Norman Leonard stands outside his house in Marley Hill, Manchester. Leonard is looking forward to moving into his new concrete home that is being built by the Adventist Development and Relief Agency.

When The Sunday Gleaner arrived at Norman Leonard's 'house' in Marley Hill, Manchester, last Tuesday, he was busy cooking a meal of cornmeal dumplings and ackee in his 'kitchen'.

The 50-plus-year-old Leonard is a simple man, his life the epitome of the age-old adage, 'livin' off the fat of the land'.

Leonard lives in a small zinc structure, almost resembling a fowl coop. His door is kept closed by a rotting piece of tree trunk, which he expertly leans against the rickety door frame whenever he leaves to sell his mangoes in Mandeville.

But if one is wondering whether Leonard is concerned that mischievous persons might invade his home, moving away with his valuables when he isn't around, one needs not worry, because Leonard admits he has no such luxuries.

No bed

Inside his house he doesn't even have a bed. At nights, Leonard rests his head on 12 dirty concrete blocks that he has carefully arranged in a row on the red dirt floor.

To take the pressure off his back, he covers the blocks with pieces of his clothing and old scraps of cloth. He keeps the remainder of his clothes neatly folded on the top of an old white bucket, while he hangs his 'good' pants on a nail attached to the zinc structure.

For his kitchen, Leonard cooks outside under a sprawling 'black mango' tree.

"Mi just go down a the shop go buy one pound a flour and half pound a the pretty cornmeal," he tells The Sunday Gleaner, as he removes the cover from a rusty old Dutch pot to reveal twelve 'cartwheel' dumplings floating on top of the boiling water.

"Mi is a man weh can cook yuh nuh. Mi not going eat off everything now though, mi a go leave some fi later," he admits.

Though Leonard lives in dire poverty, he says he is fed by the abundance of food the lush Manchester lands provide. "A off a the tree over there so mi get them ackee here weh mi a go cook," he says, as he points to about six small pods of the fruit.

Leonard also makes his living from the provisions of the earth, by harvesting sweetsops, mangoes, ackee and tangerine and taking them to Mandeville to sell. "A so mi mek likkle money yuh know, mi jus affi turn mi hand," he says.

Leonard admits that right now his only real concern is that he often gets wet whenever it rains, as there are many holes and openings in the rusting zinc used to construct his home.

simple life

He has been living in the old structure for about a year, ever since Tropical Storm Gustav ripped apart his home in August 2008. However, residents in the area told The Sunday Gleaner that Leonard's previous dwelling was not much fancier, sturdier or bigger than the one in which he now lives.

"From mi know him a so him live, him head kind a simple," admits his niece Shirlene Edwards, who lives on a property just above Leonard's home, which is tucked away in the winding hills of south Manchester.

But, luckily for Leonard, he might not have to face this hurricane season in another unstable zinc structure, as representatives of the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA) and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security are now in the process of building him a proper abode, made from concrete.

Pastor Wenford Henry, director of the ADRA Jamaica, told The Sunday Gleaner that the organisation was doing this as part of its mitigation efforts for the hurricane season.

This, he says, should ensure that the most vulnerable residents are provided with a safe place to ride out any potential storms. The agency has already dug the foundation for Leonard's new home and has begun to gather the necessary tools and material, including concrete blocks and sand.

An excited Leonard said all he needs after the completion of his brand new house is a stove to do his cooking.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com

Norman Leonard examines the foundation for his new concrete house. The 50-something-year-old man has been living in an old zinc structure since Tropical Storm Gustav damaged his home. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer