Having had eight persons who were close to him die in violent circumstances, Romaine Lewis, 27, says he would like to become a motivational speaker to guide wayward children back on to the right path.

Lewis, who admitted that he joined a gang when he was 12 years old, said that the persons killed included close friends and community members who he spoke to regularly.

“From mi a go school, mi did inna a gang, but I wasn’t involved in certain things. But a lot of my friends were misbehaving. I wasn’t involved in it, but I was in the gang,” he confessed, noting that he didn’t participate in things like robberies.

“If somebody disrespect somebody from my crew, wi always try to defend it,” he continued.

Lewis, who is now a security guard, explained that his struggles started when he was a child.

After losing his mother in a gruesome car accident when he was only eight years old, he said that he faced many hardships while growing up.

“My madda crush to death as a yute. Dem haffi cut har out. It affect mi a whole lot cause mi madda dead December 12 and har birthday a did January 1, so any time it come on to December and January, it always put mi back inna a spot,” he said.

And it was not until he was in his 20s that he decided that he needed to change the path that he was on.

“The things weh me go through inna life as a youth, mi coulda do different things with my life, wrongs and so on. But when mi look into it, mi say there is more to life than fi get involved in certain things,” he told THE STAR.

WILLING TO LISTEN

Now, Lewis said that he would like to speak to schoolchildren and anyone who is willing to listen about his experience, and what they can do to become better members of society.

“Mi haffi can stand up fi dem likkle youth yah nowadays because mi know say wi nah live right as young people inna Jamaica because if the leadership could stop crime, it woulda stop already,” he said.

Lewis, who says he has approached a few schools already to allow him to speak to their students, believes his message will connect with youngsters.

“I believe they will listen to me because anything yuh speak from yuh heart, it will connect to the youths, and anything me believe inna, me stand up for it,” he said. “This a weh father God want mi fi do, give back to the people.”