The Operation Restoration Christian school sits amid a line of patched-up housing blocks and streetside cookshops in Trench Town. In an area known as one of Kingston’s inner-city crime hotspots, it was founded as a haven for children caught up in gang violence.
Inside, boys in smart khaki uniforms and girls in yellow shirts and pleated burgundy skirts sit chatting in groups. The classrooms are adorned with images of Jamaican heroes, such as Marcus Garvey and past prime ministers – a reminder to the children, says the principal, Robert Dixon, of what they might one day accomplish.
