Rad­hi­ca De Sil­va

In the af­ter­math of a tragedy in Ari­ma where three chil­dren and a 19-year-old lost their lives in a mas­sacre that al­so left five oth­ers in­jured, the stu­dents of San Fer­nan­do Girls Gov­ern­ment School took the lead in a march for peace through the streets of San Fer­nan­do.

Brav­ing in­clement weath­er, the stu­dents and their par­ents un­furled their um­brel­las and trekked down Cipero Street, along Blanche Fras­er Street, even­tu­al­ly re­turn­ing to their school com­pound on Rush­worth Street, San Fer­nan­do. The event was opened by San Fer­nan­do May­or Robert Par­ris.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia af­ter­wards, May­or Par­ris ex­pressed his deep con­cerns about the safe­ty of chil­dren amidst es­ca­lat­ing crime and vi­o­lence. May­or Par­ris laud­ed the San Fer­nan­do stu­dents for choos­ing peace as their theme say­ing, "It was an ho­n­our and priv­i­lege to open this event. It's a wor­thy cause when young chil­dren can stand up for some­thing as wor­thy as peace. We need peace. We live in a vi­o­lent so­ci­ety, and I con­grat­u­late the teach­ers and par­ents for sup­port­ing the girls in their call for peace."

Mean­while, Avion Crooks, the school's Head of De­part­ment, echoed the press­ing need for peace dur­ing these tur­bu­lent times. "There is a lot of crime, a lot of con­fu­sion, but we know we can be part of the so­lu­tion. That's why we walk for peace," Crooks said. She re­vealed that the school has been en­cour­ag­ing its stu­dents to fol­low the path of pa­tri­o­tism and good cit­i­zen­ship. "Once they un­der­stand what it means to be a good cit­i­zen, to be kind, to love your neigh­bours, and to tol­er­ate dif­fer­ences, we can be part of the change," she said.