Laventille wept for a lost son on Thursday.
At the Light on the Hill Ministries on Laventille Road—one of many places of worship located in that stigmatised and misunderstood community—residents united in grief at the loss of a promising young boy, Ezekiel Paria, felled by a stray bullet, an innocent victim of gang warfare.
For more than a week, this nation has joined Laventille in lamenting the tragic, untimely death of the 12-year-old Eastern Boys’ Government Primary School pupil, who was preparing to sit the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) examination later this month.
Sadly, Ezekiel’s dreams of passing for his first choice, Fatima College, and one day becoming a pilot, ended suddenly and violently last week Thursday when gunmen opened fire on a car driving by, as he rode a bicycle near his home.
In the days since, a lot has been written and spoken about Ezekiel’s murder. But it was the simple, heartfelt appeal of his aunt, Sandy Huggins, that struck a chord, “We need to be our brother’s keeper, our sister’s keeper. Everybody grow up with one another. Why all this fighting? We need to stop it now.”
In a community that has come to represent all that is negative in T&T, her words were an appeal to the criminal elements who have flooded its streets with guns and bullets.
Like the small but intense peace protests staged near the spot where Ezekiel was gunned down, Huggins’ eulogy was a cry meant to touch the hardened hearts of the gangsters who spread turmoil in Laventille and other hotspot communities.
And even as Ezekiel was laid to rest with many tears, another son of Laventille provided a reminder of the vast, unexplored human potential that also resides there.
Kareem Marcelle, a young attorney-at-law, was sworn in as an alderman in the Port-of-Spain City Corporation and immediately after taking the oath, spoke about creating more opportunities for at-risk young people in working-class communities.
Marcelle grew up in Beetham Gardens fighting against stigma and discrimination to achieve his academic and professional goals. He is familiar with the prejudice that still deprives many in Laventille and its environs of educational and employment opportunities and drives some into the criminal underworld.
History will mark Thursday, a Leap Day, as a day of contrasts for the community—tears for Ezekiel and triumph for Kareem. Let it also be a turning point for a community that is often subjected to unkept promises.
Fingers are pointed at politicians from all sides, who in turn direct their fingers at each other and others, unwilling to accept responsibility but reluctant to forgo the electoral potential in Laventille’s hills and streets.
They all acknowledge that the transformation and advancement of the entire country can begin in Laventille. That was one of the underpinnings of the Community Recovery Committee appointed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley during a period of upheavals not too long ago.
But Laventille weeps because the criminals holding the upper hand there are still free to endanger the lives of children and young people like Ezekiel.
Here is a fact to ponder.
Laventille is a corruption of the French word “la ventaille” (vent), named for the trade winds that blow through it before reaching any other part of Port-of-Spain.
Citizens should, thus, pray for more favourable winds to bring positive change to that community.