Despite being threatened with death and amidst increasing reports of school violence and murders, law student Dale Christopher Jones, 27, is not giving up on his mission to save lost youths in high risk areas.
A Fatima College graduate with nine passes and holder of a BSc in Business and Computer Studies, Jones, formerly of Laventille, spends most of his day teaching, counselling and guiding students in schools in high risk areas like South East Port-of-Spain, Nelson Street, Morvant, Laventille, Beetham, John John and Diego Martin.
He is at present doing a male empowerment programme with 16 students at Diego Martin North Secondary where three students were recently arrested in connection with a fire at the school.
Judging none, he plods on patiently in his quest to reach them and insists he has seen enough positive changes to inspire him to continue.
Jones believes all troubled young people need is a little guidance.
“For the most part, the majority of them are just looking for some sort of direction. Most have issues at home which cause them to look to the wrong role models.”
Jones’ parents—Simone and Brian Jones—are senior members of the Love Until Foundation of Laventille of which he is a part.
“I want to share my experience of good parenting with young people and support them in any way they need.
“I have a passion for this. School and other violence is really taking a toll on our society. We’ve got to fix that,” he says.
He and a team have formulated a syllabus to teach students life and literary skills.
“We also have meetings with residents in crime hot spots on the programmes they want and tailor our interventions to suit their needs,” he adds.
Giving an example of a success story, he related: “There was one gentleman from Never Dirty, Morvant, Ridge Bowens.
“He had a hard upbringing. He was the eldest of four or five siblings and his mom left them and his dad didn’t take them on.
“At age 12 he was taking care of his younger brothers and sisters and was always angry and had a very mean streak.
“He got thrown out of school in Form Two after he got into a fight with a teacher and was just living in Never Dirty, not really going nowhere.
“He was so angry that if he had gotten into a wrong situation he would have become violent and ended up in jail.”
Jones and his Love Until Foundation team offered an air conditioning course in Never Dirty and encouraged Bowens to enrol.
“After that he really turned his life around. He took to the training and got a level one certificate and is now pursuing level three.
“He works with a reputable air conditioning company in Laventille and is about to purchase his own home. He is even planning to open his own business,” he said.
Giving another example, Jones said they were working with students at Laventille Girls’ Primary.
“There was one young lady in Standard Five who was a little miserable, to put it mildly. She wasn’t there yet but she was definitely heading down the wrong road.”
Jones said he and his team did what they had to do and went on their way, not fully knowing the impact they had made.
He found out later. “I recently saw this same girl at a gospel concert and she came up to me and said the programme we did really changed her life.
“She said she was going through a lot at the time and we helped her change the way she saw things.”
One time Jones received a death threat, from a parent.
“We were working in an at risk school in Chaguanas and a parent didn’t like how I disciplined his child and threatened to kill me.
“We were in a class activity using a skit. In the skit, the child wasn’t paying attention and I shouted at him.
“The parent didn’t understand. I was acting. He came to the school the following day asking for me and saying the next time he saw me he would kill me, that nobody could talk to his child like that.
“He later cooled down after we dialogued with him.”
Jones said he was “not particularly scared” working in at risk communities.
“I have strong faith in God. I don’t believe He would send me somewhere and let something happen to me.”