Leiba Gardens aiming for model-community status

SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine:RESIDENTS OF Leiba Gardens, near Spanish Town in St Catherine, want their community ranked among the best in the parish.

As a result, they have vowed to keep their citizens' association alive, despite its current membership challenge. They remain resolved, and through the organisation, have been undertaking activities aimed at enhancing community development.

"We have a way of getting things done. We tend to help ourselves. We do a lot of writing to agencies and ministries relevant to what we want done and follow up," secretary Vernon Duncan told The Gleaner.

While they are satisfied with their water supply, over the years, they have been fighting to maintain the roads in the community, mostly comprising returning residents.

"Some of us used to go ahead and do road-patching, mixing cement, getting river shingles," a fervent Duncan explained.

Only just two weeks ago, members joined forces to do some pothole-patching in the community.

"About 12 of us contributed money towards getting some river shingles and dump sand to fill some potholes - well not potholes, craters - especially a big one at the entrance of Featherbed Lane," Duncan said.

However, he said, the roads have deteriorated badly and the organisation is now waiting on assistance from the Government through the Jamaica Development Infrastructural Programme.

"The roads tend to be like the river courses now, so they wash out what we put in. We need to go back to what we used to do - mix material with cement - but we can't afford that any more," Duncan lamented.

In addition to the state of the roads, much emphasis has also been placed on citizen safety. Consequently, a Neighbourhood Watch was launched in 1998.

crime prevention

"We started seeing this person, who we suspected was a thief, lurking around. After we launched the watch, this thief apparently disappeared. Following this, the community became quiet and the watch faded out," Ken Cole, the neighbourhood watch's deputy chief coordinator, told The Gleaner.

He described the neighbourhood watch programme relaunch on August 28, this year, as an effective crime-prevention tool.

"We had to re-energise the watch because recently, we noticed actions which prompted us to do so, and it has been effective in the past, so I think it will still be," Cole noted.

Besides battling road and security issues, the community has had reasons to celebrate as, over the years, its netball team has participated in various rallies and leagues, including the Jamaica Netball Association's Open League. In 2009, it finished second in the Sharon Hay-Webster League. But the players never had their own training facilities, so the association sought assistance to construct a home court. In April last year, Digicel Foundation handed over a new multi-purpose asphalt court, built at a cost of $2 million, to the community.

On the other hand, the neighbouring basic school is still searching for its own home. But principal Delores Forsythe said finding one is an uphill task.

"Our school is housed in the community centre, so we really need a building for ourselves. This is one of the greatest challenges that we have. We are not able to do as much as we would want and to set up the school as we would want," she told The Gleaner.

Forsythe added that the 36-year-old institution with 45 students on roll also wants to explore the technological age.

"We need computers. we don't have a computer lab, and since we are in the technological age, we would want to have one or two computers. The one we have now is not working. We plan to take it to get it repaired, but we have not done it as yet because the funds are not there," said Forsythe.

At the same time, Pauline Cameron, a member of the association as well as the school's board, said the institution has received assistance with other items.

rural@gleanerjm.com