KINGSTON, Jamaica — Transforming profound personal tragedy into a force for communal healing, Denise Johnston has established the Pamella Sunrise Foundation to support victims of gun violence and trauma. Her inspiration stems from devastating personal losses that began in 1987 when armed assailants shot her mother in their Fairfield Road home. The violence escalated nine months later when her sister, Constable Pamella Johnston, became the first female police officer in Jamaica killed in the line of duty after being raped and murdered by gunmen who boarded a public bus in Greendale. Another passenger, Fendel Pearson, was fatally shot during the same incident in front of his eight-year-old daughter.
Johnston describes the enduring nature of such trauma: “It’s not something you just get over. Without knowing the extent of your pain, people keep asking in disbelief if you’ve not gotten over it yet, why haven’t you healed as yet…and why is it taking you so long.” She recalls her sister as “the glue of the family” whose death shattered their family unit, making it painfully difficult for them to even occupy the same room together.
After carrying this pain for more than two decades, Johnston relocated to California following the parole granted to one of her sister’s murderers, whom she was unexpectedly asked to pardon. This geographical shift eventually led her to seek grief counseling through Christian ministry, which became the catalyst for establishing her faith-based organization.
The Pamella Sunrise Foundation, launched in December 2024 with operations in both California and Jamaica, provides specialized support through licensed therapists who are also Christians, with particular emphasis on children affected by violence. “One of the reasons why the foundation places an emphasis on children is because that troubled child could want to grow up and be different,” Johnston explained. “We are about changing the mind, changing emotional patterns.”
The foundation’s programs focus on understanding grief, achieving closure, and navigating the complex terrain of forgiveness. In a remarkable demonstration of this principle, Johnston forgave the daughter of one of her sister’s killers after the woman sought forgiveness through a TikTok video in 2024. They subsequently met, prayed together, and agreed to collaborate through the foundation to address the generational impact of violence.
“How could I not want to forgive…it is not for me to be hanging on to unforgiveness,” Johnston reflected. “She wants what’s different for her family — and not for them to go the route of her father. It doesn’t have to be that because you have killed someone for me I have to kill someone for you.”
The organization plans to expand its reach through camps and workshops in selected communities, training advocates for counseling while strengthening collaborations with the private sector, law enforcement, correctional services, educational institutions, and government ministries. Johnston summarizes their mission: “We aim to change the lives and the stories of people who have been disadvantaged by gun crimes from pain and defeat to promise and purpose.”