Spring Village to fight crime with ‘awesome praise’ empowerment series

One community that has seen an upsurge in crime over recent years is Spring Village, four miles northeast of Old Harbour, where two major murders in recent times have made national headlines and have driven fear into the hearts of its residents. This has prompted community leaders to look at staging a series of events in March dubbed the ‘Awesome Praise Experience Empowerment Weekend’ that is designed to not only reduce crime but show at-risk youth that there are alternate ways of dealing with disputes, poverty, lack of education and jobs.

In November 2021, the Spring Village community was rocked by the gruesome discovery of the decomposing bodies of two elderly sisters. The women, 69-year-old Christine Lewis, a justice of the peace and retired teacher, and her 73-year-old disabled sister Lola Lewis, who she provided care for, were found with their throats slashed. Less than a year later on September 18, 2022, three persons were killed and six wounded in a brazen mass shooting at the Best Dressed Chicken community playfield in Spring Village as a man alighted from a motor vehicle, shot his intended target and then sprayed bullets into a crowd of spectators who had gathered to watch a football match that was in progress. 
 

These incidents are just a few on a growing list of crimes that have been plaguing the once family oriented community and have prompted the Spring Village Development Foundation to host a series of events for mid-March 2023, the highlight of which will be an ‘Awesome Praise Experience’ gospel concert on Saturday, March 18, 2023.  Chief organiser of the event Minister Marcellus Osbourne shared his entity’s upcoming plans for their Awesome Praise Experience (A.P.EX) weekend which he emphasized will be packed with praise, worship and fellowship as they use the scriptures to give back to residents of Spring Village and surrounding areas that much needed sense of purpose to sustain them going forward into 2023.

“We had two events prior, one in March 2017 and another in March 2019 that saw some 100 persons and then about 300 persons gathered respectively as we were able to build interest and gain momentum with each staging. We initially wanted to make it an annual event but covid had derailed our efforts; but now we are back, stronger than ever. The community has a few secular events but this will be different and refreshing from the point of view of a gospel event set to bring people closer to God,” said Osbourne in an Old Harbour News exclusive.

Over a four-day period, the A.P.EX team will visit schools to have motivational talks with students, host street ministries in the community square, a family fun day and children’s treat as well as stage an empowerment conference at the Spring Village Development Centre.

Refreshment will be provided at most of the events and all are invited as all of the activities are free to the public.

The big event will be the ‘Awesome Praise Experience Empowerment’ concert scheduled for 6:00 pm on Saturday, March 18, 2023 that will feature artists such as Jesus Rambo, Servant Paul and Spring Village native Adrian Banton better known as ‘AGB’ (A God Boy), all of whom are flying in from the United States while local acts who will join them include Chozen Vessel, Rian Davis and Dwayne Murphy. The concert emcee will be evangelist Stacy-Ann ‘Resurrected’ Garvey, who will also be ministering about her prison experience and her own road to redemption. Other events scheduled to take place include community walk-throughs in some of the hot spot areas, baptisms of new converts on Sunday and visiting both a juvenile remand centre and the female prison on Monday with Minister Garvey.

Osbourne who grew up in the community but now resides overseas, stated that he hopes with the staging of the Awesome Praise Experience, they can assist in getting persons back together and once again have a sense of community and more importantly a sense of purpose.

“With the recent crime incidents taking place, we have to try to get people to recognise that we are all one; we are all the same so it is senseless to kill off your community members because then you are killing your brothers and sisters. At least 80% of the people in Spring Village are families  who have lived there for generations  so we have to bring the younger generation back to God  and show them a better alternative, so that is our ultimate goal,” he said.

The issue of crime has especially hit home hard for Osbourne who has personally lost loved ones to violence.

“It has personally impacted my life because Miss Lewis, the teacher who was murdered used to teach me in grade seven, so I knew her and knew that she was a wonderful human being who did not deserve such a horrific end,” he stated, before adding: “Also a few years ago my own grand aunt was raped and her throat also slashed so this is beyond sad.

“There is a disconnection that has taken place. There is widespread fatherlessness and hopelessness and we have to try and reach out to young people to show them that there is hope. We have to instill in them values and re-socialise them to see that their lives have a higher purpose.”