By Trudy Simpson, Staff ReporterALTHOUGH BLESSED with an untouched landscape, including a black sand beach, Farquhar's Beach in Clarendon has remained mostly hidden from the world. So too has its problems.
Leaky structures torture many residents of this tiny fishing village, located about 90 minutes drive from Kingston. Getting to the community can be hard, as the last part of the journey is on roads being eaten away by the Milk River. Once there, one sees many homes which have no kitchens or toilets.
"Is bush we have to go," explains Lorraine Bryant, a 30-year-old mother of three. She and her family have been trapped in a one room building for 12 years, with the structure becoming worse every year.
SQUATTER SETTLEMENT
The community, initially a squatter settlement, also has no electricity, no piped water, no telephone lines, no medical clinic and no school.
However, all this is beginning to change.
Charity organisation, Food for the Poor and various donors are making residents smile these days. The Government, the Tourism Product Development Company (TPDCO), United States-based FISH, Atlanta 104.7 FM radio and the charity are transforming Farquhar's beach into a modern, viable community. It will boost the skills and economies of about 60 households.
The donors are providing 30 acres of land, a new name St. Mark's Fishing Village, new homes, a new school and clinic and other amenities to help residents improve their living conditions.
Thirty new homes have been built so far which makes Lorraine, one of the first to get a house, overjoyed.
"With the new house, everything different. No leaking. I can't wait to move in," she declares, still savouring the recent official launch of the village a few Fridays ago.
Food for the Poor will construct 60 more houses and has, with the radio station, boosted the fishermen's earning power by donating three fishing boats.
"I feel wonderful because when I never had a boat, I used to suffer badly. Sometimes I want to go to sea and I cannot go without a man giving me a bly. Sometimes I want to go and cannot go because the man whey did a carry me, him bring somebody else," remembers one recipient, Winston Wright.
A colleague, Raymond Hines, adds the new boat will boost his catch and earnings to as much as $4,000. "Thank God for Food for the Poor. They gave us boats and engines. They are giving us house. Nuff people did naked and dem give them clothes, shoes, food," he said.
Nearby is a new multi-purpose centre which will be used for remedial and skills classes as well as a basic school. Half the population are children so residents welcome the news.
"It's a development for the community because many can't afford the money to send their children to school," said Linnette Gillip. "With a school here, they will definitely benefit, especially the smaller children, because some of the parents not working and so if the child comes here, they can come to school and go home and eat lunch and come back."
REMEDIAL CLASSES
Father Paschal, a Roman Catholic priest who works in the area, is also happy. "We are having a community centre where we can have remedial classes because almost 95 per cent of this community can hardly read and write. The kids should be able to study from the environs of the community without having to travel far to about seven miles away," he said.
But despite improvements, there is much to be done.
Water is trucked in by Rapid Response teams now but residents want piped water, electricity, a health clinic and good roads. It would cut the amount of money being spent to go to businesses and clinics located 30 kilometres away, they say.
Such changes would be "very beautiful," says 79-year-old Dones Pusey, the community's oldest resident.
