Voices from the Streets Part 5- A Story of Redemption

Nixon Dickenson (right) with Kenneth McDonald Prospere

By Nixon Dickenson

In this week’s article in the series Voices from the Streets Part 5, I would like to share with you what I consider to be a story of redemption. This is the story of Kenneth McDonald Prospere a young man who faced challenges in his teenage years and lost his freedom at a very young age.

He had basically given up on life and any hope for redemption.  Today he is a free man and a changed man because he dared to reflect about his past action and he dared to make a difference.  I’ve known Kenneth for most of his life as we both grew up on the island of Grand Turk and I have seen him at his high and low points.  I was indeed grateful that he was one of the persons that I had the opportunity to speak with during the street listening tour. 

During our conversation, he shared with me how he was able to discover his skills during his time in prison and with the encouragement of persons who cared about him he went from being a ‘bad boy’ to a ‘businessman’.   Kenneth is a local artist and enjoys capturing the beauty of his island Grand Turk using his paints and canvas. 

Here is a young man who chose to rise about the disappointments and struggles in his life to embrace his artistic talents and now he seeks to make a difference in his community.   As we conversed, he shared a few nuggets that he wished for me to share in this article. 

He expressed that more attention needed to be given to young people in our secondary schools as this was the period where they need to develop life skills, practice active listening so they are able to communicate effectively. 

He also emphasized teaching young people problem solving and decision-making skills so that they would be able to address conflict without resorting to violence; and better yet be the bigger person and know when to walk away from a negative situation.  

Kenneth also voiced that there needed to be more opportunities for young people to engage in volunteer programs and hoped that this would happen sooner rather than later in various communities across the islands. 

He also expressed the need for the creation of trade schools where young men and women could develop their technical skills and be able to provide earnestly for themselves.  In reflecting on his time in prison he shared that he wished to see more reform programs implemented in the prison system geared towards rehabilitation of an individual back into society. 

His profound warning to any youth person reading this article is “do not go to prison”. His final conclusion was that young people really needed to adhere to the sound advice that they are given by their parents, civic leaders, teachers and others who desire to see them do well. 

As he reminded me, it is never too late to make a change for the better and make our ending better than our beginning.  I am so proud of Kenneth and his positive outlook as he represents a new generation of intelligent and well-educated youths. Kudos Kenneth, you are truly a success story.