Legacy for community

Published: 15 April, 2010

• HOW can I thank my neighbour Jennyfer Spencer from across the road?
She died alone, but she left a legacy in our community and in her last letter to the New Journal. This is quite a story, a Camden story.
It is not easy to keep calm about our divided Gospel Oak ward. The residents of one “area” are scared just to walk through another “area” which is 60 seconds from their front door. You really have to live here and walk daily across this ward to understand it.
Buyers move into the “safe” zones of our ward, because estate agents market them as South Hampstead or Highgate foothills.
In real time, Jennyfer Spencer died 60 seconds away from those “foothills”. The more you convince newcomers that there is no “Gospel Oak” in their South Hampstead dream the more you encourage them to remain blind to the realities of their ward. Inequalities rise while alienation creates fears, and our Jennyfer Spencers keep dying in the no-go zone of Gospel Oak.
But miracles happen. This one took place beside Waxham estate where Jennyfer lived.
A vigil was organised by her immediate neighbours, between the recycling bins and the windswept pedestrian crossing of Mansfield Road. But Jennyfer had attracted residents from all over the ward.
We spoke to each other. We were invited for tea, sandwiches and comfort in the tiny flat of the Moir family in Waxham. As we chatted about our streets, Gospel Oak came to life. Many of us agreed that a major problem was a lack of continuity in services and people. Health workers and council personnel keep changing; we hardly know each other, and patients for ever have to repeat their story. In fact, caring neighbourhoods need continuity because there is nothing more life-giving than being proud of your neighbourhood.
I think this is Jennyfer’s legacy. We have people who know languages, mathematics, nutrition, and people of all ages who need confidence in those skills.
And if we can regain some of our community on one of Gospel Oak’s bleakest spots we can do it anywhere.
CONSTANTINE BUHAYER
Green Party Candidate
Gospel Oak ward