Meet Lennox “Villa Flamez” Hales
Long before he learnt how to spell violence, Lennox could easily spot the barrel of a gun, he painfully witnessed his neighbours being laced with gunshots and learnt how to “duck” from stray bullets. For the 24-year-old Jamaican creative, growing up in Waltham Park, Kingston 11 was like trying to escape a never-ending action film reeked with gun violence. He eventually bowed to the negative pressure and got involved in a high school gang which activities left him permanently wounded and with a juvenile detainee record.
Many Jamaicans living in troubled communities pray for an opportunity to flee to a quieter neighbourhood. However, when I sat down with Villa Flamez, he said that the solution to the violence existed right in his community.
Read more: http://jamaicans.com/villa-flamez-finds-peace-in-kingston-11/
