Byron McDaniel, Gleaner Writer
The Wait-a-Bit Police Station in southern Trelawny. - CONTRIBUTED
A TRIP to Wait-a-Bit in the yam-growing Cockpit Mountains of southern Trelawny in mid-November was an invigorating and instructive jaunt through the rural countryside. A balmy winter breeze and the muted strains of the Christmas carol O Little Town of Bethlehem from a radio, was a nostalgic welcome to weary tra-vellers heading in that direction.
The farming community,
populated by about 400 persons, is situated in rugged hills 51 kilometres south of the capital Falmouth. There are nine shops and bars, a community centre, a yam house and a gas station which is the only modern structure. One of the houses is said to have been constructed in the first century A.D. There is also a police station housed in an old, dilapidated building which started life as an inn for wayfarers and now has become a 'crossbar hotel' for wrongdoers.
"The area is very quiet and the crime rate is low. The offences are mostly praedial larceny and offences against the person (eg. wounding). We enjoy a good relationship with the people and I like the area," Sergeant Earl Thomas, the officer in charge of the station, said.
THE NAME WAIT-A-BIT
How did the name Wait-a-Bit evolve? The answer was provided in a police youth club magazine by an articulate member of staff, District Constable Mitzie Lawrence. It seems that a cowardly man had been involved in a fight with a group of men; realising that he could not beat them, he ran away saying 'Wait-a-Bit, all size are against me'. That unfortunate comment led to the adjoining districts being christened 'Allsize' and 'Gainst Me'.
But despite the funky names, not all is well in the area.
Bar operator, Ivy Rowe, who moonlights as a yam farmer told The Gleaner that the exporters to whom they sell refused to pay even the cost of production for yams. They pay 'only $20 per pound', hence it is difficult to make a living through agriculture.
NO LAND-LINE TELEPHONES
The youth are also struggling with the slow progress of the area. Christopher Robinson, a member of the youth club, pointed out that there was no land-line telephones in the area, even the police use cellular phones. The only change the area has seen in many years is piped water, according to 90-year-old, Gladstone Barclay.
During The Gleaner's stay, the team observed several tonnes of yam produced by the 'back-breaking labour of slave descendants' being removed at $20 per pound by their new masters, the exporters, in expensive, heavy-duty vehicles.
As the team left, a glance back showed, in the distance, as far away as Craighead in Manchester, acres upon acres of yam fields dotting the landscape and farmers toiling in the searing sun. Bye, Wait-a-Bit, a town whose inhabitants know the value of hard work.
