Delinquents: The Unheard

A cinder block wall replaces the flimsy door.

Last week we heard from our teammates.  Their house had been broken into while they were out for the day.  Some things were stolen.  This is the 4th time someone on our team has experienced a break-in and it has made us aware that we need to consider house security more when considering a rental property.  It is a sad new reality of life in our town.

It hasn’t always been like this.  Islands take pride in the low levels of crime that take place on the islands.  It is a safe place to live.  People can go out at night and the streets are not dangerous.  But there has been a definite rise in this kind of crime.  Dangerous crime is low, but break-ins, theft, stealing of cars and motorcycles is on the rise.  When you ask people why, they all tend to have one answer for you:  The French Island.

The basic theory goes like this: Young men from Clove Island go to the French Island illegally hoping to find a better life.  Instead, most only find poverty, discrimination, and injustice.  They learn to break the law to survive, get involved in gangs, and become “delinquents”.  Every so often the police crack down.  If these delinquents are caught, they are put in prison and then deported back to Clove Island.  Back on Clove Island they use their newly acquired skills to rob and steal, often with the hope of getting enough money to get passage back to the French Island.  And so the vicious cycle continues.

It may be easy to blame these “delinquents” for the problems we are facing on the islands, but I think that would take too simplistic a view.  Having many young, male friends, lured by the chance of a better life on the French Island, gives us a different perspective on things.  This is more than just a problem of “delinquents”.  It is also an economic problem, a social problem, a spiritual problem.

Rioting on the French Island

The fact of the matter is, a guy doing brick work on Clove Island will get paid about a tenth of what he would get paid for the same kind of work (if he can find it) on the French Island.  That is a pretty big economic incentive.  But often finding that work is difficult.  You are also at the mercy of the employer, if he decides not to pay you, you have no recourse, because he can easily have you arrested and deported.  More and more, as crime rates rise, these young men are despised by the local populace.  They are mistreated, hated, and in the eyes of the government, invisible.  They have no voice, no future, no hope, and nothing to lose.  And that is a dangerous combination.

As I think about the delinquents on the French Island, and my young friends on Clove Island, it is hard to characterize them all as thugs and villains, even if some of them have become truly despicable.  On the French Island, these “delinquents” are known for rioting.  You can read our blog about it from when we visited back in January.  Rioting is scary and awful.  lnnocent people see their property destroyed or damaged.  Often times people get hurt.  It’s easy to blame rioting on a bunch of “delinquents”.  But a quote by Martin Luther King Jr. has caused me to see it differently.  He said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.”

That is a hard statement to read.  It could be read as condoning rioting, but I think that would be misreading it.  The delinquents—they are unheard.  They are invisible.  And it leaves them without hope, without a voice, without identity.  It leaves them with nothing to lose. A person without hope is dangerous.  A person without hope will do anything—steal, riot, destroy.

So what is the solution?  I don’t know.  How could they give these young men a voice on the French Island? How could we give them more economic opportunity on Clove Island?  I don’t claim that the solutions are easy.  Neither do I like our houses being broken into.  The solutions are complex, just like life.  But there is a hope that can end rioting and bring a voice to the unheard.  Dr. King understood that hope.  We understand that hope.  May many young Island men come to understand that hope too.

Grandma with our kids

PRAYERS ANSWERED


Despite the break-in of their home, our teammates can be thankful for many things.  The landlord promptly increased security to their house, and the incident has led to some thoughtful conversations and deeper relationships.  We are thankful for our teammates getting along well while we are away in America.  We had a chance to speak to some groups here in the Boston area and it was very encouraging.  We are so glad we were able to be with Tom’s mom for her 75th birthday celebration.  We’ve had some encouraging news coming from the islands lately too.  We have a new sister on the Big Island, a group of women who are studying and learning deeply on the big Island, and one woman on our Clove island who is asking our Dad to show her the right way to be with him forever!

PRAYERS REQUESTED 

We are still waiting on clearance for the medical team to begin their work at the hospital.  Pray that it happens this week!  Tom’s friend, Obama, has had a medical condition that worsened.  He recently traveled illegally to the French Island to receive medical attention.  Tom was able to talk to him on the phone yesterday. Please be praying for his healing.  Pray for all of these women who are searching and finding, that they would grow and continue on the great journey.  Megan flew out to a memorial service for her uncle over the weekend.  She returns on Tuesday.  Pray for her safe travels.