Tiny Mill Bank, Portland - abandoned in many ways - is rebounding with hope after the tradegy of the recent market truck accident
THERE IS hope beyond the hills of Mill Bank, as the nation collectively rallies around the relatives of the 14 people who died in the market-truck tragedy at Dam Head bridge road, Portland, on December 19, 2008.
Recently, the Government of Jamaica set up an account at the National Commercial Bank to tug at the nation's purse strings to offer help to the families of the deceased.
That gesture is now being matched with the establishment of the Maroon Communities Development Fund, set up at Jamaica National Building Society. It will be managed by Maroon Council members in Portland, viz Colonel Wallace Sterling, of the Moore Town and Windward Maroons; Colonel Frank Lumsden, of the Charles Town Maroons, and Linette Wilks of the Windward Maroons. The group will be assisted by Maxine Stowe, international consultant, and Marcus Goffe, attorney-at-law ans Maroon researcher.
The Maroon Council has expressed thanks to Jamaica National Building Society for their help. Earl Jarrett, general manager of Jamaica National Building Society, said he hoped everybody would contribute to the fund.
In the meantime, residents of Ginger House, Moore Town, Mill Bank and Comfort Castle, are mourning collectively, some crying non-stop since the pre-Christmas tragedy.
But the tears are not the only thing that they share; they are bonded by heritage, blood and marriage.
Steeped in Maroon heritage, the lands on which they live and farm were once the hideouts of runaway slaves. The hilly and rugged terrain was ideal for the Maroons in the battles against the British.
Descendants
Now, the main Maroon villages in the area are Mill Bank, Comfort Castle, Cornwall Barracks and Moore Town. Chances are, most of the residents are descendants of those indomitable fighters. Some, more than others, are purveyors of the vestiges of Maroon culture.
The Sunday Gleaner recently toured the area with Colonel Sterling of the Moore Town Maroons, Colonel Lumsden of the Charles Town Maroons, along with offe.
The colonels say the Maroon Council will be liaising with the Government regarding the Maroons participation in the funerals.
It is a Maroon tragedy according to them, and thus, there will be a separate Maroon memorialservice.
Isaac Bernard, 84-year-old Maroon spiritual leader and renowned master abeng-blower, from Comfort Castle, has lost four relatives, and admits to be shaken up by the disaster to the point where he has to be medicated.
But he was well enough to demonstrate his prowess at blowing the abeng, and to talk about its language and purposes. He can also play the drums, and dances when he gets the vibes.
More significantly though, the people who died were interrelated, especially those in Mill Bank, and so are the residents who are left behind. There is much interrelationship since the district has a small population.
Those who did not lose a family member might have lost a blood or distance relative or more, or an in-law or a relative of an in-law.
It amounts to one big family in mourning and that is why it is so difficult for them to come to terms with their loss.
"Mi lose two cousin and a cousin wife, plus friends. We are neighbours, we are friends, so it has a great effect on us. Everybody knows each other, everybody wake up seeing each other. When I heard of the accident, boy is like mi turn fool. Mi start march in the house like soldier, is like mi can't find mi clothes dem ... mi couldn't manage the situation," says Jacqueline Gray, a Mill Bank resident.
In 1937, there was another huge tragedy when a mountainside, across from Gray's house, exploded, causing a massive landslide, which killed many persons, eight from one family.
No one in Mill Bank has any firsthand recollection of the event. The only man who was around at the time is said to be 94 and senile.
However, residents say their forebears said it was devastating. The topography of the land, the course of the river below, and the lives of residents were changed forever.
Well, it has happened again, and now the residents must brave themselves for the mass burial, but they cannot possibly imagine how they will manage after the funeral(s).
They will have to call on the strength of their ancestors, who survived many tragedies and much hardship in their struggles against oppression.
One thing for sure, Maroon drumming and dance will come alive on the nights leading up to the funeral(s), and the ancestral spirits will make their presence felt for the mass transition to the other realm.
