Sister Benedict

Four years ago, (Feb 2018), the Jamaica Observer carried an article entitled “70 years of service.” It was written by their editor Vernon Davidson.  (https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/70-years-of-service/. (70 years of service - Jamaica Observer). 

In the article Davidson recorded the invaluable service a Catholic Nun named of Sister Benedict Chong, had been doing in one of Kingston’s most dangerous and deprived areas.

Her contribution to uplifting the lives of the people in the area, has been no less than phenomenal and if you want to be inspired, you should read that article.

I know Sister Benedict well, and for some reason, I recently thought about her and wondered how she was doing. So, I asked a Roman Catholic friend to contact her and find out for me. I soon got the good news that she was fine.

When I heard she was on Whats Ap, I called her. I was in absolute awe, when she told me that she was 91 years old but still lived at Law’s Street, above the centre there called Laws Street Training Centre, which she along with other nuns had operated for years. When I asked her why she was still working, she told me the other Nuns had died, young ladies were not entering the Order, poverty and need was getting worse in the area, so she had to continue the journey which includes feeding and delivering ‘care package’ to some 800 persons every other week.

It is possible however, that the younger generation does not know of the critical role, the same Sister Benedict  played in 1978, in exposing a massacre carried out by a group within our own Army called, the Military Intelligence Unit (MIU).

This was during the term of  PM Michael Manley,  who brought our country to the brink of a civil war.

Manley, an admirer of Fidel Castro in Cuba, sought to use both our army and police as his own private militia, to dominate the Jamaican people into submission. 

One particular heinous act carried out by the regime became known as the Green Bay Massacre.

Long story short, Manley had a section in his constituency which was not supporting his party, so decided to get rid of the leaders.

His constituency was poverty stricken with high unemployment, so he used soldiers from the MIU to befriend a group of young men from the area and promise them employment at a place in St. Catherine operated by the Army called Green Bay.

 Under the command of a Colonel named Ian Robinson, around a dozen young men were picked up and transported to the ‘job’ site at Green Bay, in an army vehicle. On arrival, the young men were told to walk ahead of the army personnel who transported them. As they started walking, soldiers lying in ambush opened fire on them. Most of the young men were killed but two or three managed to escape, one even swimming to safety.

He had been born at Laws Street and knew sister Benedict from birth. So, he found his way to her Centre for refuge. When he got there, he was barefooted and bleeding profusely from cuts and bruises he received as escaped by sea and running through an area covered with prickly acacia bushes. Sister hid him from the authorities and nursed him back to good health.

  In the meantime, the army publicized a story to the effect that; the army my had encountered a group of young men the night before, unloading weapons from a boat by the sea. They confronted them, were fired on, they returned fire and most of the men were killed but two or three escaped.

On hearing this version, a grateful nation thanked the army.

That story remained in the headlines for weeks as the nation cheered, thinking they had been saved by the courageous men.

In the meantime, Sister Benedict on hearing the other version from the man she was hiding, contacted an investigative journalist she knew at Jamaica’s only independent newspaper, the Gleaner. 

That journalist was David DaCosta.

 DaCosta listened to his version and with a small team, set out to investigate the matter.

They miraculously got proof of its veracity, quite by accident.

The leader of the Army’s assassination team, Colonel Robinson, had taken pictures of his family on his camara (in the days when people used cameras with films) and also on the same film, taken pictures of the scene at Green Bay.

When the film was taken to be developed, someone there realized that the pictures of the dead men were taken at Green Bay and contacted DaCosta.

Using scientific methods, they were able to prove that because of the angle of the shadows,  the incident had occurred in the early morning and not at night as the Army had reported.

With that revelation, some soldiers who had been uncomfortable with the operation, started to give information to the journalists anonymously. That caused the entire official story to unravel and even international human rights organizations helped to spread the truth about the massacre, far and wide.

I don’t think Sister Benedict’s role in exposing that major threat to our democracy has been celebrated as it should.

So, while the people of Laws Street and its environs owe that dedicated Nun for her  commitment to them for almost 75 years, the island of Jamaica also owes her a debt of gratitude for helping us retain our freedoms and democracy.

Sister Benedict is indeed a phenomenal woman.