What’s your job? I’m a thief …

Photo by Anne Ruthmann

It seems more and more Jamaicans are taking up robbery as a professional career.  In times of economic downturn, crime pays.

There’s been a staggering increase in the number of reported robberies, a 79 per cent increase on around this time last year.  In actual numbers, there were 277 robberies and 294 break-ins in one month alone.

It’s pretty shocking, but easy money.  I remember talking to some guys who were eagerly awaiting hurricane season one year for looting opportunities. It’s like other countries wait for the strawberry picking season for their employment.

I suppose it makes perfect sense if this is the only way you can see to make money.  But the knock on effects of a worsening crime situation on the island are obvious enough.  Robbery is the nail in the coffin for local businesses struggling to keep afloat.

House break-ins only increase the number of gated developments with their  barking dogs outside as people lock themselves away at night – this kind of thing can destroy communities.

Ghetto living – uptown

If you were a gangster, controlling a group of young shottas, dominating a community in the deprived ghetto areas of Kingston, Jamaica, if you were profiting from a nice income from extortion or drug running – where would you lay your sleepy head every night?

According to this report, the top men are residing, not under the zinc roof in seaview gardens or jungle where they rule the roost – oh no – they’re laying low uptown. Enjoying the cool breeze in the hills.   Hope Pastures, Jack’s Hill, Cherry Gardens.

I can’t say I blame them.  Escaping the likelihood of getting shot in a police raid.  Or from a rival gang’s bullets.  Not to mention the lack of adequate sanitation and room size.  If you could escape all that of course you would.  It’s just a shame that the ordinary people blighted by gang warfare can’t move themselves and their young children away from it.

Jamaican Poverty

Can people living on the breadline keep their sense of self respect? Can there be dignity in poverty? Trish and Kenyon from Seaview Gardens – a ghetto area of Kingston answer these questions here.

Basically they are saying that sometimes in the month, they do not have anough money for bus fare and have to ask others for help. that they are constantly in debt and are grateful to friends and family for extra help when they need it. This is not the worst example of poverty in JA but it is still important. They both have full time jobs and yet do not have enough money to heat up hot water because gas is too expensive.

This photo has been taken in Seaview Gardens in Kingston, Jamaica. It is the rubbish which is thrown in the gully. It is such a travesty to see such a beautiful island being treated like this. But people have more pressing worries on their mind – is this a valid excuse? I wonder whether poverty is a valid excuse for a lack of environmentalism?

Now it seems there will be an increase in people living in poverty, according to forthcoming figures from the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ).