John Chan's local and national winning speech made last year at the Ministry of Education's Religious Knowledge competition, under the theme "We Need Peace in our Bahama Land," has garnered rave reviews. This is a delivery that The Freeport News believes must be shared. Young Chan and two other young male students took top place finishes. The following is Chan's speech in its entirety.

"Madam Chairman, Honourable Judges, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Good Afternoon!

My name is John Chan and I am a student of Walter Parker Primary.

"We Need Peace in our Bahama Land."

In The Freeport News dated October, 15 2009 front page headlines, and I quote,

"A 17-year-old resident led police to the area where Alexander Carey, age 25, was discovered dead in his car behind Jack Hayward High School. Carey's murder is recorded as the ninth for Grand Bahama.

Twenty-year-old Ashley Joel Smith became the Island's eighth homicide on September 4, 2009 when he was stabbed on East Sunrise Highway.

The third murder was recordered on June 6. Sidney Brice was chased and gunned down on a neighbouring street.

Oh Bahama Land! Where did we go wrong? And how did we reach to this place of aggression and hostility among our peoples?

Ladies and gentlemen! Violence does not discriminate against gender, age, economic status or race. Murder does not affect only one person but it affects different people in our neighbourhood. Communities mourn daily for loved ones. Yesterday, it was the neighbour, the student - your best friend, today it is your grandmother and tomorrow your son-the banker.

Audience, I address you today with no selfish thoughts for my own upliftment, but rather I speak to you on behalf of the children like me, the future of our nation – crying for peace in this Bahama Land.

This Land, Oh our beautiful Bahama Land that God gave to our forefathers was one of great beauty, tranquility and peace! When was this peace taken from us? Could it be that we gave this peace away? Could it be that we traded it for filthy lucre, the love of money and power? And now our lives are in turmoil and we do not know what next to expect in our land?

Oh moms and dads, uncles, aunts and all the elderly, tell me, when you were my age did you fear for your life when shooting marbles in the yard with your siblings? Did your parents ever think twice before allowing you to walk to school, climb the guinep tree, visit the neighbours' house, or sleep with the windows open? Have you ever feared for your life just sitting in your classroom?

Today, statistics have shown that The Bahamas is rated as the murder capital of the Caribbean per capita. As we listen to the news on the radio and watch the television, you learn of someone else being murdered and their body discovered on some street or backyard. A typical situation is as follows: a young man when passing by, mistakenly stepped on the new Clark's shoe of the other and a riot began. Harsh words were thrown at each other, pushing, pulling, punches exchanged and the sound of running footsteps. A gunshot was fired - man down!

"Oh meh God, he dead!" shouted a young woman.

People gathered. The police came, along with paramedics and the ambulance. An urgent examination was done. But, oh God it was too late. The young man was already dead.

This trend must not continue in our dear Bahama Land. We must stop the blood from being spilt on our Land. We need peace in our Bahama land!

Due to the increased levels of crime in my community and the nation, my childhood is being stolen from me, stolen from us, your sons and daughters. I want to roam free, visiting the park, playing in my frontyard without being heavily supervised by parents, or bigger brothers and sisters.

But how do we stop this aggression, hostility and hatred that produce bloodshed on our streets? We must return to the old value system of our fore parents. We must once again follow the phrase, "It takes a village to raise a child".

Today there are too many young mothers and fathers who do not have time to raise their children. We, as a people, need to return to the commandment that says, "Thou shall not steal," and obey it; learn to say, "I am sorry for offending and I will not do it again." Parents, may I ask this question? How many of you take your children to Sunday or Sabbath school? Are we living by the basic principle that says, "The family that prays together stays together?"

Be sensitive to other people's feeling (s). Emulate the positive things we learn from home and school and leave the bad ways behind. We must not allow the negative things we see portrayed in our community influence us to do likewise. Although I am just a child and I do not have all of the answers, there is one thing that I know - if we work together we can create the change, which will bring about peace in our nation.

Ladies and gentlemen, Do not let evil overcome us, but rather let us overcome evil with being good to one another. Let us rebuild peace with each other through the fruit of God's Spirit which is love, joy and peace. The Bahamas has the friendliest people in the world. Let's keep it that way.

Madam Chairman.

Chan won first place in the local and first place in the national competition.