{"id":8876,"date":"2018-09-06T12:43:29","date_gmt":"2018-09-06T16:43:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/?p=8876"},"modified":"2018-09-06T12:44:37","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T16:44:37","slug":"spi-participant-recognized-by-jamaican-government-for-community-peacebuilding-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/2018\/09\/spi-participant-recognized-by-jamaican-government-for-community-peacebuilding-work\/","title":{"rendered":"SPI Participant Recognized by Jamaican Government for Community Peacebuilding Work"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Kenneth Wilson (right), president of August Town Peace Builders, receives the Prime Minister\u2019s Medal of Appreciation from Prime Minister Andrew Holness April 25, 2018, at Jamaica House.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SOME TIME AWAY IN 2003<\/strong> was exactly what Kenneth Wilson<\/strong> needed to figure out his next move. A longtime activist and organizer in the August Town community on the outskirts of Kingston, Jamaica, Wilson was feeling isolated in his efforts to address the gang violence that routinely brought \u201cmisery and mayhem\u201d to his hometown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like John the Baptist, the lone voice speaking about peace,\u201d Wilson recalls. \u201cPeople were cowering. People were afraid of the violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Summer Peacebuilding Institute that year, able to reflect from a distance on these challenges, he began drafting plans for a new organization composed of leaders in each of August Town\u2019s five districts. Wilson, who had also attended SPI in 2000, 2001 and 2002, envisioned a group that could both identify emerging conflicts and then work together to resolve them.<\/p>\n

While still at SPI, Wilson compiled a list of specific residents to recruit to the effort, and immediately upon returning, began working to make the August Town Peace Builders a reality. Over the 15 years since, the group has been able to repeatedly defuse local conflicts before they spin out of control, working with a variety of partners including the police, churches and other organizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe meet, we plan, we engage. Once we hear of an incident, we meet and we plan and we intervene,\u201d Wilson says. \u201cI know that [we] have saved many lives in August Town, each time a conflict threatens to explode and we are able to neutralize it.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, August Town Peace Builders\u2019 stature and reputation within the community has grown, propelled by Wilson\u2019s frequent interviews with local media. It still came as a shock, however, when he received a phone call earlier this year letting\u00a0him know that he\u2019d been chosen to receive the Jamaican Prime Minister\u2019s Medal of Appreciation for Contribution to Nation Building. Wilson accepted the award from Prime Minister Andrew Holness at a ceremony on April 25.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really a defining moment for me personally,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n

There have, of course, been setbacks along the way, including a recent outbreak of violence in August Town despite the group\u2019s best efforts. And there have been constant sacrifices required of Wilson and his colleagues, such as putting personal lives on hold to prioritize community needs. Buoyed by the recent honor, however, Wilson hopes his fellow peacebuilders around the world find the strength to continue their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cPersons who are a part of this field are a special kind of human being,\u201d he says. \u201cWe care about humanity. We want to live in peace, in harmony. We must never give up, because if we give up, it will be worse. I just want to encourage my colleagues in this work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SOME TIME AWAY IN 2003 was exactly what Kenneth Wilson needed to figure out his next move. A longtime activist and organizer in the August… Read more about SPI Participant Recognized by Jamaican Government for Community Peacebuilding Work<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1073],"tags":[],"issues":[1508],"class_list":["post-8876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","issues-2018-19"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8876"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8941,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8876\/revisions\/8941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8876"},{"taxonomy":"issues","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/peacebuilder\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issues?post=8876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}