分类： society

Ahead of the global observance of Father’s Day on June 21, a senior Jamaican correctional services chaplain is sounding a urgent call to action for Jamaican men to embrace active, consistent parental roles, after first-hand conversations with incarcerated juveniles revealed a stark connection between absent fathers and youth offending.

Reverend Dwayne Nelson, who serves as chaplain for Jamaica’s Department of Correctional Services, shared that nearly 30 percent of the young people he counselled at youth correctional facilities across the island openly linked their incarceration and behavioural struggles to growing up without a present father. His on-the-ground findings align with established regional and international research that confirms children growing up fatherless are 11 times more likely to engage in criminal activity than their peers with involved fathers.

Over the course of his work, Reverend Nelson has held confidential counselling sessions with around 69 young people aged 13 to 17 held in Jamaican youth correctional institutions. In almost every discussion about the root of their harmful choices and life struggles, the absence of a positive male paternal figure emerged as a core contributing factor.

“When we talk about their families, they will freely mention their mothers, but when I ask about their fathers, the responses are almost always the same: ‘I don’t have a father,’ ‘My dad isn’t around,’ or ‘He never did what he was supposed to do for me,’” Reverend Nelson explained in an interview with the Jamaica Observer. “One young inmate put it plainly: if his father had been present in his life, he would never have ended up locked up in this place.”

Many youth living solely with their mothers told the chaplain they committed offences specifically because the father’s financial and emotional void left the family struggling, pushing them to turn to criminal activity to provide for their moms and younger siblings. For boys, without a father to model healthy masculinity and set boundaries, many fell prey to outside negative influences that normalized crime and violence. For girls, the impact follows a different but equally damaging pattern: many said the lack of a father’s love and validation led them to seek approval from older men, often drawing them into harmful relationships and dangerous social circles that led to legal trouble.

Reverend Nelson emphasized that while countless single mothers work tirelessly to raise their children alone, a mother cannot fully replace the unique role a father plays in a child’s life. He argued that forcing women to take on both parental roles often stretches them too thin, undermining their ability to deliver both the nurturing care they naturally provide and the structured guidance that a father typically brings.

Beyond calling on biological fathers to show up more consistently for their children, Reverend Nelson is also urging all Jamaican men of strong character and positive values — whether they are fathers themselves or not — to step into mentorship roles for fatherless young people. He notes that vulnerable youth are actively craving male guidance, and consistently respond with openness and gratitude to any man willing to invest time in them.

“These young people are desperate for a father figure, so they almost never push away positive male attention. They want to hear from men, they long for that guidance,” he told the Sunday Observer. “You can help them channel their pain from abandonment into a drive to build a better life, so that when they have their own children one day, they can be the involved parent they never had. Even when they don’t say it out loud, their actions show how much they appreciate the support: they’ll seek you out to talk, ask for prayer, or want to spend time together. There is still so much hope for these kids.”

Quoting iconic American evangelist Billy Graham, Reverend Nelson closed by reinforcing the underrecognized value of fathers across society. “A good father is unsung, rarely praised, and often goes unnoticed, but he is one of the most valuable assets any community can have,” he said. “We often give mothers far more visibility and appreciation for their daily work, but fathers play an irreplaceable role in shaping safer, stronger societies. Following the biblical teaching that if you train a child in the right way, they will never stray from it when they grow old, a father’s involvement is one of the most powerful tools we have to deter children from crime and help them unlock their full potential. I urge every father to show up for your kids — your involvement can change not just your child’s life, but transform our entire society for the better.”

For millions of sports fans around the world, major international tournaments like the FIFA World Cup and Olympic Games are defined by the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, and the unforgettable action unfolding on the pitch or track. For Christopher Williams, a Jamaican business leader and former collegiate footballer, these events have always meant something far deeper: they are the foundation of a deliberate, 15-year family tradition built to heal past wounds and forge unbreakable bonds with his two sons, Zachary and Justin-Paul.

