Cleaning Up the Majestic Gardens Mess

Zinc fenced homes and tarpaulin roofs, electric wires thrown upeverywhere signaling electricity theft, wild pigs and stray dogs eatinggarbage as food- this isn’t Riverton City Landfill, this is the everydayreality of the residents at Majestic Gardens, Off Spanish Town Road.

Lanvell Blakeinfo@marketmeja.comWriter876-369-0824LB_Kojo

Majestic Gardens, a section of the former Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller's South West

St Andrew constituency has been ranked among Jamaica's poorest communities.

At age 20, Toni-Ann, a resident of Majestic Gardens says she has two children ages 4 and 1 years

old for two different men. This situation seems to be the trend in the community as she said that

a lot of young females in the community have children for older men. It is rare to find

one female in the community with children that carry the same last name- seven children, seven

different fathers. The reason behind this being neglect.

“Some a dem parents neglect dem. Some a dem parents caan find food.Some a dem waan di hotnis. Some a dem waan di hypeness and a man telldem seh im ago mek dem wear dat, have dat,” — Toni-Ann

Because of this, vulnerable females in the community end up exchanging their body with men

for money just to live daily. Some of them even end up being pregnant for these men.

Toni-Ann operates a little shop on the roadside and ‘hustles’ Downtown in order to provide for

her two children. Her son’s father is in prison, hence he’s unable to provide for him, she said.

However, her daughter’s father helps out when he can. Toni-Ann said that there’s unbearable

pain from being hungry and females in the community have to find ways to survive.

“Hungry hot. Everibodi kno hungry hot”— Toni-Ann

As we sat outside her shop, Toni-Ann explained that females in the community normally stick to

older men because of what they can provide for them.

“...a man tell yuh seh im ago give yuh a $200, shi can buy something fi eat, shiago stick wid deh man deh. Dem bigger than wi and dem nah tell wi seh fi usecondom or go a school, dem a tell wi seh dem wi mind wi baby,”— Toni-Ann

But a lot of young females fall victims to this offer as these men leave soon after they impregnate

them. When asked about using contraceptives and preventing unwanted pregnancy Toni-ann

explained that females in the community will tell you that contraceptives have too many side

effects.

“Some a dem wi tell yuh seh contraceptives mek yuh smell, mek dem belly bigso some a dem nuh waan go pon di family planning. Deh baby fadda deh lef,so dem tek a nex’ man & have pickney fi di man & a so dem get caught again.”— Toni-Ann

Walking through the community makes it evident that Majesty Gardens is desperately in need

of garbage receptacles, as rubbish is being dumped everywhere.

Further down the lane, we met up with Poochie who told us that she has been living in Majestic

Gardens since 1992. Poochie grew up with her single-parent mother and a father who would

visit from the community of Waterhouse ever so often. Lying down on her stomach and

enjoying a ripe mango, Poochie told us that life in Majestic Gardens has been a raw ordeal for

her.

“Mi go thru a hol heap enuh. Mi go thru a hol’ heap a things. Gunshot, all typea supmn,” — Poochie

Poochie who is a mother of three, said her family has been targeted because of her babyfather.

Traumatised by the experience, Poochie did not want to disclose why her babyfather got shot

because the men responsible for shooting her babyfather currently resides in the community.

But if the shooting wasn’t enough for her to bear, her house was also broken into. She ran away

from the community for over 2 years after these incidents because she feared for her life. She

later returned because her family who she was staying with was giving off a negative energy and

the man responsible for shooting her babyfather father died.

Comprising mostly board dwellings, the more impoverished have been forced to use nearby

gullies, filled with debris and flies, as makeshift bathrooms. As we walked through the

community a resident shouted

“A weh dem a do interview? Everibodi kno seh di hol’ a wi dun ya s**t a bush.Di gully dem a wi personal bathroom”.— Majestic Gardens Resident

The community of Majestic Gardens among many other things is plagued with unemployment

and violence. Despite that however, residents there are just calling for greater representation

and more job opportunities.

Finey, who works at a company washing yam, dasheen & picking callaloo said that “life is nice in

Majestic Gardens, a jus di work di people dem want fi set up dem self di right way… Yuh zimi”.

Wrong AddressBut while members of the Majestic Gardens community are willing to do a honest days work for

a honest day's pay, they are not being afforded the opportunity. Michelle, who has been a

resident of the community for over 40 years said that residents there suffer from a serious case

of “wrong address”.

The community has been assisted by the Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) and

Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL) in implementing a number of educational

training sessions for members of the community to learn various skills. Many residents have

taken the opportunity to attend, but some of the residents are saying that they are not provided

with job offers or opportunities after. One of the main reasons they said is because of their

address.

“Di address weh wi have, dem waan tell yuh seh wi nuh qualify. And wi waantell dem seh ano everybody inna di community dunce,”— Michelle

There’s a stigma attached to members of the community even though you have persons there

with CXC/CSEC subjects, they are unable to secure a job. Michelle said she has done a number

of interviews for various jobs, but to date she is yet to get a call back.

“Dem seh wi will call yuh & yuh deh deh, yu sen een application & yuh nevaget a call… all 3-4 years, yuh neva get a call & like sumbodi wudda go & demgive a different address & wi kno seh dem come from ya & in space a 2 weeksor 3 weeks yuh si dem get call & dem a work,” — Michelle

Ann, like Michelle has experienced the same situation herself & backed up Michelle’s claim by

telling us that her 19 year old daughter is currently going through the same ordeal.

“Yeh, cuz dem seh ya so a bad area. Di ppl dem fraid a dun ya enu. Cuz nufftime dem seh a dun ya yuh live? Mi seh nuhn nuh wrong wid dun ya,”— Ann

Cristina, another lady who was seated beside Ann & Michelle said that she has relatives overseas

that have told her that they would not visit her where she lives when they come to Jamaica.

Electricity RegularizationAnother sore issue for the community is the fact that they have to steal electricity. This a

practice that some members of the community said that they would like to stop doing and get

regularized like other members of the community. Ann said she would have no problem in

paying her own electricity bill.

“Sometime a coal fyah mi haffi put my iron pon fi iron my baby clothes.Sometime all a week my baby nuh go a school cuz light & power come and tekweh di light,”— Ann

A very stern Ann said that even though she is not working, she is willing to sell bag juice in

order to pay for electricity. Ann, who does regular ‘hustling’ Downtown said that even though

sometimes she makes only $500 and she has to buy food and support her child, she is willing to

sacrifice and be a paying JPS customer.

Community members are calling for the unity of the community in order for the development to

take place. They said that their Member of Parliament, Mama P has been doing a lot for the

community even though it might not be evident on the outside. However, this is being done via

a liaison person and the assistance being given by Mama P is is not being evenly distributed

throughout the community. The ‘wealth’ is being kept by one member of the community they

said. To date there has been a number of initiatives to help assist with the upliftment of the

community. Wayne, who we spotted was painting the newly built single enclosure garbage

receptacle, a project made possible by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), said that the

Jamaica Public Service (JPS) lighting programme is currently going on in the community. This

is also being done with the help of JSIF to get adults in the community to regularize their

electricity.

Wayne, who has been a resident of the community for over 35 years said that members of the

community have also come together to aid in its development. The community of Majestic

Gardens has a registered CDC. This CDC is a community based group consisting of members

from church, political and youth groups within the community.

“Development is going on. But it a go at a slow pace. Wi fi get some house.Some housing development fi gwaan how long & all now wi community kindaunsure a waah go gwaan,”— Wayne

When we visited, we saw workmen putting in a sewer line in the community.

The residents of Majestic Gardens will tell you that they have had their fair share of promises

and “start and stop”, however, they still believe in the “Majestic Dream”.

“We community can pay its pawt inna di Vision2030. Wen yuh a come thru wicommunity, it is a good and decent community, weh everibodi can drive thruand have a good breath a fresh air & nuh sink up dem face and seh wi a diworst.”— Wayne

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