My Brush with Fatherlessness in Jamaica

I just returned from a mission trip in Jamaica.  Despite far-reaching travel in my life, I had never been to this tiny Caribbean Island.   It is an island nation situated in the Caribbean Sea, specifically within the Greater Antilles, south of Cuba and west of Haiti. It is the third largest island in the Caribbean and is considered part of the West Indies.
 
I was charged with leading a team of 9 doing a Kid’s Crusade there.  We were using one of my Vacation Bible School programs called “Welcome to the Stone Age”.  It’s a tried-and-true program with a strong evangelical message using the theme of ‘rocks’ to share the Gospel arc. 
 
VBS is something I do pretty well.  I’ve been developing my own programs for 25 years and travel extensively during the summer to different churches, partnering with the church to reach children in the community.   So, I have a good bit of experience to fall back on.  However, I was not quite prepared for what happened on the first day of the crusade. 
 
We were all very excited and ready to go that first morning.  We arrived the night before and set up.  I felt confident that the limited audio-visual equipment would be enough to see me through the week.   What I first noticed was that there was a larger-than-usual older group in the audience.  They were seated in age groups and so they were in one section.  This would be ages 12-16, somewhat older than the age I prepare for.  And they had their cell phones. 
 
Normally, that would be a non-starter with me.  No cell phones in the sanctuary.  I require kids to stand during worship whether they participate or not.  It’s not negotiable.  I talk about this extensively in my book “Points for Praise:  Putting Kids on the Path to Worship”, available on Amazon.  However, I was not in a position to make demands as I was there by invitation as part of a larger team.   They did NOT participate in worship.  Most of them sat and played games on their phones. 
 
After the large group session, they were my first rotation in Bible, which I teach.  I asked them to come up to the front and sit on the floor.  They flatly refused saying it was too dirty.  One girl said she was allergic to dust.   This is almost laughable when you consider their living conditions.  I can guarantee you that the church floor was the cleanest thing they would be sitting in all week.  
 
I was in a combat zone.
 
The girls in this group were the worst, but I got the impression that the boys would have enjoyed it if I had started making demands.  Later, the pastor agreed saying that they are just waiting for an opportunity to push back on authority.   He referred to it as a normal part of being independent.   In my thinking, it is either rebellion or defiance.  This was defiance because of their age and their motives.
 
Defiance is a tricky thing in teenagers.  There is a fine line between being independent and being disrespectful.   This is not an article on that subject, so I’ll leave it there.
 
As I considered this matter and made adjustments in my approach for the week (seeking counsel from church leaders there in Jamaica),  I realized that the REAL issue is FATHERLESSNESS.   It is an epidemic in Jamaica.
 
(NOTE:  Much of what follows is information taken from an article by Hayley Headley entitled, A Fatherless Nation:  Headley, Hayley. “A Fatherless Nation.” Justice for All, January 31, 2021.)
While there have been very few dedicated studies about the issue of fatherlessness, it is estimated that 47% of Jamaica’s children live in single-parent homes with their biological mothers. Additionally, the number of households headed by women continues to rise as men erode entirely from the family structure. 
The impact of this on children, their socialization, and the country’s future has been a point of discussion for many years, but it’s often tabled in favor of attempting to address more pressing matters, like crime.  Based on the level of defiance that I experienced and lack of strong male leadership in the home, it is not hard to image that this is a leading cause of crime in the nation.  In 2014, Peter Bunting, the Minister of National Security, declared that fatherlessness was driving much of the crime that plagues Jamaica’s streets.  
This is the same reason for the Boy Crisis in America, one that we talk about extensively in our book, “Boys Have a Dam Problem:  Examining the Faults that Have Put Our Boys in Crisis.” (Also available on Amazon)  Of the four primary ‘faults’ that have destabilized the family foundation, the lack of good father figures in the home is the biggest factor.
In his paper on Black fatherlessness in the Caribbean, David Samuel Green pinpoints colonial oppression during slavery as the first crack in the structure of Black families.[1] At the time, they weren’t allowed to form families, and if they did, plantation owners would sell one or both of the parents to keep those ties severed. As a result, Jamaican men have been long removed from the concept of fatherhood. As fatherlessness begets fatherlessness, the crack that was split open centuries ago has widened and deepened into the modern chasm that now divides our homes.
One of the ladies at the church compound who was a missionary to Jamaica from Quebec, noted that Jamaica has long been noted for its strong maternal influence in the home.  For whatever the reasons are, it is not God’s BEST plan for the family and the absence of a father-figure should not be the default for any reason.  I’m not chastising.  I understand this is a serious problem in MANY cultures.  It’s just not good for the children and especially the boys.  This is an anthem in Treign Up.
As fatherlessness begets fatherlessness, so goes the culture into poverty.  When the family unit breaks down, boys will look to gangs for affirmation and acceptance that a father should be showing.  The spirit behind fatherlessness is an impoverished spirit;  not only social poverty but spiritual poverty as well.
 
I applaud the men in that church who stand in the gap for the boys in their communities:  Pastor Vernon Allen;  Pastor Damien;  Pastor Lemarc Allen.  I thank them for giving young boys in Jamaica a model and someone to look up to as they grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with both God and men.
 
As for the rest of the week at VBS, I was able to make adjustments in the way I approached these teens during the week.  On the last day of the crusade, I was able to present the Gospel through my Gospel arc using rocks and a role play exercise that demonstrates the reality of a decision to follow Christ.  The presentation was crystal clear (from my perspective) and several of the teens made decisions that day to ask Jesus to save them from their sinful ways.   I’m thankful for that, but more thankful for the men who are there who will be able to help guide them on the journey ahead.
 
[1] Green, David Samuel. Differential Pathways of Fathering and Fatherlessness in Afro-Caribbean Families. PhD diss., University of Guelph, 2018.

---