Raised in humble circumstances without the close, affectionate father-son connection he craved as a child, Williams, chairman and CEO of Different Properties Jamaica Limited and former head of Professional Football Jamaica Limited, made a promise to his own children early on: he would give them the intentional quality time and secure bond he never got to experience growing up. A lifelong lover of football, sports, and his home country Jamaica, Williams turned his long-held passion into the perfect vessel for this promise.

Fifteen years ago, Christopher and his wife Michelle made a deliberate choice to forgo accumulating material gifts for their boys, and instead opened a dedicated vacation savings account earmarked entirely for shared family experiences: opportunities to travel, laugh, learn, and celebrate together, one major sports event at a time. What started as a small, intentional plan has grown into a cross-continental adventure that has reshaped their family dynamic. To date, the Williams family has attended three FIFA World Cups – Brazil 2014, Qatar 2022, and the ongoing 2026 tournament hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico – alongside the Olympic Games, domestic Jamaican Premier League matches, and the 2023 UEFA Champions League final held in Istanbul.

Looking back on the 15-year journey, Christopher notes the quiet, moving transformation that has unfolded. When the tradition first began, his sons were small children entirely dependent on Christopher and Michelle to plan every detail of their trips, from transportation to accommodation. Today, the roles have shifted: it is Zachary and Justin-Paul who map out itineraries, book rides and hotels, and care for their parents throughout the journey. “It has been really moving for me as a father to watch them get to this level and be in charge of our experiential trips,” Williams shared in an interview with the *Sunday Observer*.

One beloved ritual has become synonymous with the Williams family’s adventures: the Jamaican flag never gets left behind. No matter if they are heading to a Champions League final or a World Cup opener, the iconic black, green, and gold standard is always the last item checked before they leave for the airport. “The last thing we say to each other before we leave for the airport is, ‘Yo, you pack the flag?’ ” Christopher said with a laugh.

This small tradition has led to countless unexpected, warm encounters with sports fans from around the world. During the 2026 World Cup’s opening match between hosts Mexico and South Africa at Mexico City’s legendary Estadio Azteca, Zachary and Christopher’s visible Jamaican flag drew crowds of spectators eager to say hello and snap photos. A 15-minute walk around the stadium took nearly twice as long, as the pair stopped again and again to greet new people. “It was maybe a 15-minute walk, and it took us about half an hour because of how many times we had to stop and take pictures,” 19-year-old Zachary recalled. “It was literally insane.”

For Christopher, attending that opening match at Azteca Stadium carried a personal, emotional weight that went far beyond the final score. He deliberately chose to attend the match because of the stadium’s iconic place in football history: it was here that Diego Maradona, his childhood hero, led Argentina to World Cup victory in 1986. Forty years after that legendary final, standing on the same ground he had only read and dreamed about as a boy, Williams called the moment overwhelming. “Growing up, I dreamt of that Diego Maradona final in 1986 in Azteca when Maradona won the World Cup, and to know that 40 years later in the World Cup we were in that stadium, tears come to your eyes,” he said. “As you’re walking, you’re looking at the pitch, you’re looking at the sun, and you’re just wondering what it was like 40 years ago when Diego won the World Cup, so it was very emotional for me.”

Each member of the Williams family holds their own treasured memory from the 15 years of adventures. Justin-Paul, 28, who was unable to attend the 2026 Mexico trip, counts the 2012 London Olympics as his most unforgettable experience, when Jamaica made history by sweeping the men’s 100m podium, led by sprint legend Usain Bolt. The entire family showed up decked out in Puma gear, the brand that sponsored Jamaica’s track team, leading event officials to mistake them for official team members. The happy mistake got them access to the field and a prime spot in the reporters’ booth to watch the historic race. “I remember how electric the stadium was before the men’s 100-metre final. Everybody was scrambling to get a good view. Then all that excitement went by in nine seconds. It was unbelievable,” he said.

