Accompong Town.... Going Home.

Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that my friend Peckish dropped me off at Sangsters for my flight back to Florida. When I look back on that day, I realize that I was actually looking forward to leaving my home in Accompong Town and returning to So. Florida. The four month visit seemed so short but, at the same time, I was missing a little of the conveniences I do without living in the Cockpit Country. Well, that didn’t last long.

Since the middle of January, almost every day has seen me trying to adjust to the way things run here in Florida where I am somewhat productive in a sleep walking sort of way. At least here I have access for all the free high-speed Internet that I want so I can research the items on the “Wish List” that I made from daily roadblocks trying to get by without the proper tools or materials to finish a job.

Last week I shipped out a pallet with the items that I was able to assemble and now I am so anxious to return to my home to put everything back into motion. When I left in January, I had no Internet at my home and had to walk about a mile to the Computer Center that was notorious for not opening on scheduled days and lack of a signal from the valley below.

My main mission this time is to solve that problem by (hopefully) getting some in-house Internet as I know the school’s principal has it. Well, tomorrow I leave and Marshall will be there to pick me up and help me get my bags and pallet up the hill into Accompong. I may be out of contact for a while or maybe I will solve the problem right away. In either case, I will check back with some stories and pictures when I can.

Peace and Guidance
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Good luck.

Travel safe. And welcome home!

Blessings on your homecoming.

Good for you ! We will be waiting for the report back. Stay SAFE, and Walk Good.

Looking forward to it! hope you have a good and safe trip :)

Thanks to everyone for their kind wishes. I will not answer each individual comment like some people do! :rolleyes: I will just say each of you that knows me knows that I appreciate the wishes.

I will be working on PROJECT - Accompong http://www.dreadandalive.com/causes/project-accompong/ when I return. They will be selling T-Shirts to fund a children's club in Accompong Town. The funds will be used for providing transportation for kids to and from town to the schools in Maggotty, Elderslie and beyond (i.e. Malvern UTECH, etc.) and to help in the operation of the Mystic Bowie Cultural Center project of a new library at the Primary School. http://mysticbowieculturalcenter.com/
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These T-Shirts will be silkscreened in Accompong Town by the children's club and will be available at the January 6th Celebration where the artist who donated the art work will be there to sign each T-shirt.

Thanks again for everyone's support.

Peace and Guidance

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Accompong

... and to help in the operation of the Mystic Bowie Cultural Center project ...

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Man thought I'd read "Mystic Brownie"....

Appreciate all you do for those kids and Accompong Town!

One last thing before I leave for the airport. Anyone coming to Negril should consider contacting Don "Dondi" Brideau and take advantage of a great way to help the children of Jamaica and have a rewarding experience at the same time. Here is a link to a story thread about the day "Bounce Across Jamaica" came to Accompong Town. http://negril.com/forum/showthread.p...Accompong-Town

From Negril to Flankers, Treasure Beach to Waterhouse and all communities around Jamaica, everywhere there is a child who needs a ball, he will be there. In my opinion, this one of the most worthwhile programs I have ever witnessed in Jamaica.
http://youtu.be/JfIa3R487Mo

For those looking for a nice Jamaica Style place to stay while in Negril you should check out. "Our Likkle Place" where you can stay and go on a Bounce adventure too! https://www.facebook.com/pages/Our-L...78548605586117

Peace and Guidance

Safe Travels

hey bill, have a great time . . . hoping to catch up with you.

enjoy life mi friend.........Accompong is a very special place.........
in regards to the internet in Accompong town........
research on getting a unlocked cellie with a wifi hot spot so you can use your laptop......
or just get an unlocked cellie that has wifi so you can browse the internet.......
think mi was paying around $2,500J's for a month on the data plan at Lime......
you can also just pay $100J's for one day of data too.......
just go to the Lime Jamaica website to check it out.......Digicel has it too.....
mi would go with the carrier that has the best signal der....price is no good if you can't get on
LG Optimus series like the P505 for AT&T.....and the P509 for Tmobile(basically same phone) have wifi hotspots
just remember to buy one that is unlocked.......
Ebay is a good source for those phones.....you should be able to pick one up cheap enuff
plus with a wifi hot spot you can have many people connecting at one time from Accompong......
PM if you need any help......and again enjoy yourself.......

Cool Runnings, Marko

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Originally Posted by Accompong

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What a picture!

Happy homecoming!

God Bless Jamaica!!!

L.C.

Safe travels, Bill. Please enjoy yourself and remember to post when you can. We appreciate it here.

Safe journeys....I only got as far as maroontown last reach...hoping roads and car will be better to go visit accompong next reach....

Safe travels home! Do you know the date of the Accompong Festival for 2014?

Blessings!
St. Anthony's Kitchen

Just to completely understand the soccer ball donation, how can we arrange to have them picked up?
Cheers

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Originally Posted by St. Anthony's Kitchen

Safe travels home! Do you know the date of the Accompong Festival for 2014?

Blessings!
St. Anthony's Kitchen

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Well, I finally walked the one mile to the Computer Center and the computers were down but I am finally able to get online for a bit.

The Festival is always on January 6th however, when it falls on a Monday or a Friday, the whole thing turns into a 3-day Celebration like it will this year.

Anyone who will be coming up for the Festival can message me and I can help finding a place to stay or at least put your bags safely while you enjoy the party.

Here is a brief update. Pictures will be coming soon but (as this is my home), I find it hard to take pictures but I will certainly try my best. Now, for a brief update.

Beginnings……
Everything began effortlessly as the plane was on time on through baggage claim, customs and finally out the door to see Marshall patiently waiting for me. The hardest thing about a transition from So. Florida to Jamaica is always the letting go of control and placing trust in my long time friends to get things done for me. In Florida I am the “director” and here I have learned to be a mere “stagehand”.

First order of business was the Cambio and then to the Customs Broker to pay the duties for the pallet I sent last week and then on to the Customs Warehouse to inspect its contents and pay any additional value duties. Soon after Marshall went into the Customs Broker’s office he emerged shaking his head that it had yet to arrive. Bummer. I had paid a little extra to have a pickup truck take us back home and now I would have to wait for a few days before coming back down to MoBay and do it all over again. I knew I was in full “Jamaica Mode” when I just shrugged my shoulders and accepted that things don’t always work out the way I planned as, after all, this is Jamaica and “tings run diffen ere”.

Heading back to Accompong Town we discussed how a tropical wave was supposed to drop a lot of rain and the mountains were already black with low hanging clouds. We decided not to go back up a shorter route as the road was very bad and quite steep making traveling up in the rain dangerous. We decided instead to go up towards Anchovy-Chesterfield-New Market and catch the main road at Middle Quarters. I had not been on this road for over 10 years so I loved the new scenery when I could see it through the blinding rain and foggy windshield.

By the time we reached Middle Quarters, the sky was clearing and we could roll down the windows cooling off the interior and thus clearing up the windshield. Just before entering Maggotty, Marshall pointed out the new construction for the Hydro Plant where the government has been pouring in millions of dollars to replace the leaky, old 6 foot tall wooden stave intake water pipes with what appeared to be composite material. This is the kind of government spending which will pay off in the long run and make Jamaica a better country.

From the time we entered Accompong Town to the turn to our house is only about a mile but it took nearly half an hour as people kept flagging down the truck to welcome me home and to shake hands. I had a lump in my throat and a bit of a tear in my eye as I reveled in the joy that coming home can bring to one’s soul. As we ascended to Hilltop, the area of town where I live, I was overjoyed at the changes at the house. Rendering almost completed, new electrical lines, 400 gallon storage tank with gutters and so much more that Marshall was excitedly pointing out that all I could muster was Marshall’s favorite word, “Great!”

Tonight I will be resting comfortably in my own bed in my own house. Yes, “Great!”

Peace and Guidance

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peregrine

Just to completely understand the soccer ball donation, how can we arrange to have them picked up?
Cheers

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Try emailing Dondi at dondi@jamaicans.com and see if he contacts you. It is the best way I know to do it.
Peace and Guidance

Bill,

So pleased for you.

Regards

hey bill, glad you made it . . . love reading about your adventures!

After about a hour on the Internet with several young children leaning on my shoulder watching the multi-tasking screens switching from MS Word to Yahoo to a thumb drive where all my stuff is stored thinking they were witnessing magic of some kind. I decided right there and then to teach some of these children how to use a computer for more than just playing games but this will have to wait for a later time.

The rains have stopped and it was time for me to make my way back to the house. The streets were still wet and anyone with any sense was still indoors but the town looks so clean with any dust and dirt that had accumulated having been washed away by the heavy rain. There were still some patchy clouds in the sky but no imminent threat of rain; just enough to obscure the sun’s rays evaporating the residue from the storm.

My friends Fire and Piaki have stores across the main from each other and Fire’s store has a slab in front big enough and tall enough to make for a nice stop to rest my knees a bit before moving on. As I sat on Fire’s slab, I took this picture of Piaki’s store.
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Fire heard me outside and came to sit and reason. Fire is a Rasta who I have known for about 20 years (much like most adults in town) and I always look forward to his countenance and reasoning ability whenever I need some guidance. I decided to ask a simple question that I was sure would take me down a rabbit hole of Rasta-speak. Fire, I asked “Do you ever feel bored living here in Accompong Town?” While he was in thought, I added “after all, every day is pretty much like the one before”.

