Letter of the Day | Lack of cemeteries causing underdevelopment in St Elizabeth

THE EDITOR, Madam:

A friend asked me a few weeks to accompany him to his family home in Mountainside, St Elizabeth, during the Easter weekend. He told me his family was meeting to clean up the graveyard where his parents, great-grandparents and other family members were interred.

On our journey down, and on reaching the turn off at Lacovia going towards Mountainside, I noticed that a number of graves were in the yards of the homes. My curiosity got the better of me and I began to take serious note of the number of homes that had graves in the yards and to my surprise, majority of the residences that we passed had them. Most of those graves were in the front of the houses. For those located at the side and back of the yard, they were still visible from the roadway. The friend’s family house that I visited was no different, as there were over five family members buried in the yard at the back of the house.

I asked my friend if there weren’t any cemeteries in the area and was told that the nearest cemetery was in Black River, which is some 40 miles away. This is totally unacceptable and must be changed; is no wonder that no development is taking place, neither can take place, in these areas.

I was told that this practice has been going on for ages. The underdevelopment is because most, if not all, of these properties cannot be sold. I am sure nobody will purchase properties that have graves in them.

As a result, these properties remain in the family for generations. In most cases, the new structures cannot be developed, nor can the existing ones be upgraded, so the area remains undeveloped. These are prime properties which have the potential to be developed, which is not the case now. The lack of cemeteries has to be considered as part of any master plan going forward.

AUBYN PERKINS

Mandeville, Manchester