For Zachary, who was born in 2006 – itself a World Cup year – the most memorable experience was an exhibition El Clásico match held in Miami, featuring some of the greatest footballers of a generation: Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema of Real Madrid, and Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez, and Neymar for Barcelona. “I remember almost every second of that game. Hearing the Real Madrid supporters singing before the match and seeing the players warming up right in front of me was surreal. The whole second half I stood on my chair. It was such a good experience,” he said.

Beyond creating shared memories, the family’s shared love of football has also sparked lighthearted, loving rivalry around the house. A lifelong diehard Manchester United fan, Christopher constantly teases Zachary over his support for rivals Manchester City. The friendly competition also extends to the pitch: Christopher and Zachary play frequent weekend matches, with the elder Williams still eager to prove he has not lost his touch. “Before I retired as a top baller, of course, I would buss up his salad every weekend,” Christopher joked, prompting Zachary to quickly interject “Not every weekend,” drawing peals of laughter from the whole family.

For all the iconic stadiums he has visited and historic moments he has witnessed, Christopher says fatherhood remains his greatest and most important life achievement. “It’s the last thing I think about at night and the first thing I think about in the morning, how my kids are doing mentally, whether they’re happy, and whether they feel they have a shot at building themselves in life. I don’t want to show them love through presents. I want to show them through my presence and by being there for them as much as possible,” he said.

That consistent, intentional presence has left a permanent mark on his sons. Zachary spoke openly about the impact of his father’s choice to prioritize shared experiences over work or material gain. “I would just like to tell my dad thank you again for making it such a priority in his life and making the sacrifices necessary. I’m sure it wasn’t easy, but it’s life-changing for me and my brother to be able to have these experiences. I love you, and I appreciate the sacrifices you’ve made,” he said.

Justin-Paul, who works alongside his father in the real estate industry, added that Christopher has not only been a father but a mentor, peer, and friend, creating a new model of intentional fatherhood that he and Zachary will carry forward to their own families one day. Because Christopher grew up without a positive fatherhood blueprint to follow, he built one from scratch for his sons. “When my brother and I have children we’ll have a blueprint, because he is the blueprint. It is great to have been raised by a king,” Justin-Paul said.

As Jamaica prepares to celebrate Father’s Day on June 21, Christopher says he hopes his family’s story will serve as a reminder for Jamaican fathers across the island that intentional, positive fatherhood is a powerful, lasting gift. “We just want Jamaica and everybody to know that we are present. We’re not going away. We’re staying in our children’s lives, giving them guidance, encouragement, support, and love,” the father of two said.

Dame Marie Clemetson, a pioneering Jamaican nursing leader who made history as the first Jamaican Dame of The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem and former chief nursing superintendent of St John Ambulance Brigade Jamaica, was laid to rest on Saturday following a life defined by decades of selfless service to public health and community welfare.

A moving thanksgiving service to honor her legacy was held at Kingston’s Holy Cross Church, where Earl Jarrett, chairman of St John Jamaica, delivered a heartfelt tribute on behalf of the organization, framing Dame Marie’s decades of work as a masterclass in unwavering service, steadfast faith, and radical compassion for vulnerable communities.

Dame Marie’s distinguished global career in healthcare began in England, where she completed her rigorous professional nursing training. When she returned to her home country of Jamaica, she immediately committed her specialized skills to volunteer work, officially joining the St John Ambulance Brigade’s volunteer corps in 1960. Over the following six decades, she climbed the organization’s ranks through consistent dedication and exceptional leadership, eventually rising to the position of chief nursing superintendent. Jarrett noted that Dame Marie led the brigade with a one-of-a-kind balance of disciplined, evidence-based professionalism and gentle, maternal warmth, mentoring hundreds of new volunteers and first responders who carried her lessons forward through their own service.