“Mi Breddren”, he began “Whaa gwann Babylon dat mek it soh?” He was asking me what it was about the world beyond Accompong Town that keeps it from being boring. I knew that it was incumbent on me to try to describe that world if the talk were to continue along that line of thought. “Well, as an example, some of the people on Negril.com talk about days and nights of drinking, partying and sexing while never mentioning being ‘bored’….” He stopped me short. (translated from Patois to English) “I, as a Rastaman, don’t have time for much of that foolishness.” He went on to tell me about the days before Rastas were generally accepted in Jamaican society. Days when the police would beat them and cut a man’s locks as soon as they had a chance. He went on to say that what one person would call “boring” was another man’s Garden of Eden. Just look at the beautiful hills and the abundant fields. Getting up each day and praising Jah for putting food in the belly and peace in my soul.

He went on for about an hour painting a picture of Paradise when he suddenly asked me if I was ‘bored’? If I were bored before our talk, I certainly wasn’t now. I felt buoyant and rejuvenated to continue my trek to my house. I got up and thanked Fire for taking time to reason. As I walked away, Fire called after me, “Where can I find this ‘drinking, partying and sexing’?” with a huge grin on his face. “Negril!”, I shouted over my shoulder.

I hadn’t noticed the gathering clouds while reasoning with Fire but now I was feeling a few drops from a particularly angry looking cloud. I snapped a quick picture of Rubber’s yard before putting the camera safely away while I pushed forward.
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The rain was getting harder and I was rapidly getting wet but I felt so good and in tune with Nature that I actually started to anticipate and enjoy every raindrop even as people sheltered in doorways bid me to come and ‘cool yu foot’ with them.

The dark cloud finally moved on both actually and metaphorically as I just realized that the smile that Fire placed on my face had become a permanent fixture. This place is this man’s “Garden of Eden”.
Here is a picture of a "Rat Bat" (actually a very large moth) on my wall when I got back
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Peace and Guidance.

A Portrait of Nanny of the Maroons on the Wall of Heroes in Accompong Town
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In Jamaica, nothing is quite as easy as you expect it to be. Now, multiply that by a factor of 1000 and that, in a nutshell, describes living in Accompong Town. Now, I don’t mean to imply that life here is more difficult emotionally or security-wise as that is quite the opposite. What I mean is that I am used to “quick quick” and when in So. Florida I make a list and the majority of the items are completed before the sun goes down. Here the clock seems to run a likkle slower and you could easily swear that there are more than 24 hours in a day while you patiently wait for things to get done.

A good example is my Internet Connection I want to purchase so I can use it at my house. After 3 or 4 days of mostly helpful input from computer-savvy residents, it was nearly a unanimous opinion that the Digicel 3G thumb drive was the best option. There is only one in the town and its user says the connection is okay but less than 3G. Okay, where can I get one? I went to the Yellow Pages and found a Digicel Page with about 100 suppliers. I called a couple in Santa Cruz and they said they haven’t seen one in nearly a month. One person finally volunteered that Mandeville would be the place to go. “To go?” Mandeville is over 50kilometers from here and up a tough hill called Spur Tree. I went back to the Yellow Pages and picked out the suppliers in Mandeville that sounded bigger so they would more likely have one in stock. After two $100 phone cards all I learned is that they sometimes get them on Thursday and they don’t have any in stock and, if they do get some, they are only on “first come, first served” basis and that they couldn‘t hold one so a trip could be in vain.
After another three days, I finally learned where the only unit in town was purchased but they would have to get me a phone number as the place is not listed in the phone book. I have been patiently waiting for that phone call going on 3 days now. The most frustrating part is that no one thinks it is unusual to have so much difficulty. All I get is a shake of the head slowly and “((kissteet)) Jamaica noh easy.”

Well, at least, I have access to the Computer Center on the other side of the village which is about a mile from my house. The only problem with this is that it opens at about 3 or 4pm 6 days a week and the summer rains begin about 2:30pm 7 days a week and I have no car or even an umbrella.

Today I woke up to clear blue skies and a pressing need to use the Internet so I decided to head out around noon and stop along the road to visit a friend or two so that when the rains came, I would be safely inside the Computer Center. What could go wrong? How about at 12:15pm (15 minutes after I leave) the time it takes these old knees to negotiate nearly half a mile, the skies open up and a torrential downpour catches me out in the open between houses without even a bare branch to impede the onslaught.

As quickly as the rain came, the clouds rapidly moved to the West and the unbearably hot sun soon mixed my sweat with my rain-drenched clothes giving a cooling effect that felt quite pleasant. Now, I didn’t want to stop with clothes that could wet up my friend’s furniture so I pressed on to a shady spot at Cudjoe’s Monument across from the Community Center and the Computer Center where I took the following pictures.
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Peace and Guidance

Some beautiful places, businesses and buildings!

