Excitement at Scott hall

Roddy blows the Abeng to alert all maroons
that there are visitors in the area. The vine around his neck
is the 5 bredda.

Both women whose bodies were taken over by spirits, are being held.

One thing we can say about "Fun and Thrills" outings, that is, there is never a dull moment.

  The outing to Scotts Hall maroon settlement in St. Mary was full of even more  excitement. 

For while we were there, two women had their bodies taken over by their ancestors and created quite a scene.

 I have seen similar scenes three times before, once at a kumina ceremony in St. Thomas, once with the "raising of the table" at Devon house and yesterday and to tell the truth, no matter how convincing they look, I can't believe it is no allt an act. 

Yesterday, when we got back from Bowling water falls, we saw quite a crowd as a group of maroons who were claiming that one faction was putting on all the events and making all the  money off their culture and traditions, was not including everyone.

This policeman was a credit to the force

Even the police was there when we arrived as there seems to be real fear of a violent outbreak. 

In fact a friend told me today that there was a notice in the Saturday papers saying that (someone, she could not remember the name) was not authorized to conduct business on behalf of the 
Scotts Hall maroons.  

I subsequently found the paper and it says; 
NOTICE, "The public is hereby notified that Mr. Noel Prehay Colonel, Uri Prehay Deputy, Natalee Burton Secretary &  Dana Henry Treasurer of the Scotts Hall maroons are no longer authorized to conduct any business on behalf of the Scotts Hall maroons."

A photo opportunity at entrance of   Maroon Town road

 But if they intended that notice to impress outsiders, it couldn't , as it was unsigned!

When we went there on the scouting mission, we were directed to Roddy who is their Public Relations Officer and he put Charles on to Sweetie who seems to be on the executive too.

On Sunday when we got there, we were met by three guides who all seem to have official positions as they all had badges.

Colonel Prehay poses with Raquel, Betty and the craft vendor

The problem seems to be that the faction that is making the accusations does not support Mr. Noel Prehay who we were told was the longest serving Maroon colonel in Jamaica....35 years. 

But his detractors say no general meetings are being held to allow them to elect new members of the executive and they have lost confidence in those who now hold the positions. 

While cockroach nuh business inna fowl fight, I must say the policeman who was there is the most efficient policeman I have ever seen in operation in Jamaica during my long life. For he was calm as he tried to moderate between the both factions and talk some sense into them. Not the usual aggressive and intimidating police we are accustomed to seeing operation. I am sorry I never got his name.

The large seeds of the cacoon vine

Anyway the excitement and taking over of the bodies by the ancestors occurred when the conflict arose and we were told that is what happens when bad vibes are around. 

Apparently the two ladies who were taken over by spirits were mother and daughter. Miss Sweetie, our great cook was the mother and when she saw her daughter's body being taken over, having to be held firmly and having white rum sprayed over her, she took a dive too.

People who were near to the daughter said after it was over, her eyes were glazed, she wanted water and asked what had happened and it was too convincing to have been an act. But I guess not until I am personally taken over by a spirit will I believe such things happen.

Thrillers pose at the healing ground during the scouting mission

Apart from that extra excitement, it was a wonderful day. There were close to forty of us who made the trek, some riding and some hiking from Grandy Hole brdge which is as far as you travel on the Junction road before bearing west to the Scotts hall settlement. 

Although this group of maroons have a lot of land in Gibbs hill, Scott hall and Castleton, all designated as communal land, we were told they can now get individual titles for pieces of land to allow them to benefit from  their being National Housing Trust contributions.

Pot a boil

 When we arrived there, we were welcomed by Roddy, who blew the abeng (proper maroon name Jebry) after sprinkling it with white rum, to give it a better sound he said. The blowing of the abeng before entering the sacred areas is to advise all maroons that there are outsiders visiting. 

He then took us to the healing ground where he said persons with all kinds of  ailments are healed. 

This requires a group of maroons to gather around the afflicted person and the ancestors will enter the body of any one  and instruct what has to be done to heal the person.

The river sometimes rises way up to the guango tree during the rainy season

Roddy also introduced us to the 5 bredda bush which is used to work spells against one's enemies.

He had previously introduced us to the seeds of the cacoon vine which he said is the largest seed pod in the world and is native to West Africa. It is used by the maroons for food and the vines for camouflage. 

We  we arrived at  the beautiful valley after crossing a stream from Irie river which forms the Bowling water fall above and headed to the picnic grounds beside the Wag Water river the food was almost ready.

We were told that when it rains, the river comes up so high it sometimes reaches half way up the large guango tree.

