Tag Archives: Parade Gardens

Earth Day Plus One: Postscript from the Garden

By petchary on April 24, 2012 | 9 Comments

It is a beautiful green garden, the kind that feels like home. Three or four big old mango trees, the tips of their branches dripping with “black mangoes” (and one Bombay tree that I was told doesn’t bear much). The lawns are not flat or perfectly smooth, and a little worn in places.The white house that stands back from the road is worn with memories, but comfortable with them. One can still imagine family members sitting on the verandah on warm afternoons, sipping lemonade. Inside, the wooden floors shine, and walls and screens are adorned with bright posters and photographs. This is the home of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) in Kingston, Jamaica.

JET's cozy office.

Under the mango tree.

For Earth Day 2012, JET welcomed over one hundred young people from several inner-city communities to their headquarters for a special celebration. Most of the children had participated in a special joint project between JET and the downtown-based NGO RISE Life Management Services, which works with at-risk youth. The project, supported by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica, is called “Building Appreciation for Nature in Children at Risk.” There is a link to this project below. The program began with the communities of Parade Gardens, Fletcher’s Land and Allman Town; the second phase included children from Drewsland, Tower Hill and Majesty Gardens, and I also met some children from Cockburn Gardens. These are all depressed areas of Kingston; despite their attractive names, there are very few gardens indeed. There is concrete, there is uncollected garbage, there are rats, zinc fences. Hence the need for such a project, which was conceptualized by the dynamic leaders of JET and RISE, Diana McCaulay and Sonita Abrahams. From the enthusiasm and interest of the young people (and their desire to show off their new-found knowledge) I could tell that the program had been successful. It was clear from their faces, from their sheer enjoyment.

One of the highlights of the morning was the reading of two books written by Jamaican children’s author Jana Bent. Well, it was much more than a reading. Jana’s two books, “Shaggy Parrot and the Reggae Band” and “The Reggae Band Rescues Mama Edda Leatherback” come with music CDs that enhance the narrative and encourage participation. The music is excellent, inspired, written and performed by Jamaican reggae singer Shaggy – rhythmic, fun and well produced. Of course, both the books have strong messages on environmental protection – not just Jamaica-related. The second book involves the poor Leatherback Turtle who has swallowed a plastic bag…. But don’t worry, of course there was a happy ending.

The children ended up playing little instruments provided by Jana (with much vigor and gusto) and doing some recycling of their own with boxes and items she provided. Jana is so talented – she acts the book rather than reads it. See the link below and buy copies for your kids – I can guarantee they will enjoy them thoroughly. Jana has had great support from Jamaican musicians and educators in the books’ production and will no doubt continue to do so (as well as sponsorship from the United Nations Environment Program, among others). And the good news is she is working on a third book… If you take a look at the photos on my Facebook page and at the link to my Flickr Earth Day album, you can see for yourself that the children had a wonderful time… and got all the messages.

This group of girls gave us a warm welcome.

I also got acquainted with these bright young men from Drewsland.

Children with recycling boxes: did I mention that large quantities of Milo were consumed (and quite a bit of it decorated the young ones' T shirts)...