No “Idle Hands”: Why Jamaica’s Children Need Something to Do

As every Jamaican grandmother will tell you, “The devil finds work for idle hands.” Our grandmothers had a saying for everything, and most of us heard this one more than once, usually when we were caught lying about with nothing to do.

As children we heard it as a scolding, a reason to go and sweep the yard. As adults, many of us hear it differently. Our grandmothers weren’t only telling us to keep busy. They were telling us something true about how children grow: a young mind will always find something to fill an empty day. The only question is who gets there first.

What our grandmothers knew

The proverb is old, but the wisdom inside it is simple. Children are full of energy, curiosity and the need to belong. Those are gifts. Point them toward a book, a ball, an instrument, a trade or a church youth group, and they grow into confidence. Leave them with nothing, and that same energy goes looking for somewhere to land.

That is how I think about the next part of our work. We may have missed their childhood, but if we don’t give these young ones something constructive to do, many will be drawn toward violence. When something constructive is provided, the wrong choice stops being the only one left.

What “idle” looks like for a child

Idleness is rarely laziness. For most of the children we meet, it is simply the absence of anything to do and anyone to do it with. It looks like this:

• The hours after school. School ends, but many parents and guardians are still at work, or working away from home altogether. Too many children walk home to an empty yard, with no one to help with homework and no one asking how the day went.
• The long holidays. Summer and the Christmas break stretch for weeks. Without a camp, a club or a programme, the days blur together on the corner or in front of a phone screen.
• Falling behind. A child who can’t keep up in class often stops trying. UNICEF reports that 38% of Jamaican children aged 7 to 14 have not acquired foundational reading skills.¹ A child who feels lost in the classroom is easier to lose outside it.
• No one to look up to. Every child is looking for someone to follow. If the most visible person on the road is the wrong person, that is who they will follow.

How violence finds the unoccupied

I want to be careful here, because I love our children and I love Jamaica. Most young people with time on their hands never pick up a weapon. But violence does not recruit the busy. It looks for the young person with nowhere to be, nothing to lose and no one watching, and it offers what every child wants: belonging, respect, money in the pocket, a sense of mattering.

Our children are already living close to violence. UNICEF Jamaica’s 2023 Violence Against Children and Youth Survey found that more than three out of every four children and young people experience violence in their lifetime.² The same survey found that children and youth who experience violence face higher risks of mental health problems, substance abuse and violence perpetration later in life.² Hurt that is left alone has a way of becoming hurt that is passed on.

The hopeful part is in the same report. Among its recommendations are creating safe family, school and community spaces, and strengthening education and life skills.² The World Health Organization points the same way: among the most promising ways to prevent youth violence are life skills and social development programmes that help young people manage anger, resolve conflict and solve problems, along with support for parents.³ In other words, the research is saying what our grandmothers said. Fill the hands. Fill the hours. Fill the heart.

“The devil finds work for idle hands.” So let’s make sure every child has better work to do.

What “something constructive” looks like

Constructive doesn’t have to mean complicated. It means a safe place, a caring adult and something worth showing up for. This is what it looks like in the work we do and want to grow:

• Tutoring and homework help, so children can keep up in school and believe they belong there.
• Mentorship. A steady adult who knows a child’s name, checks on their grades and celebrates their wins. One good mentor can change a child’s road.
• Sport. A field, a ball and a coach teach discipline, teamwork and how to lose without fighting. Jamaica already knows what our young people can do when they’re given a track.
• Music and the arts. Our island taught the world to listen. Drumming, singing, drama and art give children a voice and a reason to practise.
• Skills and trades. Older children need to see a future they can build with their own hands: carpentry, electrical work, cooking, technology. Purpose is a powerful protection.
• Faith and community. Church youth groups, community clubs and Sunday school give children belonging without asking them to prove anything on the street.

Each July our team spends a month on the ground in Jamaica, serving 100+ children every year. That month matters, and so does every day the children live the rest of the year. That is why we give and prepare all year: gifts help meet their everyday, learning and health needs, and every July builds on the last.

Where the diaspora comes in

Many of us left Jamaica, but Jamaica never left us. Some of us were the children our grandmothers were watching. Somebody filled our hands with books, chores, choir practice or cricket, and it made a difference. Now it is our turn.

• Give monthly. A steady gift, from $10 a month, helps meet children’s everyday, learning and health needs and prepare each July. Steady matters more than big: it lets us make promises to children and keep them.
• Join a trip. Come and serve with us for a month in July. Bring your skills, your patience and your stories. Volunteers cover their own travel and living costs, so donations stay focused on the children.
• Pass it on. Send this to your family group chat, your church, your old school association. The more hands that help, the fewer hands are left idle.

Our grandmothers gave us a warning. Let’s turn it into a plan, and make sure no child in our care runs out of good things to do, or good people to do them with.

With faith and determination,
Leighton Campbell, Founder, United People of God