Beyond the St John Ambulance Brigade’s core work of emergency response, Dame Marie identified a critical unmet need in Jamaica’s national healthcare ecosystem: structured, compassionate in-home care for elderly, chronically ill, and socially vulnerable Jamaicans who could not access consistent institutional care. To fill this gap, she pioneered the integration of formalized home nursing care and caregiving training into the brigade’s core services, a transformative shift that reshaped community health across Jamaica. Drawing on St John’s established international training protocols, she developed a accessible, practical curriculum that equipped thousands of ordinary Jamaicans with life-saving caregiving skills, permanently embedding St John Ambulance Brigade as a foundational pillar of grassroots healthcare on the island.

Jarrett also highlighted Dame Marie’s extraordinary skill as a leader who turned big-picture vision into tangible, lasting change, particularly through her groundbreaking resource mobilization work. One of her most notable achievements was successfully negotiating with international humanitarian organization Food For the Poor to secure a cutting-edge, fully equipped ambulance for the brigade. This vehicle became an essential lifeline for underserved communities across Jamaica, and it endures today as a symbol of Dame Marie’s unyielding determination to ensure that limited resources never became a barrier to saving Jamaican lives.

Dame Marie’s decades of tireless service earned her historic recognition at the local, regional, and international levels. Her inclusive ecumenical spirit and unwavering advocacy for poor and sick communities across the Caribbean caught global attention in 2015, when Pope Francis awarded her a prestigious papal honor — a rare distinction that made her the first Jamaican to receive the accolade, cementing her status as a global leader in humanitarian care. Her 2019 investiture as the first Dame of the Order of St John in Jamaica marked a historic milestone for the national St John organization, highlighting the outsized impact of her work.

Today, Dame Marie’s legacy stands as a guiding example for the global St John network, which includes more than 160,000 active volunteers serving across 40 countries. “Dame Marie did not just wear the St John cross; she carried its virtues of devotion and charity in her heart every single day,” Jarrett told attendees at the service. “Her legacy lives on in every ambulance that rolls out to save a life, in every home nurse who gently tends to a patient, and in the enduring spirit of volunteerism at St John Jamaica.”

In the wake of Dame Marie’s passing, St John Jamaica has extended its deepest condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues, and reaffirmed its commitment to honoring her memory by carrying forward the life-saving community health work she built.

On a recent Saturday in St Catherine, Jamaica, a solemn gathering of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) members packed the Portmore New Testament Church of God to pay their final respects to Imru Khouri, a dedicated young party operative who died earlier this month. Attendees ranged from sitting Cabinet ministers to up-and-coming young party professionals, all united in mourning the loss of a rising figure within the party’s ranks.

Khouri, who was just 23 years old, held two key roles within the JLP infrastructure: he served as chapter chairman for Young Jamaica, the party’s official youth wing, and also contributed as a sitting member of the JLP’s central communications team. He passed away in early May following a sudden, short bout of illness, cutting short a promising political career that many within the party had watched develop with high hopes.

After the funeral service concluded, a procession carried Khouri to his final resting place at Dovecot Memorial Park, where he was formally laid to rest. Local journalist Llewellyn Wynter captured video footage of the memorial service for regional news outlets. Members of the party have remembered Khouri as a driven, committed young leader who brought energy and fresh perspective to JLP outreach and communications work in his local community.

Scroll through any social media platform in 2024, and you are almost guaranteed to pause on a viral clip of an older adult that stops you mid-scroll and pulls a genuine smile. It might be a silver-haired grandfather sharing off-the-cuff life advice, his eyes crinkling with warmth. Or an 80-year-old grandmother dancing with more energy and rhythm than her grandchildren half her age. Or a retiree who distills a lifetime of learning into one pithy, wiser line than any best-selling self-help book could craft.

