What about St Ann?

Roofless buildings, fallen trees, no cell signal, no electricity; these are some of the issues St Ann residents are facing following the passage of Hurricane Melissa over Jamaica on October 28, but say they feel neglected as most of the relief efforts are going westward.

Marva Campbell, a resident of Runaway Bay, St Ann, whose roof was lifted during the hurricane, described her experience to The Gleaner.

“During the hurricane, we were inside. Then the breeze and the rain started to fall - then the roof top [went]. After the storm, we tried to put it back on but [with] the heavy rains, we still have stuff wet up,” Campbell said as she looked at her belongings in the sun drying and pointing to the tarpaulin used as a makeshift fix to her roof.

“This one is worse than Hurricane Gilbert, Ivan – all of them – this one is the worst of all.”

Despite the conditions, she said no member of parliament (MP) nor any other political representatives had visited the area to assess their situation as many as five days after the storm.

“We don’t have any help, we don’t see any MPs, we don’t know councillors, nothing for the area, [no one has] come and assisted us,” she said when The Gleaner spoke with her on November 2. “Runaway Bay, St Ann is just as bad as Westmoreland and all those places.”

Another member of the community, who wished to remain anonymous, agreed with Campbell.

“St Ann mash up. Everybody ah assist other parishes and not St Ann. We really need help. Same like Westmoreland and St Elizabeth, it’s just that people nah see and push out no video like other parishes,” the resident said.

However, the community has not been left without help entirely, as a group volunteers from the Lucky Clover Foundation spearheaded clean-up efforts at the Runaway Primary and Infant School.

Founder of the Lucky Clover Foundation Shemar Shand described the activities carried out by the group that Sunday.

“We did a little clean-up, did a little fixing of the roof, and we just want to appeal to the wider Jamaica to come out and help; whatever you can do will be appreciated. The Lucky Clover Foundation has more than 600 volunteers but we could have only facilitated about 60 because of the lack of funding and donations. Going forward, we would love if we could get buses and care packages to the people in St Ann. They don’t have electricity, they don’t have enough water, the signal is poor, and we are just trying to do our best,” Shand said.

But, why a school?

Oshane Daley, one of the directors of the foundation, answered.

“I am really happy that we started with a school because the kids are the future and we would really love for the schools to be open as soon as possible,” Daley said.

Campbell said she was grateful for the initiative.

“We are glad the school is in a condition where they can go back to school. My grandson goes to that school. I would not want him to be out of school for such a long time,” she said.

This being the first of what they hope to be many stops across affected areas, Kimani Douglas, another director of the foundation, described why St Ann was chosen for their project.

“We realised that most of the effort has been put toward other parishes like St Elizabeth, so we wanted to go elsewhere because we know that other areas are affected,” he said.

As the country rebuilds, Brittany Graham, also of the foundation, urged Jamaicans to join a project and not just sit behind their screens and watch.

“Even on the journey here, we realised we have a lot of work ahead of us. It is important for you guys to get up and at least try to make donations, help clear debris somewhere, whatever the case may be, because Jamaica needs to get back to what it was and the only way to do that is that if you guys decide to come out and lend a hand to all of us,” she said.

editorial@gleanerjm.com