Garth RattrayGarth Rattray
IT WASN'T so much the fact that she was underweight for her age and height, nor was it the fact that she was clinically anaemic. It wasn't because her fingernails were nibbled down to the point where they had retreated to about half way up her nail beds, nor was it the nervous way that she entered the office and hurriedly walked towards the chair it was her brave effort to greet me with a smile in spite of the worried look on her face that made me pay extraordinary attention to her.
The shy smile could not hide what Shelly's (not her real name) furrowed brow and staring eyes betrayed: that this teenage girl was living in a hellish nightmare of death-threats, violence and murder every single day of her life. Shelly wasn't much to look at. She was a simple and unassuming girl with clothes that were obviously hand-me-downs, but her strength of character and necessary heroism shone through her acne-pitted face.
EXTERMINATION
She told me that there had been some degree of 'friction' between her father and someone else in the community. The difference of opinion had escalated to the point where her entire family was threatened with extermination. In fact, not too long ago someone fired a shot at her. Her father rightfully reported the matter to the police and they offered to relocate him and only his children from the common-law union. The couple didn't want to separate the siblings but he needed to safeguard his life, so he went into the Witness Protection Programme alone.
Like far too many other communities, this one too is overrun by violence, murder and mayhem. The predominant gun has empowered cretins and sent them on a limitless path of destruction. Eschewing all regard for life and ignoring the laws of civil society, gunmen and gangsters are a law onto themselves and their brand of justice is swift and final. On several occasions, Shelly related how she has seen the dead bodies of her friends and relatives with their brains splattered over the yard or street. She spoke of how they were often shot up so badly that they were unrecognisable and that such occurrences take place right outside her own home.
Bereft of childhood innocence and never given the chance to live in peace, children within those communities constantly duck for cover or run inside when the bullets start to fly. Parents fret about their children's goings and comings. Even the journey to and from school holds no promise of safety. There is no reprieve from the malevolence that permeates those societies.
Unable to locate Shelly's father (the subject of their wrath) the gunmen have intensified their death threats against the family. I strongly advised her to leave the area but she licked her chapped lips and explained that she had nowhere to go. By now she was picking at the remnants of her nails. We fell silent and contemplated the futility of her situation. After a lengthy pause she announced poignantly, "Me done dead already." Sad-dened and helpless, I stared at her and wondered if I would ever see her alive again.
A NEW REALITY
Shelly wants to share her experience because this is the new reality for many. Criminality, like an indomitable cancer, has invaded countless communities and transformed them into renegade states where dictators rule supreme. Many patients tell me of self-imposed curfews and of the exodus of families seeking shelter elsewhere. The ranks of our internally displaced citizens grow every day. Jamaica is experiencing a catastrophic social decay right under our very noses.
At this rate, it's only a matter of time before this 'alternate administration' pours out from the depressed communities and engulfs the general population like the foul and putrid effluent that it truly is. If anyone doubts me, just ask Spanish Town's Mayor Notice. We have reneged on our responsibility to provide good governance for all our people. Because of politics and now hard drugs, we have lost control of a sizeable portion of the country to miscreants. Sadly, there are many people and children who, like Shelly, are just waiting to die at the hands of gunmen.
Dr. Garth A. Rattray is a medical doctor with a family practice.
