A young person's life is affected every day by what adults do, and many are placed in serious, heart-wrenching situations over which they have little or no control.

In May of this year, Jamaican security forces sought alleged drug dealer and leader of the Shower Posse, Christopher 'Dudus' Coke, for extradition to the US to face drug importation charges. Fierce street battles raged for several days in Tivoli Gardens, west Kingston, leading, according to the BBC, to the death of more than 70 people. A state of emergency was declared, and a curfew imposed. In the midst of this mayhem, one 13-year-old girl and her family tried their best to stay out of harm's way.

Deidre, who has just recently passed a test to be accepted into one of Jamaica's best private schools, shared what it was like to live in the danger zone.

"Down in western Kingston the curfew lasted for 48 hours," the middle schooler explained. "Security forces searched all the houses in the area. They took men that dressed like criminals (e.g. bleached out faces, pants below their bottoms, those with hair on their head). Sometimes they even killed if you had no manners. People had to stay on the ground all the time, because bullets were going through windows and doors, through trees and everywhere. Just to find one man Christopher aka "Dudus" Coke."

She couldn't go to school for fear of getting shot, or killed. She stayed in their one-bedroom house made from zinc and wood, where she lives with her mom and younger brother.

"I was very scared," admitted Deidre. "All 48 hours all we did was duck and crawl on the ground. When dinner time came around we sat real low to the floor, fearing that we would be shot if we sat up any higher. The one chance we got to glimpse out the windows, we saw soldiers standing on all of the roof tops firing down. This one man (Coke) was very popular. He was a man that killed and sold coke, but despite those flaws he cared for the people. That's why the people said they would die for Dudus."

Deidre has been through a lot, and she's not the only one that went through this. There are others that got a first hand experience of what it was like to get shot during the curfew, or to see someone get killed in front of them.

Many lives were taken, with little being given back.

"People can learn from their experiences" stated Deidre.

Deidre's Bermudian cousin is concerned that she might experience something similar if the recent acts of violence continue.

Concerned adults have repeatedly stated there are ways, less violent ways, of stopping things from happening before they start; the problem is, is anyone listening?