Growing Vegetables, Reaping Confidence
by Joan Ross Frankson
Imagine an urban ghetto in the heart of Jamaica's capital city. Picture the factories, slum dwellings, concrete "highrise-low-income" apartments and heavy traffic in the sweltering midday Caribbean heat. This is Majesty Gardens.
But if you cast your eye beyond the main road, behind an unfinished housing scheme and just before a large factory bordered by shacks on one side, the sight there is unbelievable. It is like an oasis, of some four acres of fertile land lush with callaloo and pak choy popular local vegetables.
This is the Majesty Gardens' urban farm project, or 94 MG's as it is known here.
MG's has been the saviour for nine women from the community who run it with support from a social worker, Frances Madden. Madden works for Grace Staff Foundation, a private sector organisation which has several projects in the area.
She says the farm has helped build the confidence of the women who run it and has also made them economically independent, thereby changing the quality of their lives.
"We have to work on getting work to be a habit," says Madden adding, "when this was done and the women had some money coming in regularly, social relations began to improve.
For instance, one of the women, who used to regularly beat her little son, now rarely does so. When she was unemployed, frustrated and without funds to send him to school, she would hit him if he so much as asked for food that she hardly ever had.
Today the boy goes to school and she can afford to give him the basic necessities.
Another woman, nicknamed "Simple," was victimised by her man and her brothers. They would beat her regularly and take any money she had.
The other women in the group opened a bank account for her and advised her on money management. When they discovered she had weak eyesight, they even organised the purchase of eyeglasses. She is now on her feet and coping well.
Phyllis was an alcoholic whose only worry was about where her next drink and cigarette were going to come from. The group supported her even while they persuaded her to see a doctor and accept counseling.
When, at the age of 48, several months after joining MG's Phyllis bought her first bed, it was a first sign that she had started to care.
This programme was initiated to address the problems of such unemployed women, when the government's special employment programme, which started in the 1970s, came to an end. Community leaders suggested farming, and also identified the women to be involved and the land - which was owned by the State Industrial Development Corporation.
Representations were made, and the community was given permission to use the land, as long as no permanent structure was built or long-term crop started.
A nearby food processing plant agreed to donate a tractor and driver to clear the land of garbage and weeds. The National Food and Population Council provided funds for equipment, fencing and a temporary stipend. Small businesses in the area gave technical assistance and some more finances. The government helped with small tools like rakes, forks and shovels.
The first three months were spent preparing the ground and getting in the first crop. At the end of six months, the project started making profits. Then, last September, hurricane Gilbert destroyed the crop, top soil and fencing. But, by January, the undeterred women were reaping re-planted sections of their farm.
But that is only the bare bones of MG's story. There were enormous social problems to be overcome from the start. Like getting the women to work together, and to appreciate that the project and the funds generated were for all of them to share.
At first each woman had a small plot. But if one person was absent none of the others would consider it their job to tend her plot. The collective approach they now take ensures the development of the entire farm.
Decision-making was another problem. "They lacked confidence to make decisions and act up front. Everyone wanted to stay in the background. No one wanted to accept responsibility or take up leadership roles," recalls Madden.
However, these problems were overcome through months of role play and rap sessions during lunch break, and occasionally through disciplinary action. When, at times, knives and machetes were drawn, those responsible were suspended with no pay.
Madden explains that as the problems were sorted out, natural leaders in the group came forward.
Chief among these "natural leaders" is 58-year-old Gloria Brown, who was unemployed for over eight years before joining MG's.
Known as Miss Puncie, she says modestly, "I am not such a bossy person, just quiet. Just easy-going. But they know that they can rely on me for any little thing. They can come to me and say, "Miss Puncie, so and so." Then I will say, "I can call Miss Madden, or if I can help, I help."
67-year-old Mary adds reflectively, "We feel and we know and we see that we achieve even better later on."
Madden is proud of MG's and feels strongly about getting more community projects going with the "bottom-up" as opposed to "top-down" planning.
"We have no problems from the community because it was the community that chose the project and identified the women to work in it. That means, for instance, that we are protected by the community. Everyone is involved — community leaders, the member of Parliament, and the Councilor are on the management committee. We have clear goals. There are no suspicions," declares Madden. She explains that another positive feature of the project is that it has supported rather than replaced the survival mechanisms the women had prior to the establishment of the farm.
They work on the farm only four days a week, from which they earn about 80 Jamaican dollars (16 USD). Of this, they put half in the informal banking "Partner" system, which gives them a periodic drawdown of nearly 700 Jamaican dollars (140 USD). They usually use this amount for any large purchases.
Most of the women continue to work as traders or vendors, which is the main source of their income.
Other facilities like a community day care centre, a children's medical centre run by the St. Andrews parish Church, in Majesty Gardens, and the inputs of the Grace Staff Foundation which had "adopted" the community over many years, have added to its success.
Encouraged by their efforts at farming, the MG's women are turning their attention to a nearby housing scheme, which has been lying incomplete for several years. They are lobbying for governmental permission to allow them to complete the scheme, so they and others could move out of poor tenement yard conditions.
The women are also eager to establish a programme which could take them out of the country to exchange views, experience and expertise with other women working in similar projects in the Caribbean region and further afield.
Before Majesty Gardens, these women would never have thought of expansion beyond the narrow parameters they were placed in.
Today, they move from one challenge to the next, as they sow their callaloo and reap new found confidence.
Source: IPSIWFS May-June 1989 IPS, Via Panispema 207, Rome, Italy