but they learnt to stand in front of others and deliver. I have seen many children blossom," she said.
Mrs Bushay has added to the list of the traditional programmes and activities. One, the Advanced Training Opportunities Programme (ATOP), was introduced because she noticed that even after they turned 18 years old and should have left the centre, many young people kept attending. The programme is in dance and drumming for 18 to 25-year-olds and is given on Thursdays between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m.
Of particular interest is that Mrs Bushay is trying to structure ATOP so that those who wish to pursue further studies in the performing arts (at the Edna Manley College or Excelsior Community College, for example) can get exemptions for subjects already started. In fact, two past ATOP students got scholarships to study in Canada. Unfortunately, only one - who has family there - could take up the scholarship.
Other drumming "graduates" have gone on to join professional drumming groups in the Corporate Area while others have formed their own groups.
TACKLING ISSUES AT HOME
Mrs Bushay has found that, because many children in the programme come from "war-torn areas" with gang violence, where "this road don't talk to that road", her interaction has to be with more than just the children. "We interact with parents as well," she said. "You can't deal with the child alone. We have annual parent-centred seminars in November and quarterly meetings with the parents, here (East Street) and at Portmore."
The annual seminars help parents to understand and assist their children. Parents also drop in or are called on the telephone for information and advice.
Additionally, in May for the past three years, there has been a child-oriented Hush Children Symposium for Child Month. This "provides children with information to make better life choices", Mrs Bushay said. Booths are set up in the IOJ lecture hall and topics such as cybercrime, Internet-based violence, sexual abuse, and bullying are discussed.