Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer
Two residents of Mountain View, St. Andrew, light candles during a vigil for children who have died by violence in the country since the start of the year. The vigil was held at the New Testament Church of God on Mountain View Avenue in Kingston on Sunday. - NORMAN GRINDLEY/DEPUTY CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
FOR A few hours Sunday evening, residents of Mountain View Avenue in east Kingston filed into the New Testament Church of God, asking for divine assistance to heal the wounds of their community.
Mountain View Avenue, particularly the neighbourhood of Jacques Road, was scarred by gang violence in September. Four persons - three women and a three-month-old infant - were murdered there.
The vigil was the second in Kingston within a week. The first took place at Barnes Avenue off Maxfield Avenue where four persons, including 10-year-old Sasha-Kay Brown, were burnt to death in a blaze set by gunmen on October 5.
FAIR-SIZED CROWD
Like the Barnes Avenue vigil, Sunday's event was organised by the Nationwide News Network team and drew a fair-sized crowd which included representatives from the clergy and volunteer groups, Jamaicans For Justice and Mother in Crisis.
There was also a roll call of the 70 children who have died violently in Jamaica in 2005.
One of the persons in attendance was the younger sister of Melissa Irving, the 25-year-old woman who was murdered at Jacques Road on September 27.
Miss Irving, who was buried the previous Sunday, is also survived by five children, ages nine, seven, two, one and two months.
NO PLANS TO RETURN
Her sister, who opted not to give her name, told The Gleaner that her family left Mountain View Avenue shortly after the tragic incident. They have no plans to return.
"We could have stayed but it was getting out of hand, from woman an' children start dead wi had to leave," she said.
While most of Miss Irving's family remains in Kingston, her children have moved to the rural area where they are being cared for by their maternal grandmother.
The violence that forced several families to take flight from the Mountain View neighbourhood of Jacques Road has eased considerably.
Markel Wright, pastor at the New Testament Church, says there has been a collective effort by the church and the area's political representatives to restore some stability to the community.