These clips spread like wildfire, shared between friends and tagged in group chats, because they tap into a universal, warm truth: there is a unique, profound joy in watching someone who has lived a full life continue to find delight in small, everyday moments. They remind us, even for just a fleeting minute, that growing old is not a fate to dread—it is a gift that too many people never get the chance to receive.

This reflection hits especially close to home on Father’s Day, a holiday when we gather to honor the fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and elder male mentors who have shaped who we are. Many of these beloved figures are now in the season of life we define as old age, making it the perfect moment to ask a question that matters to every single one of us: when our turn comes— as it inevitably will for all—how do we want to be treated as we age?

The reality is, all of us are already growing older. And for Jamaica, this demographic shift is far more than a passing talking point: it is a defining national transition. Right now, the country counts roughly 350,000 residents aged 60 and older, and that number continues to climb steadily. Globally, the United Nations projects the over-60 population will hit 2 billion by 2050. This shift is not the impending crisis many frame it as; in fact, it is a remarkable triumph of modern medicine and social progress that more people than ever get to live long, full lives. But it does demand that we build a society that works for the people who spent their lifetimes building it first.

One truth we rarely discuss openly is how pervasive loneliness is in older age. Children grow up and move away to build their own lives. Longtime friends and partners pass on. The phone rings less and less each passing year. For far too many seniors, the deepest pain does not come from creaky joints or slower steps—it comes from long, quiet days spent in isolation, feeling forgotten by the very communities and people they dedicated their lives to supporting.

But this is not an intractable problem. This is a problem we can solve together. Quality medical care is undeniably critical to healthy aging, but aging with dignity requires more than just access to treatment. It requires consistent connection, a sense of purpose, and the simple, foundational assurance that you still matter. It requires a society that chooses to grow kinder, not colder, as its population ages.

No one pretends that every senior in Jamaica currently receives the care and respect they deserve. Painful stories of neglect and isolation are all too common, and they demand our attention. But rather than only fixate on past failures, it is far more productive to focus on the inclusive future we are building right now—because the solution to loneliness and neglect is a community that shows up for its elders.

That community-centered spirit is at the heart of new initiatives advancing through Jamaica’s Ministry of Health and Wellness. The ministry is rolling out a new community-based model of geriatric care that brings critical services directly to older people, rather than forcing them to travel to distant hospitals to access support. Pilot specialized geriatric clinics will launch first in St Ann and St Catherine, offering comprehensive health assessments and condition-specific care tailored to older adults. The government is also expanding structured home-based care, where community health aides conduct regular, scheduled check-ins under the supervision of public health nurses, bringing support straight to seniors where they live.

But the Jamaican government cannot solve this challenge alone, nor should it. This is a national project that demands buy-in from every sector. Minister of Health and Wellness Dr. Chris Tufton is calling on private sector stakeholders and local community groups to reimagine what healthy, connected aging can look like for Jamaica. This could mean senior daycare centers, where working adult children can leave their parents in safe, social company instead of leaving them home alone all day. It could mean community retreats, recreational activities, and intergenerational gathering spaces designed specifically for older adults. These spaces would give seniors a place to come together, share their life stories, and pass down the hard-won wisdom that we already love celebrating in viral social media clips—reminding them they remain a vital, irreplaceable part of Jamaica’s national life.

Ultimately, the success of these efforts will not be measured by the number of clinics built or programs announced. It will be measured by whether our mothers and fathers, our grandparents and neighbors, can grow old with dignity, independence, and joy.

So this Father’s Day, as we honor the older men in our lives and every senior who has carried our nation to where it is today, we can make a quiet, collective promise: we will not let them grow old alone, and we will build a Jamaica that grows kinder as it grows older. Because if we are lucky enough to live long enough, each of us will one day be that voice in the video, that elder in the photograph, hoping the world still keeps a warm place for us. How would you want to be treated when your turn comes? Let us treat the seniors who built this country exactly that way today.

This commentary is by Dr. Chris Tufton, CD, MP, Jamaica’s Minister of Health and Wellness.