THE LIVES AND DEATHS of Ashem Telemaque and Kevin Gittens have been documented in the play A Mother’s Plea.
Telemaque died last year after being shot while he was liming in his community and Gittens drowned while trying to retrieve illegal drugs at Consett Bay, St John.
The play, which lasted over three hours, was performed at the Collymore Rock Church of the Nazarene before a full house. It was produced by the church and the Performing Arts Ministries to coincide with the Easter weekend.
Co-director of the production, Larry Quintyne, told the SATURDAY SUN that the two young men had similar stories that made for interesting storylines. He added that both mothers, Marcella Gittens and Maria Telemaque, had consented to their sons’ stories being depicted.
“The two true stories were strategically woven together to make one story because of the similarities. Both young men grew up in Christian homes and were involved in the church. Both of them, in their late teens, stopped going to church and found some type of comfort liming on the block,” he explained.
Quintyne said that his writing partner, Erlene Morris, thought it was important to tell the stories of Gittens and Telemaque because of the recent crimes young people had been committing. He said it was a way to show the youth that “the block” was not where they should be.
“God is speaking to our young men and He wants them to wake up and realise that they are to be godly leaders and fathers in order for them to live the true purpose that God intended for their lives.”