“Pride in Gonzales is you and more…the main goal of this entire project, apart from the physical improvement, is the building of pride in this community where we live.

To have appreciation of this place where we live and where our children live and grow and where we come home to rest our heads when the night come. A place we call ours and where our children will call home.” This is what Pride in Gonzales is all about – improving their community.

Stakeholders of the Pride in Gonzales project came together on Friday, September 7, at the Robert Greenidge Playing Field in Gonzales. Partners of the Pride in Gonzales project hosted a project development symposium.

Sharmagne Whickham receives a token of appreciation from a representative of Community Intervention Transforming Youth, on behalf of the stakeholders of Pride in Gonzales project. Sitting to the left is a representative of the Canadian Institute of Planners, Michel Frojmovic. Standing from left, Marlon Allsop, president of Gonzales East Environment for Youth Cultivation and Development, holds more tokens, Fr Clyde Harvey and to his right is a representative of the Port of Spain City Corporation.

This symposium was held to mark the end of the involvement of the Canadian Institute of Planners, and to discuss future plans for the Pride in Gonzales project.

The project, which began in 2003, has had some success - Gonzales is no longer the gang war zone it used to be. Residents are teaming up with stakeholders to develop Gonzales, making it a model for deprived communities across Trinidad.

In attendance at Friday’s meeting were, representatives of the stakeholders; the Port of Spain City Corporation, the Town and Country Planning Division, the East Port of Spain Development Company, the University of the West Indies, the Canadian Institute of Planners, the Catholic-based NGO CITY, Fr Clyde Harvey, parish priest of the area, the Ministry of National Security and residents of Gonzales. Members of the various media were also present.

The symposium featured a slide show presentation of residents – their views on the project and what they would like to see more of in their community.

Each “partner” involved gave a presentation on the different aspects of the project specific to their involvement. Group discussions followed and a field tour was also included as part of Friday’s symposium.

“Fiesta de Gonzales”, a weekend-long celebration of community in Gonzales, followed the symposium. The “Fiesta de Gonzales” included a neighbourhood cookout, an informal “lime”, games, races, talent show and more and proved to be successful as scores of residents came out in a show of solidarity.

Homework clinic

The Pride in Gonzales project has undertaken a number of projects to foster community relations and infuse residents with a sense of pride for their community.

Some of these are an Internet café, three homework clinics, computer literacy programmes, crisis and gang intervention and counselling among others.

The homework clinic was started five years ago, with one clinic, one teacher and three children. There are now 22 registered children enrolled in the three homework clinics throughout Gonzales.

Julieth Blackman, who was the lone teacher at the inception, gave us some insight into how it is run. “Whew, it’s a lot of work, you know? The children get here at 3.00 p.m., sessions begin at 3.30… this is their unwind time.

"We just talk until its 3.30, the children talk about how their day was, what they did over the weekend, their favourite games and things like that, then we begin work. We help them with their homework, but that’s not all. The clinics are places where we try to educate the youth. We also do remedial Math and English every afternoon.”

The clinics are free and are open to all the children of Gonzales. They are sponsored by the Catholic Church, among others, and provide an afternoon meal as one of the services.

The centres have also partnered with Country Foundation, an NGO, based in St Ann’s, which also runs homework clinics, so that they can have access to a wider pool of resources and specialists. “We really need this”, said Blackman.

“One of the things we do is to evaluate the children. We have discovered children with learning disabilities this way and we try to help. After our evaluation we get a second opinion from a trained professional who can then make a recommendation.

"Most times the parents are not aware that their children have these disabilities and counselling is required. If the case is severe we do try to source funding or sponsorship for them to attend a specialised school, and try to work with the entire family. So this is what we do, its difficult sometimes, but it pays off.”

“The whole idea”, continued Blackman, “is to let residents know that there is something available to them. They don’t have to say, ‘Oh, the government is not helping us’, they can help themselves – we can help ourselves together. As the motto goes, ‘we welcome help from others but is we have to build this place and have pride in it.”