I
have heard about people going around caroling at Christmas
from I was a child but the first time I have ever seen it done or participated
was in 2010 when
the president of
the Lauristan citizens association, Audley Nain J.P invited
me to join them. I had such a wonderful time then that when the invitation
was again extended this year, I had no difficulty setting out from Kingston at
5.30 am with friends Richard and Sharon to derive over to join up with them.
Yes, I know, when some people
hear of Lauristan, that area off the Sligoville road
in St. Catherine, the farthest thing from their mind is carol
singing. This is because this community was the scene of a widely reported
and most horrific murder on July 20, 2011
which shocked the nation. For it was there while Charmaine Cover-Rattray and
her daughter were asleep at their home that men kicked off their door, entered murdered
them, then cut off their heads and dumped them some distance away.
Off they went caroling in the early morning |
Reality though, like so
many communities in Jamaica, there are two sections. In
the case of Lauristan there is the residential community where
returning residents and professionals have made their homes and there they
maintain a strong, active citizens' association.
Then then there is a
section nearby which borders the Rio Cobre river where
squatters have made their home and you do not have to guess who have given
the community a bad name! Anyway I have never been fearful of visiting Lauristan even
when that bloody news was being reported.
Whereas only a few of us
set out in the dark on Christmas morning 2014, having a whale of a time belting
out carols and waking up
the neighborhood, by the time we got to the community centre the number had
grown significantly.
At the community centre,
the pots were already boiling preparing the green,
bananas and dumplins and hot chocolate while the breadfruits were roasted
nearby. How this annual Christmas breakfast is organised is that those who are
good cooks bring their specialty while others prefer to donate funds towards having
the breakfast prepared on site.
Some of the delicious breakfast being prepared on site |
A sumptuous breakfast indeed
|
By
breakfast time just before 9am, the crowd had swelled significantly and it was
interesting to see it was the young people who came filing in last as despite
our efforts to wake them up with our loud caroling, they had obviously had
difficulty getting out of bed after at night out at grand market and other Christmas
eve events.
Rev. Simmonds (left) waits his turn while president Audley welcomes the citizens |
I
swear if more communities adopted the spirit of the residents of Lauristan in 2015, this would indeed be
one of the cleanest and greatest places on the face of the earth to live
for indeed Lauristan is nothing like
the picture painted by the bad publicity some years ago but indeed a model
Jamaican community.
https://youtu.be/L3sgIci5ffs