The beautiful valley

That area is well organised for picnics, even having a thatch building with a toilet.

 I am not talking about a pit toilet either but flush toilet to boot. 

The food was great and I really liked the fu fu which is an African dish. It is made of ground provisions plus plantains and bananas all ground up. They then prepare coconut milk as if for rundown and cook the fu fu in it. It was so delicious I had to commandeer some to go home with.


The river was not too deep as it is  the drought season but we had enough water to swim in and have a great time. 

Some of us then  walked up the Irie river to the Bowling falls which is to the west of the picnic grounds.

Because of the drought, it  too was not as heavy as it should but good enough to splash around in and have a great time.

Although there were nice craft items there, I doubt if the artist got any patronage because of the conflict between the maroons which diverted so much of our attention.

Boys will be boys!

 As usual, the A team rode back but poor Omar did not leave until long after the rest, but he seemed to have made good time on his own as he flew past us when we stopped for soup by Castleton gardens.

It was another great outing with the team, thanks to the miserable Ayatollah for the excellent organisation and Charles 1st for introducing the area to us in the first place.

Craft items on display

Some photos compliments of Omar Downie.

Turning tourist with Natural History society!

On Saturday 28th February, a couple of us joined up with the Natural History Society for a field trip to the ruins of Agualta Vale Great House and to visit a beautiful orchid farm in St. Mary. The able co-ordinator of the tour was Trevor Yee.

It was a great day which found me leaving my house at 8 am and not returning till 8pm.

The trip to Agualta Vale was uneventful but the search for the ruins was not, for our guide could not find the

We parked as we walked around in search of the great house

overgrown path for about an hour.Anyway it was no big thing as it gave us an opportunity to meet and greet other outdoor lovers. In fact, I even saw a number of persons from Jah 3 who I had not seen for years. Eventually an employee from Jamaica Producers, owners of the property, came rescued us and took us there.

Of course as it was totally overgrown we had to have a man with a machete chopping a path for us.

A comprehensive history of the house is to be found at http://www.thejamaicanmagazine.com/archive/23-pages-past.html in Jamaica magazine.

The same section now. Totally overgrown

Briefly, the original Great House was built by the Englishman and wealthy slave merchant Thomas Hibbert in the 18th Century. After the first Great House fell in ruins, the Scottish physician Sir John Pringle bought the property in 1914 and built an impressive house on the ruins of the older one. In World War II, it was used as a barrack for the Canadian army. 

It was later acquired by Sir Harold Mitchell and then the Jamaica Producers Group. They had used some sections as offices but the house was destroyed by fire in 1980 and has never been restored. It was there that I was introduced to Mukee aka Rat ears which is a wood mushroom growing on host trees, which the Chinese love to cook with pork.
Next we visited a 25 acre experimental teak plantation at Bellfield, St. Mary which was planted some 10 years ago in a joint venture project with Jamaica Producers.

Teak we were told takes 15-20 years to reach maturity and the board is said to be among the most expensive in the world, fetching some $7.50 per board foot.

As we drove through Port Maria, my cousin Sheila who lives here and in Canada, saw the "Firefly" sign and said she had always wanted to visit that property. That had been the home of the famous British writer Sir Noel Coward but what it is known for is the spectacular view.

The spectacular view from "Firefly"

 So comprehensive is the view that the pirate Henry Morgan is said to have had a lookout there.

I obliged Sheila and took her there .

When we left, we stayed on the high road which took us to Oracabessa via Mason Hall and Canoe Pond. I had never been to that area before and the roads were not all that bad.

Next stop was the home of the Chongs, also in St. Mary where we saw the wonderful orchids bieing grown by Mrs. Chong for which she has won dozens of awards.

Orchids all around

Their house on the hill is absolutely fabulous and has a great view too. The house is powered totally by wind and solar energy and Mr. Chong also restores classic cars.

 His pride and joy is this model T ford.

When we left there we took a back road to enjoy the absolute beautify of the White river with its numerous swim areas which are beautiful "blue holes".

I was happy to see locals have now set up businesses all around the blue holes, selling t shirts and renting river shoes and life vests. Other enterprising vendors were also selling Ganja Brownies aka Angel food.

Above the last "blue hole" which we had visited in the past we found the wonderful waterfall called "Island gully Falls" which  had only heard about recently after the "Gleaner did a feature on a mass wedding which was held there.

One of the "blue holes"

 This area has been developed with steps to the falls and changing rooms and there were a lot of local persons enjoying themselves there.

My curiosity as to who developed that area around the falls and how they recoup funds spent has not been satisfied as there was no one there collecting money to use the facilities.

