The crime rampage in T&T is escalating at a rapid rate, with the Morvant/ Laventille districts being hit the hardest, and one football club Neal and Massy Caledonia AIA is hoping to break the “borderline” wars which have contributed to most of the killings, according to the club’s Technical Director Jamal Shabazz.
To date, T&T has recorded 73 murders, with 23 of those coming out of the Morvant/Laventille and surrounding districts. Caledonia AIA hopes to eradicate the stigma attached to the communities of Morvant/Laventille and most importantly, rid ‘borderline’ wars which has troubled the once pleasant northern districts and hillsides of east Port of Spain. Shabazz has worked for many years out of the Morvant/Laventille area and has been with football club Caledonia AIA as a player before holding down the role of head coach and Technical Director at the club. “We are hoping to start with a dynamic youth academy to tackle the gang violence referred to as, ‘borderline’ wars in Morvant/Laventille,” he added.
Shabazz is hoping that the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Sportt) assigned to helping projects aimed at helping communities, will partner Caledonia AIA on programmes that will guide youngsters away from gangs and gang related violence. In May of 2009, Caledonia will mark its 30th year of existence in Morvant/Laventille and Shabazz is fully aware that the time to save the communities is now or never. With job cuts on the rise world-wide because of the global financial recession, life in the so-called ‘ghettos’ will obviously worsen. Employment shortages will mean a backlash of criminal activities and this is a fact world-wide.
Caledonia AIA is now hoping through its football club to help curb violence stemming out of ‘borderline’ wars while financial gurus world-wide are struggling to restore the recession. With the ‘mighty’ US government, for example, expected to roll into a 1 trillion dollar deficit, it only means worse and projects like that of Caledonia AIA can only be considered a ray of hope in the darkening world. “For the past 30 years we have provided the youths of Morvant/Laventille an avenue for discipline recreation and more recently through the advent of the TT Pro League, a way to earn a living through football,” said the former Guyana national football team Technical Director.
However Caledonia’s hopes and dreams for the crime riddled area are stalled by a couple major factors—financial assistance and a place to call home. Caledonia has been utilising the St George’s Ground in Barataria and the University of the West Indies playing fields for its senior and youth teams, but a place to set up a proper academy inside the Morvant/Laventille area is the next step for the Stallions. Shabazz is hoping that with the help of the Government and the corporate sector, the dreams and aspirations of Caledonia to pull the places often referred to as the “ghettos” back to normality. In December 2008 (Wednesday the 11th to be exact) at the Marvin Lee Stadium in the final of the FA Trophy competition—Caledonia AIA vs W Connection—Caledonia proved that through football and with continued persistence in the dream of bringing the communities back to normality and remove the stigma attached is possible.