Children First introduces ‘justice’ to Dela Vega City

The local non-profit organization hosted a community intervention initiative on Monday, March 25, 2024, and residents were invited to participate in their SO-JUST Betta Project staged in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice.

The project is primarily centred around community-focused activities designed to increase awareness and referrals for available support services and programmes, hence Children First was happy to partner with several social justice branches including the Child Division and Restorative Justice units, both of which operate under the banner of the Ministry of Justice.

The SO-JUST sessions are all about implementing innovative educational, training, and psychosocial programmes to enhance the capacity of and empower children in conflict or contact with the law. It also seeks to increase awareness of child rights, court systems, laws and related information among children plus parents and guardians.

Peta-Ann Morris, a field Officer from Restorative Justice shared with Old Harbour News that this was not her first time working with the residents of Dela Vega City as the community has always embraced initiatives that seek to better their lives and by extension that of their children and community. 

“Today was about sharing what my agency does which primarily is mediation and providing options to people who have conflict that they just cannot seem to resolve without an unbiased third party. The residents learned about what options are available and also how best to approach potentially volatile situations and de-escalate them,” said Morris.

Those who came out early also got the opportunity to speak with lawyers who were on hand in the Legal Aid Council’s ‘Justice Bus’ providing free legal advice to community members who sought out their services. Others were happy to be a part of the various sessions that took place that had participants engaged in answering questions while learning about the different resources and tools available to them which many previously stated they had no clue existed.

Sila Morgan who has been a resident of the community for many years not only registered early but was fully engrossed in the process and had high praises of the various presenters who she said made them comfortable enough to learn without it feeling as if they were being lectured

“I wished I had known about these resources before as knowing that there are alternatives to going to the police is a good thing,” she said. “I learned that the police does not have to be the first and only place I can go to get justice or to solve a conflict and I can easily share what I know with persons who weren’t able to make it out today. Knowledge is a powerful thing.”