Cleaning Up the Majestic Gardens Mess

Majestic Gardens, a section of the former Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller's South West St Andrew constituency has been ranked among Jamaica's poorest communities.

At age 20, Toni-Ann, a resident of Majestic Gardens says she has two children ages 4 and 1 years old for two different men. This situation seems to be the trend in the community as she said that a lot of young females in the community have children for older men. It is rare to find one female in the community with children that carry the same last name- seven children, seven different fathers. The reason behind this being neglect.

Because of this, vulnerable females in the community end up exchanging their body with men for money just to live daily. Some of them even end up being pregnant for these men.

Toni-Ann operates a little shop on the roadside and ‘hustles’ Downtown in order to provide for her two children. Her son’s father is in prison, hence he’s unable to provide for him, she said. However, her daughter’s father helps out when he can. Toni-Ann said that there’s unbearable pain from being hungry and females in the community have to find ways to survive.

As we sat outside her shop, Toni-Ann explained that females in the community normally stick to older men because of what they can provide for them.

But a lot of young females fall victims to this offer as these men leave soon after they impregnate them. When asked about using contraceptives and preventing unwanted pregnancy Toni-ann explained that females in the community will tell you that contraceptives have too many side effects.

Walking through the community makes it evident that Majesty Gardens is desperately in need of garbage receptacles, as rubbish is being dumped everywhere.

Further down the lane, we met up with Poochie who told us that she has been living in Majestic Gardens since 1992. Poochie grew up with her single-parent mother and a father who would visit from the community of Waterhouse ever so often. Lying down on her stomach and enjoying a ripe mango, Poochie told us that life in Majestic Gardens has been a raw ordeal for her.

Poochie who is a mother of three, said her family has been targeted because of her babyfather. Traumatised by the experience, Poochie did not want to disclose why her babyfather got shot because the men responsible for shooting her babyfather currently resides in the community. But if the shooting wasn’t enough for her to bear, her house was also broken into. She ran away from the community for over 2 years after these incidents because she feared for her life. She later returned because her family who she was staying with was giving off a negative energy and the man responsible for shooting her babyfather father died.

Comprising mostly board dwellings, the more impoverished have been forced to use nearby gullies, filled with debris and flies, as makeshift bathrooms. As we walked through the community a resident shouted

The community of Majestic Gardens among many other things is plagued with unemployment and violence. Despite that however, residents there are just calling for greater representation and more job opportunities.

Finey, who works at a company washing yam, dasheen & picking callaloo said that “life is nice in Majestic Gardens, a jus di work di people dem want fi set up dem self di right way… Yuh zimi”.

But while members of the Majestic Gardens community are willing to do a honest days work for a honest day's pay, they are not being afforded the opportunity. Michelle, who has been a resident of the community for over 40 years said that residents there suffer from a serious case of “wrong address”.

The community has been assisted by the Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) and Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL) in implementing a number of educational training sessions for members of the community to learn various skills. Many residents have taken the opportunity to attend, but some of the residents are saying that they are not provided with  job offers or opportunities after. One of the main reasons they said is because of their address.

There’s a stigma attached to members of the community even though you have persons there with CXC/CSEC subjects, they are unable to secure a job. Michelle said she has done a number of interviews for various jobs, but to date she is yet to get a call back.

Ann, like Michelle has experienced the same situation herself & backed up Michelle’s claim by telling us that her 19 year old daughter is currently going through the same ordeal.

Cristina, another lady who was seated beside Ann & Michelle said that she has relatives overseas that have told her that they would not visit her where she lives when they come to Jamaica.

Another sore issue for the community is the fact that they have to steal electricity. This a practice that some members of the community said that they would like to stop doing and get regularized like other members of the community. Ann said she would have no problem in paying her own electricity bill.

A very stern Ann said that even though she is not working, she is willing to sell bag juice in order to pay for electricity. Ann, who does regular ‘hustling’ Downtown said that even though sometimes she makes only $500 and she has to buy food and support her child, she is willing to sacrifice and be a paying JPS customer.

Community members are calling for the unity of the community in order for the development to take place. They said that their Member of Parliament, Mama P has been doing a lot for the community even though it might not be evident on the outside. However, this is being done via a liaison person and the assistance being given by Mama P is is not being evenly distributed throughout the community. The ‘wealth’ is being kept by one member of the community they said. To date there has been a number of initiatives to help assist with the upliftment of the community. Wayne, who we spotted was painting the newly built single enclosure garbage receptacle, a project made possible by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), said that the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) lighting programme is currently going on in the community. This is also being done with the help of JSIF to get adults in the community to regularize their electricity.

Wayne, who has been a resident of the community for over 35 years said that members of the community have also come together to aid in its development. The community of Majestic Gardens has a registered CDC. This CDC is a community based group consisting of members from church, political and youth groups within the community.

When we visited, we saw workmen putting in a sewer line in the community.

The residents of Majestic Gardens will tell you that they have had their fair share of promises and “start and stop”, however, they still believe in the “Majestic Dream”.