Peace soars as kites take flight in Kingston community

"Kite war a di only war a fight right now," is the sentiment of residents of Rose Gardens, a perennially violence-plagued community in downtown Kingston.

Since the start of the month, residents like Ricardo Simmonds and Dane Smith have been leading the kite-flying charge as a means to combat the spirit of violence that has taken hold.

An elderly resident who goes by the name Biggs, said that he is seeing peaceful times return to the space.

"Since the kite dem a fly, no shot nah fire round yah straight. One time, dah street deh couldn't guh pon house top and make the next street see. Yuh mad? Gun shot fi you. But you see because dem never did a exercise dem mind, dem exercise it inna ignorancy. When me likkle bit we play marble ... and dem sumpn deh. Dem likkle youth yah no have dat inna dem," he said. "You see since di likkle youth dem a fly kite, is a different atmosphere inna di place. One time you couldn't find a man pon a house top, a man woulda feel like seh a peep him a peep over and guh fi him gun." He recalled intense but friendly kite competitions of the past.

"Dem days deh nice and mi glad fi see it come back, when man cut man kite and dem ting deh and deh so it done. Tomorrow we build another kite and di same ting again," he said.

Simmonds told THE STAR that the joy that kites have brought him and his contemporaries is their central motivation to push against the status quo and recreate the memories of their childhood for the younger generation.

AMUSING

"From we a youth, it just amazing fi see the kite up inna the air. It amazing fi have the kite up inna the air a handle it. Basically a the excitement wid it. You see how it a dip a while ago and me affi have it, it exciting. And a that people like see cause it make dem amuse," he said.

Since the start of April, Simmonds says they have built dozens of kites for children, both those in the community as well as those just passing through on their way from school. Among the chief creators is Smith, known to most as 'Wacky, the kite man of Wildman Street'.

"Di pickney dem bout yah know say a me a di kite man, a me dem come to fi build kite fi dem yuh zeet. A nuh me alone enah the community build kite, a whole heap a man bout yah build kite and some sell to the pickney dem," he said. Smith, 34, has been honing his skills from the tender age of 10.

"Nobody nuh teach me, me just watch di big man dem and make di kite dem and when dem show me say 'Yow, put the two bamboo dem suh like a cross, then one come round suh'. And from yuh make it inna three, it done deh so, nuh need nothing more," he said. Smith says kite sales have become a prominent part of his life, as it provides a source of income when other wells run dry.

"When me nuh have nothing me just build some kite and sell it to the school pickney dem. Dem buy it fi like $350, $400. Sometime mi sell kite, and sometime mi guh make hustling, like sell bag water a town and dem things deh," he said.