As we arrived there late,meaning the water would be extra cold, we did not swim but only took pictures and resolved to return soon to enjoy a great dip under those beautiful falls.

Beautiful Island Gully Falls

While we had started our journey going to St. Mary via the Junction road, we returned via Ocho Rios as it would be closer.

I did not use my favourite toll road though as I was dying for some soup and that would not be available anywhere else but the Faith's Pen area. We were not disappointed and after having delicious chicken foot sours, returned to Kingston tired but very happy.

High Mountain 5k

Sunday 25th January 2015 was the first time I participated in a High Mountain event, although members of my group, Fun and Thrills are always well represented.

The is because it always clashes with the Jazz and Blues festival which is held in Falmouth on the last weekend of January every year but thank heavens the High mountain organizers changed their event to the second to last weekend this year.

This was the 32nd year of the event and I had really wanted to attend since learning from one of the organizers that the funds raised were going to buy dialysis machines for the Mandeville hospital, for ever since my best friend Hilma died from kidney complications, I have been very concerned about that particular sickness.

I was however disappointed at the turnout as there seem to have been more sponsors and vendors than participanbts but it was not well advertised this year for some reason.

Vendors abounded

I enjoyed participating  however and it was a very convenient date. For I had an outside broadcast from Santa Cruz on the Friday before and had to attend a birthday party in Mandeville on Friday night. So I stayed over in Mandeville and went to Black River on Saturday to pick up a sucking pig from Michael , a good friend from school days. He had promised it to me for the party the following week. So after hanging out with him and his wife Pearl all day Saturday, we went back to Mandeville, so on the Sunday I was fit and ready to drive to nearby Williamsfield for the event.

 Of course while I only entered the 5k walk, some of the Fun a and Thrills members even entered the 10 running segment. Fit lot!

The 5k route took us from Williamfield, on the picturesque  and undulating route to Mile Gully then  the through the Windalco Bauxite property and back. It was a pleasxant route and the rain even fell to cool us down.

I walked at an ordinary pace with Michael Chuck and we came close to last but no bug thing, we finished and it was great.

 The crowning point was  Michael and I driving back through Old Harbour and stopping for jerk pork at Farmers for "dinner."

Absolutely wonderful pork and a great way to end a wonderful weekend.

What a Party!

As we always go to Jazz fest in Montego Bay every year, my brother Bernie's family (wife Judi, kids Stephanie and Whitney and son-in -law Sean) organised to throw him a 70th birthday party to celebrate the event that had taken place in December and honour him for being a great husband and dad.

Getting ready to head to the airport

They had been planning it for around five months and the wonder is he never suspected a thing until they hit him with the news on Sunday morning as he was preparing to depart to the airport.

What a bangerang!

 First he was adamant that he had to go back to North Carolina as he had deliveries to do. But wife Judy informed him that arrangements had been made for two other doctors to do his deliveries.

Then he insisted that he could not stay another day as his office had to be opened but again she countered that it would, as all was arranged with the staff.

 Then he insisted that he could only travel on a Sunday (lol) and it was too late to change his flight. That had already been done he discovered.

Still in disbelief, he declared that we must all have the party and enjoy ourselves as the driver was on the way to take him to the airport, only to hear that the driver would not be coming until Monday!

Only then did it seem to start dawning on him that there was indeed a party and they were not jiving him. That entire process took some 30 minutes!

Convincing the guest of honour to attend the party!

So now he wanted to know where the food and liquor was.

You see he thought it was going to be at the house but in fact a huge tent  had been set up closer to the beach but he did not know it was for him. He had seen it the day before but had been told by someone that a wedding was being held there.

Then it was finally time to get him down to the venue which was easy as he had been told they wanted a family photo by the beach.

Getting into the mood finally and being an ardent fan of Fab 5, Jamaica's best dance band, on the way down he commented that when he returned home he would select some of their cd's. Imagine his shock when he reached the tent, saw some of

He had to stop to take it all in when he saw his friends already there

his friends already gathered there and Fab 5 on the bandstand!

 He became more and more amazed as the moments slipped by he realised that  most of his

The "old boys" gather around the honouree

friends from Cornwall College and Howard University were all there .

Fab 5 was absolutely wonderful and Gem Myers who sang with them was just amazing.

She should have been the one to sing at Jazz Fest instead of the imported Maria Carey who was a flop. I hear it looked like she is losing her voice as every-time she had to take a challenging note, she would start talking to the audience. As a result of her lousy performance, many persons missed Morgan Heritage who came on after her and who I hear was really good but people just could not sit through Maria Carey to wait to hear them.

