- Michael Sloley/Freelance Photographer
At left, Cuthbert 'Danny' Allen, decorative block maker.
IN SOUTHFIELD, there are plains of rich, deep red soil. In this area of South St. Elizabeth, you will find melons are as large as baby buggies. It is where papayas as big as a baby's head grow.
As to the coconuts, just hope that no irate country man tries stoning your passing vehicle with one when you inadvertently upset his melon stall on the narrow country roads.
As rich as the soil is, not everyone in the area is a farmer. Cuthbert "Danny" Allen, the son of a mason, has continued his father's tradition of providing building services to residents in surrounding communities.
While the papayas grow as big as anywhere else on his bit of land, what you will find in Mr. Allen's front yard are not bags packed for market, but stacks and stacks of decorative blocks, scrolled columns and intricately designed fencing.
Mr. Allen specialises in block making the decorative kind. The farming community in which he lives is also rich with returning residents and other Jamaicans who love to add these touches to their homes, a decorative element which makes each home different from others. Mr. Allen provides the extraordinary.
At least in theory, there should be a good demand for his scrolled columns and decorative brick fencing.
The real situation, however, is not as robustly promising. Decoration is the last thing that people think about, he says.
It was less than two years ago that the father of five left his job as a travelling chef (working with visiting missionaries brought in by a local company) to start making blocks. He was quite good at what he did, he says, but always, he has wanted to own a business for himself. Hence his current project.
Mr. Allen started by purchasing small amounts of cement, wire and other materials, increasing the amount as he sold his first decorative blocks and fences.
The fact that the entire lot on which he lives, with the exception of his home, his now filled with his efforts, is testimony to the distance travelled in the period. Although the demand is not as great as he would like, he still has expectations that market conditions will improve.
In the meantime, he says he has committed himself to making tough, clean and beautiful products that anyone would be proud to use in their home. Country man, and son of the soil, hope blooms in his heart every morning with the rising sun.
- Avia Ustanny
