On October 28 last year, Black River, the capital of St Elizabeth, was almost entirely destroyed by Hurricane Melissa. The scale of the devastation left much of Jamaica stunned. For some residents, the wreckage was so complete that it resembled the...
Hurricane Melissa delivered a double blow to many residents of western Jamaica, damaging or destroying both homes and businesses and leaving recovery stalled in an uneasy limbo. Delbert Rodney of Belmont, Westmoreland, is among those still...
Ghana’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has outlined plans to strengthen his country’s presence in Jamaica and the wider region as part of a broader effort to deepen African–Caribbean ties. Ghana’s only mission with regional...
Ghana has sent senior officials to Jamaica to review its hurricane-recovery assistance, encourage deployed troops and advance stalled bilateral agreements, according to the country’s foreign affairs minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. Ablakwa, who...
On the afternoon of Saturday January 17, Lecture Theatre 49 at the University of Technology Jamaica (UTech) was filled for nearly two hours with colourfully dressed members of the creative industry, alongside UTech’s principal, Dr Kevin Brown, the...
Ingrid Stewart Boivin grew up in Drapers, Portland, attended Titchfield High School in Port Antonio and later Shortwood Teachers’ College in St Andrew. After migrating, she returned to Jamaica regularly with her children. Each visit, she said,...
The Bluefields Bay region in eastern Westmoreland comprises several districts, including Belmont, Cherry Hill, Mount Airy, Mearnville and Auldyr. It was near this area that Category-5 Hurricane Melissa made landfall on Tuesday, October 28 last year...
Olympia Gallery has opened Curator’s Eye, described as “a dynamic exhibition that extends A. D. Scott’s original vision of Olympia as a vital cultural institution in Jamaica”. The show, which opened on December 11 at 202 Old Hope Road, St Andrew,...
As the music pumped, patrons at Dougie’s Bar at Jakes Treasure Beach, Calabash Bay, St Elizabeth mingled and smiled. Happy faces were everywhere. Then, in a voice as joyful as joyful gets, someone shouted: “Dougie! Dougie! Dougie!” All eyes...
A few days ago, I overheard a conversation between a young mother and her daughter, who looked about six years old. The child wanted to know why Boxing Day is so called, and when it is. The mother answered, “I don’t know,” to both questions,...
Up to the end of the 20th century Christmas celebrations were more widely anticipated in Jamaica, secularly and religiously, than they are nowadays. The days leading up to Christmas were full of feelings of excitement; school, church, home and...
The creative community in Jamaica has been shaken by the violent murder of Kenya-born Jamaican fusion sculptor Mazola wa Mwashighadi, a death wholly at odds with the man they knew. He had made Jamaica his home since 1997, settling in Treasure Beach...
Great Huts Eco Resort, an Afrocentric, eco-friendly hotel perched on the cliffs above Boston Bay in Portland, is filled with art – most notably the work of the late Mazola wa Mwashighadi, known simply as Mazola in artistic circles, who was murdered...
Olympia Gallery, at 202 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6, is one of Jamaica’s best-known art spaces, with works always on sale. The gallery is housed in a distinctive building designed by Jamaican engineer, builder, art patron and artist A.D. Scott. It...
This is the first in a series highlighting the impact of Hurricane Melissa on the Bluefields Organic Farm and Haven View Villas and Spa , an eco-tourism facility operated by Keith R Wedderburn in Westmoreland. In Cherry Hill, overlooking the...
Since Category 5 Hurricane Melissa struck on October 28, relief and recovery missions have been unfolding across western Jamaica, the area hardest-hit region. Local residents, government agencies, NGOs and overseas organisations have been...
Scott’s Cove, on the St Elizabeth side of the border with Westmoreland, was once idyllic. Category 5 Hurricane Melissa changed that. On one side of the cove sat a fishing village; on the other, roadside shacks sold fried fish, which have a...
Hurricane Melissa ripped through western Jamaica, devastating Cornwall county and parts of Manchester and St Elizabeth. Other parishes, too, felt the wrath of the Category 5 storm. In the east, Portland’s Rio Grande Valley — long recognised as...
There can be no conversation about Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, without a mention of Jakes, a world-renowned hotel situated on the edge of the coastline, and Jack Sprat, the restaurant “considered the headquarters of eating and drinking in...
The parish of St Elizabeth was among 12 Anglican parishes established between 1655 and 1675, named after Elizabeth, Lady Modyford, wife of Governor Thomas Modyford. In 1773, Black River replaced Lacovia as the parish capital. Once called...
“BIRTHED FROM a God-inspired vision in 2021 to merge administration, creativity, production, media and Kingdom purpose into one powerhouse platform, Arianna Lawrence, coined the term ASW. It began as a small, faith-fuelled idea to help leaders,...
Outside the Samaritan’s Purse field hospital on the grounds of Black River High School, a small act of kindness recently unfolded, capturing the spirit of resilience following Hurricane Melissa. From the back of a car, Earl Whyte of Brucefield...
On the St Elizabeth side of the border with Westmoreland, there once was an idyllic little fishing village. The village remains but, since Hurricane Melissa tore through, it is almost unsightly, and was littered with damaged boats and debris when...
It is said that a wise man builds his house on the rock, and a foolish man builds his upon the sands. For, in the event of a storm, the house on the rock will stand, but the house on the sand will crumble to pieces. In 2007, Hurricane Dean proved...
Sangster International Airport (SIA) was partially damaged, and so too was the Knutsford Express (KEX) depot located on its property. I waited at the depot for three hours for my pick-up driver to arrive, but he never appeared. I suspected a...
