Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
Alan Campbell points to the unfinished basic school building. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
AS THE rain poured in sheets, Alan Campbell sought shelter in the unfinished building he hopes will some day house a basic school. His slim frame swallowed by a winter jacket, the lanky Rastafarian gave a mini-tour of a project he conceptualised 20 years ago.
The 'school' has been a labour of love for the 62-year-old Campbell who was born and raised in Greenwich Town, a tough community in the South West St. Andrew constituency of Local Government Minister Portia Simpson Miller.
Mr. Campbell informs The Gleaner that work on the project started three years ago with his personal funds and labour from friends, mostly from Greenwich Town. Presently, the structure has eight rooms, enough, Mr. Campbell says, to accommodate 100 students.
FINANCES DWINDLING
With his personal finances dwindling, a frustrated Mr. Campbell is appealing for assistance from the corporate companies located near Greenwich Town. Companies, he says, that benefited from the labour of the community's residents when they were starting out.
He is sceptical about contacting Mrs. Simpson Miller, his Member of Parliament.
"Mi nuh waan mix up inna the politics 'cause I know what it is," he said. "I study it a university and know what it do inna Jamaica an' I don't want to get in it."
Greenwich Town is a hop-and-skip away from west Kingston and, like that constituency, has been prone to political and gang violence since the 1970s, which claimed the life of one of Mr. Campbell's sons in 1996. He says a lack of role models in the area is partly to blame for unrest in the area.
"I see where most of the youth who come from here that get a good education leave an' there is nobody to look up to," he said. "I'm trying to fight crime 'cause mi si little youth 'bout the place a point gunfinger an' him couldn't be more than three year old. What going to happen afterward?"
TWO EXISTING BASIC SCHOOLS
There are two basic schools in Greenwich Town - the Western United Basic and the Holy Name Catholic.
Campbell is one of the persons who came out of Greenwich Town with his head held high. He studied industrial relations at the University of the West Indies in the mid-1960s and was a union leader on the Kingston Wharves during the 1970s, before emigrating to the United States where he still lives. He is determined to make a difference in his hometown and believes education is the way to go.