 I had not gone on the Friday night for it was raining all day and breezy to boot so I was not about to sit in the cold to hear her or anyone else. Great decision it turns out as I stayed home with Michelle Wright and Delroy came around and entertained us. I did go on Saturday night though and Charlie Wilson was absolutely awesome and Peter Cetera really good. We left after the Pointer sisters had done about three songs but I hear we left too early for they really turned out to be quite good.

Songbird Gem Myers with Fab 5

Anyway back to the party.

The entire function was seamless, the food great, the liquor plentiful and everyone had a wonderful time thanks to Judi and the kids.

Bernie was absolutely overwhelmed too as his friend Dr. Mulvaney (Jerry) who we all know as a keen photographer who is always moving around with his camera and equipment, joined the band and did a special number for him.

Jerry has a great voice

I had no idea Jerry had such a  lovely voice although I did know he had a band in North Carolina.

What amazes me even now is how Bernie never had a clue that something was afoot even when my daughter Michele, my daughter in law Michelle Wright and cousin Barry all came from abroad and were gathered in the same place for a couple of days for the first time in our lifetime.

Anyway, he was pleasantly surprised, overwhelmed and had a great time as did everyone else.

CAROLING IN LAURISTAN, ST. CATHERINE

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

So all during the morning too, people were pouring in with pots and other containers filled with delicious ackee and codfish, curried chicken, roti, turned cornmeal, friend johnnycakes and even hominy porridge. So there was food galore and delicious to boot.

This community centre is located on land that they leased and using a 40 foot container, converted it into  a real utility centre, fully furnished with benches and tables made by residents themselves.

While we waited for the rest of the community to gather and the food to be prepared, president Nain who is in his own right one of Jamaica’s most outstanding tenors and a former member of Jamaica Folk singers, led everyone in more caroling  while real country hot chocolate was served to stave off the creeping hunger.

                                                                         

                                                                                                                             

  A sumptuous breakfast indeed

Then the Rev Simmonds who had journeyed from old Harbour, delivered  a sermon based on the story of the good Samaritan…..love thy neighbor as you love yourself.

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 

But it was a great get together culminating with an absolutely wonderful breakfast and every single person getting a Christmas present from under the tree. And guess what? The grounds were as clean as a whistle when it was all over!

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.

                                               Citizens wait patiently to be served     

https://youtu.be/L3sgIci5ffs

Give More to Political Parties? Absolutely Not!

I am absolutely amazed, for despite several senators grandstanding and  claiming they object to  the taxpayers funding political parties, guess what? They approved the amendments to the Representation of People's Act  without removing that offensive requirement! 

So soon it will be legal for taxpayers to be pressured further to  come up with more money  to  finance political activity. And I deliberately said "more money" since  as Tom Tavares Finson reminded us, we already provide a high degree of funding. He gave as an example the last general elections where the money paid to party workers exceeded $50 million. And I am sure he did not take into consideration what goes into parish Councillors' salaries  for they are more beneficial to the PNP And JLP to carry out their party's activities at the grassroots than they are to us in their divisions! 

Further, does anyone ever know how much of the current million dollar and near million dollar telephone bills  that some minister run up annually go into their working in the interest of the country versus for private political campaigning?

As far as I am concerned, for the politicians to have passed this amendment is totally unconscionable and for the public to just ignore the implications is absolutely remarkable. For don't the Jamaican taxpayer recognise that in excess of 20% of the population lives in poverty and the constant cry is that government has no money to help them ease the pain in their bellies?

And if every other deserving organisation including the Salvation Army which looks after the interest of the poorest among us has to do their own fund raising, why shouldn't the political parties who history has shown have done so much to damage our economy since independence without anyone being held responsible for anything. So now, they are being given free passage to enjoy the privileges of power without any accountability and without them even doing their own fund raising.

According to those who  pushed the legislation for taxpayers to bankroll the political parties, this will prevent those with deep pockets who now  finance  the parties from influencing policy.

Hah. Since we are a country notorious for a lack of accountability and transparency will someone tell me how picking taxpayers pockets going to remedy this malady ?

Besides,  it is apparent that policy in Jamaica is more dictated by the IMF and foreign investors with deep pockets than by rich locals who finance the party of their choice. And this situation will remain as long as we remain a beggarly nation  as we have been since gaining independence 52 years ago.  And from all indications, we will remain so for decades to come because corruption and lack of accountability is so entrenched.

And as long as the level of national poverty  remains, foreign investors with deep pockets  will determine that they want Goat Island or any other section of Jamaica  and do anything they please that will damage the entire environment, without interference.

How is this latest legislation which will only put further financial pressure on the overtaxed population going to correct these situations?