Bamboo’s community hero

On the day The Sunday Gleaner visited her at home in Bamboo, St Ann, Carmen Wilson was enjoying a peaceful afternoon on her veranda with her tablet in hand. At 78 years old, she’s living without worries, savouring life to the fullest.

Her helper, Suzie Roach, was busy preparing a pot of soup for the soup kitchen that Wilson started more than 50 years ago, providing “a little something hot” to those in need. This initiative has been solely funded by Wilson throughout the decades, reflecting her unwavering generosity.

Wilson’s compassionate spirit can be traced back to her upbringing. She was baptised as a teenager and has been an active member of the Free Hill Seventh-day Adventist Church all her life.

And sometimes good deeds are reciprocated. Sometimes, too, they create treasures in human form. For some, Wilson appears to be such a treasure.

Earlier that day, not for the first time, a farmer had brought her two bags containing yams, sweet potatoes and other crops – no charge, no request made, no prior communication. It was simply a token to show just how much residents of the community hold her in high regard.

Serving senior citizens from 1970 ...

Having worked at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, serving senior citizens from 1970 until her retirement in 2018, Wilson is well known across several parishes where she had worked, especially in her native St Ann.

“I was the parish organiser for senior citizens’ clubs in St Ann and Trelawny and organiser of the St Ann Senior Citizens’ Association. I worked as far as Hanover. We’ve spent some very good times with the seniors,” she reminisced.

In Bamboo, where she has lived all her life, she is well-loved and respected and still serves the community as a justice of the peace.

The overall situation has placed Wilson, a committed Christian for decades, in quite a comfortable situation, one from which she’s in no hurry to shift. A permanent fixture in Bamboo, she appears to be.

“I like the attitude of the people, the church people [and even] those who are not church people. They all take very good care of me,” Wilson admitted to The Sunday Gleaner.

She continued, explaining how deeply rooted she feels in the community, which is situated in North Western St Ann.

“I have two daughters, they are in America, with three grandchildren – two boys and a girl – and sometimes they say, ‘Aunt Carmen, why you don’t come?’ Even last Christmas. I don’t even want to leave Bamboo!” she exclaimed, with a laugh.

Whenever she visits the US, it’s always fun with the children and grandchildren, but Bamboo’s allure tugs at her heart the strongest.

“Whenever I go and stay with them, yes, it’s nice. They’re my daughters and they’re my grandchildren, but everything is just good to me when I’m here in Bamboo. This is my seat, right here on the veranda. I just love to sit here and anybody pass [we say hello].

“Earlier this week, I didn’t come out for two days because I had the flu and believe me, when I came out this morning, people were like, ‘How mi nuh see you pon veranda, Ma? How mi nuh see yuh pon veranda?’ That is the attitude, that’s the way they treat me.”

“I was born and grown here, I went away, came back and what have you but the people are so warm and nice. They take care of me like…. Sometimes I might be alone here, they just come and knock, ‘Miss Carmen, you all right?’ That sort of thing. They care about me and it’s not just Christmas time, it’s right through. And they’re loving, they’re kind.”

Wilson is also proud of the younger generation in her community.

“One thing that I really have to look at, these young people here, they really, really try to help themselves. If you walk the streets, as far a you can go, a house is always going up. It’s good to see how the young people them build the houses,” she said.

Her soup kitchen started out of the need of one person, Wilson explained.

“I am a person who likes to give and I went to church one Sabbath and heard this lady ah belch every minute. I asked her what happen and she say, ‘Miss Carmen, mi a tell you the truth now, mi nuh get no tea this morning.’

“So mi say, “Is that so?” And I jumped in my car, come up here, get the foodstuff and go back and feed her and then the church started to provide food stuff in the afternoon and from that time. I said to myself, ‘I’m coming up to Bamboo ... in the afternoon and I’m going to put on a soup pot. About 50 years now and I’m still doing it. Sometimes it’s hard because I have to find meat kind, I have to find everything.”

Over the years, people have come to rely on her kitchen.

“Sometimes all in the night they come. Sometimes I have to wake up and put it in their container and let them go,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

Despite all she’s given, Wilson has received much in return.

“I get so much awards, I can’t even count them,” Wilson said.

Among them was a plaque from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security in December 2008 for 38 years of dedicated service. Her living room, in fact, is filled with plaques.

Most memorable experiences

One of her most memorable experiences was a week spent at Sandals St Lucia in 2014, courtesy of Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart. Sandals took 20 community stalwarts, including Wilson, on a vacation to St Lucia in recognition of their contributions to their communities following the inaugural Butch Stewart Community Service Awards. Wilson wrote a heartfelt thank-you letter to Stewart and his son Adam for their appreciation of the workers.

This gesture made her pen a letter to publicly thank Stewart and his son Adam, for showing the workers appreciation for the work they had done over the years.

“Kindly allow me the opportunity to publicly thank Mr Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart, his son Adam, and their entire team at Sandals Resorts for their great initiative to recognise community stalwarts across the island at a recent function. I am speaking of the Inaugural Butch Stewart Community Service Awards that were held on September 24, 2014 at Sandals Ocho Rios,” Wilson wrote.

“As one of the 35 recipients of the inaugural and prestigious award, I wish to express my gratitude and to say how elated and overjoyed I am. This has motivated me more, even in such difficult times, to push even harder to do more than ever for my fellow Jamaicans. It’s an amazing feeling when you do good, help persons in need, expecting nothing in return, and are recognised in such a prestigious way,” the letter said in part.

Carmen Wilson has much to be thankful for, and so do the many people whose lives she’s touched through her career and her generosity.

carl.gilchrist@gleanerjm.com