Colonel Frank Lumsden and members of the Charles Town Maroons dance at the Asufu yard during Quao Day celebrations in Portland on Friday, June 23, 2005. - Andrew Smith/Photography Editor

Editor's note: The first part of this story was carried in the June 16, 2007, edition of The Gleaner. Today we carry the final part.

Julian 'Jingles' Reynolds, Contributor

Several new projects have been introduced to stimulate economic growth for the community of Charles Town for Maroons and non-Maroons alike. Colonel Lumsden fully backs this point and in fact has said: "All we ask for are persons to come with a serious and willing attitude to learn and to earn."

Three of the projects that are under way with funding from aid agencies are wicker-making, bee- keeping, the growing and processing of herbal plants for medicinal purposes, and a bammy-making factory is to start soon.

The wicker programme is sponsored by People's Action for Community Transformation and funded by the Caribbean Development Bank. Instructor Fitz Neal, a wicker entrepreneur with over 15 years experience in the industry, trained 20 community people last year in two three-week training courses, preparing them for producing wicker products. Wicker grows abundantly in the region.

The bee-keeping project is sponsored by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and the Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute, with $300,000 initial funding. Cecil Willis and Philbert McLeary, bee farmers in west Portland, are the resource persons. Six community residents were the initial participants in this programme intended to promote honey production as an economic option for the community.

Business plan

The IICA, with funding from USAID, sponsors the herbal medicinal plant project headed by Dr. Sylvia Mitchell of the Medicinal Plant Research Group, a unit of the Biotechnology Centre at the University of the West Indies.

The initial funding of $600,000 was to carry out a feasibility study and produce a business plan with the objective of having farmers cultivate, gather and process herbal plants that are traditionally used and promoted for their medicinal values. These herbal medicinal plants will be sold to local manufacturers and exported. Some 24 plants are identified for the programme, including, search-me-heart, king of the forest, poor man's strength and leaf of life.

Eco-heritage tourism is also high on the agenda of the Charles Town Maroon Council (CTMC). Portland is considered the ecological capital of Jamaica, and the Maroon community, with its bucolic backdrop of hills, river and dense forestry is on the main road from the small seaside town of Buff Bay up to Hardware Gap and Newcastle in the Blue Mountains.

Scores of tourists drive by weekly without being informed that they are passing through a historically important community with several heritage attractions. To address this, Quao's Village, a travellers' halt in Plum Valley adjoining Charles Town, is being readied to accommodate visitors. It will offer indigenous foods and drinks; Maroon history; entertain-ment; tours to Safu Yard and the Maroon museum in Charles Town, caves and trails once used by the Maroons, and the ruins of an 18th-century coffee plantation.

Independence

The Charles Town Maroon Drummers and Dancers - who have been acclaimed for their performances - are another feature of the community. Colonel Lumsden and two members of the group, Cashaine Richards and Rodney Rose, earlier this year journeyed to Ghana as guests of the Ghanaian government, which was celebrating 50 years of independence.

Accommodate visitors

Community tourism is being encouraged in Charles Town by having local residents make accommodations in their homes available for visitors, and by constructing Maroon huts on Maroon lands to accommodate visitors. The Charles Town Maroons have also spawned two companies that now operate a few miles away in Spring Garden - Anything From Jamaica Limited, a farming, agro-processing business; and Mekyah Spring Water Ltd. Both com-panies began as cottage industries and employ people from Charles Town and sur-rounding communities.

The Social Development Commission has taken an interest in the development of Charles Town and in 2005 opened a multi-purpose sports field - a long-term vision of outgoing Member of Parliament for West Portland, Errol Ennis. Further discussions between the SDC and the CTMC are envisaged to explore implementing projects that will assist the community in building a better future.

Julian 'Jingles' Reynolds is a writer, filmmaker and entrepreneur who lives and works in New York and Jamaica.