The inner-city community of Riverton in Kingston is an example of the Jamaica that tourists rarely get to see. When looking up Riverton in a travel guide one will usually find an explicit warning to avoid this area at all times for safety reasons.

Riverton is a community situated on the Kingston garbage dump. The piles of garbage are source of livelihood to many of the roughly 5000 people who live in small huts made from corrugated metal found amongst the garbage. Poverty is widespread and rates of crime and teenage pregnancy are high. At times, even the police have refused to go into Riverton, and much of the governance in the community occurs through gangs under the auspices of “dons” who gain power through violence. Social services in Riverton are non-existent and social problems omnipresent.

A Canadian student of Psychology and Philosophy, I visited Riverton for the first time in 2003. During that visit it became apparent that there was a desperate need for social services in Riverton and that these services could be provided within the framework of a family center. A parenting program and a resource library were especially needed in this community, where parents as young as fourteen are faced with many unique challenges. Subsequently, I along with two Canadian teachers and the principal of the Riverton Early Childhood Center spent part of this summer setting up a family center in Riverton, so as to fill that void.

Finding an appropriate program for this seminar had been a challenge since many of the concerns of parents in North America do not apply in the Riverton context. Discipline problems such as getting children to clean up their room or eat their dinner are simply non-issues in a community where people live in one-room shacks and food is scarce. After extensive research and evaluations of many programs, the Successful Parenting series from Active Parenting Publishers emerged as the most suitable for this purpose. The topics it covered were ones that the people of Riverton would find helpful.

In the Successful Parenting series, the videos are culturally neutral, offering basic suggestions and explanations for issues that are universally applicable in any context. The use of experts and actors from a variety of different cultural backgrounds made the program easier to relate to for an international audience.

We approached Day One of the parenting workshop confident about the program we had planned. The plan was to have separate sessions for males and females with ten participants each. We were quickly reminded that flexibility is necessary in Riverton, when males and females arrived together, explaining that the females would not come if the males were not there with them. Instead of the ten young girls that we were expecting, there were nineteen males and females that ranged in age from fourteen to thirty-eight. It turned out more community members were interested in the course than we thought. Another unexpected group joined the workshop as well: women brought their children with them. Fortunately, the school principal brought us building blocks and a blanket that the children can sit on and play. We adjusted to the changed circumstances; handed out binders with handouts and nametags and started the discussion.

Each session of an hour was to consist of an introductory discussion question, the video and follow-up discussion questions. The value of the videos quickly became apparent on the first day. During the discussion, it had been hard to capture the attention of some of the younger participants of the program and participation was limited. The video seemed to provide a welcome break and was attentively watched by all participants. The discussion that followed was livelier. Informal discussion over refreshments was also vital in creating a more relaxed atmosphere.

The second day of the program, which was to deal with the topic of effective communication, also truly was a breakthrough in communication. The community nurse joined the program that day, providing a bridge between the two cultures as someone who the community trusts. Not only was she able to help out when the Jamaican patois was hard for us to understand, but her presence also made participants more comfortable.

Each day of the program, the discussions became more interactive. The parents’ concerns were identical to the ideas of most parents anywhere: for the children to stay out of trouble, get a good education and become happy. The only difference lay in the difficulty that providing for such a future poses to parents, since education is costly and opportunities for children to get into trouble are plenty.

Throughout the program, positive feedback from the participants was continuous. Community members such as the nurse, school principal and teachers also affirmed that the program was well received. The continuously high attendance further illustrated this, as did the feedback forms we asked participants to complete on the last day. “(From this program) I have learnt about self-esteem, methods of disciplining your children and ways in which you can communicate with your child. The videos were very helpful for that” one 18-year-old mother wrote. Another participant’s statement that “this program was very important” was illustrated by what we soon learned about her: that she had closed her little store for an hour every day to come to the program.

We left Riverton this time with a family center, with a resource library, and most importantly with young parents who know more about empowering and raising their children than their own parents did. We also gained a better understanding of the community ourselves.

There’s much work left to be done in Riverton. A counselor, facilitator and expanded programs are needed. Riverton’s social problems are complex and will not be solved through one program or in one summer. Yet, the Riverton family center is proof of what is possible with some work in Riverton: a year ago there was no family center, just a school principal with an idea and a few Canadians who wanted to make it happen. A year later the Riverton family center exists ready to be expanded to meet the needs of this community.

Nathalie Lovasz is a Psychology student at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. For more information on the Riverton Family Center Initiative visit
www.rivertonfamilycenter.org