Bill; you continue to out-do yourself. Wonderful descriptive narration.
I'm sure you are well loved in Accompong.
Enjoy sir; enjoy.

Thank you for sharing with us.

Thanks Bill. So happy to see some photos!

So nice!

Masonry work is the predominant form of construction currently being used in Jamaica and the finishing of the outside of a structure takes a person with a high degree of skill in working with concrete in its many forms. Basically, there are three main finishes used over concrete block buildings; “pebble dash”, “splashing” and “rendering”. These may be called different names in different areas of Jamaica but they are used here in Accompong Town.

All these finishes use cement in high percentage and the coarseness of the material used in the mixture is determined by screening or filtering its size down from pebbles to very fine sand. The finest coating “rendering” is most common on interior walls and more popular on exterior walls like the example in the photo below of “Bits and Pieces” Variety Store on the main.
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A make-shift concrete pad in the middle of our road left over from previous work on our house provides the palette for preparing the concrete mixture. My neighbor Rani (we call him “Boss”) mixes the fine sand with the concrete and after blending it together, runs it through a finer screen to get the desired texture for rendering.
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Boss and Marshall work together to wet the mixture and use a shovel to mix it into a thin paste to be carried by bucket onto the scaffolding where the finish mason applies it to the wall. A good, experienced mason can render a wall of a house in a day’s work with good ground support.
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Just a day’s more masonry work and the rendering of the house will be complete inside and out.
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Building a house in Jamaica and, most often in Accompong Town, is a multi-year endeavor and our house is no exception. Since the original house slid down the hill in pieces after Hurricane Ivan, the construction has often been slow and painful but now the end is in sight.

When you are a tourist and interact with your Jamaican friends for a week or two each year, you learn a little about them and about the Jamaican Culture at the same time but nothing can compare to actually living in Jamaica and having to deal with and work alongside your Jamaican friends and neighbors to accomplish a goal like in this case building a house.

A person you would like to share a Red Stripe with is not necessarily the person you would want to work with you to get a job done. Serious work takes serious people. Thankfully, I live among some of the most serious workers I have ever met in Jamaica over my 30 years of being in Jamaica.

Peace and Guidance

My side of town is mainly a farming community. I get up and get dressed before 6:00am each morning so I can sit on my verandah and watch the sun come up over the mountains and to greet the majority of my neighbors as the pickney pass to go to school and the adults on their way to the bush. It is the custom here for everyone who passes you, whether pickney or adult, to acknowledge or greet you verbally in some manner.

This seems to be little of a problem for the town’s citizens as they know my name as well as every other citizen of Accompong Town but to me it is more of a challenge. With a pickney, a simple “morning” or “afternoon” will suffice and will get you the similar response in return. With an adult, the acknowledgment usually contains “Bill” in some context and often will be mixed within some Patois phrase I may or may not quite understand but they appreciate it if I use their given name or most often their alias name in my return answer.

My usual practice is to spot them when they first turn the corner onto my road and then run through my mental rolodex until I come up with the name or, if I can remember or just plain don’t know, I take a cue from Marshall who uses “king”, “champ” or the ever appropriate “breddren” for a male and “diva” or “queen” for a female and a non-personal “miss” or “misses” for an older woman.

Personally, I love this custom as it fosters further interaction and allows everyone to get to know each other a little better. This time of year, everyone seems to be farming something or other out in the bush so the traffic on my little road can sometimes get a little congested. This morning is not a bush day as the constant “likkle likkle” work on the house continues as time, money and weather permit.

Cont’d

Your writing seems to be "motivated" now that you're back in country ?

Thank you for sharing pictures and telling us the news from home.

Bill,

Man you live in a town!

We live in the bush....tru

D

Thank you for the great writing and photos - looking forward to more.

Bill: Is that a little hotel next to the variety store?

Bill, your house looks wonderful, the town is so bright and pretty.
Sometimes all we have to do is OPEN our eyes to see EDEN~
Wishing you all the BEST.

I was gonna ask the same thing - Sunset House is a guest house? Accompong has surely grown since I've been up there. House looks great!

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Originally Posted by goldilocks

I was gonna ask the same thing - Sunset House is a guest house? Accompong has surely grown since I've been up there. House looks great!

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Hi Goldi and all,

Sunset House used to rent some rooms and probably does during the Celebration days but the owner is off the island and when talking to some residents I am told no one is running it for him while he is away. There are, however, a fair smattering of rooms available all around the town. We even rent a room here at our house when needed. That is the way a lot of residents make supplemental income during most of the year. If you want a room around Christmas or the January 6th Celebration, it is best to get one well in advance.

Babalew, I have answered your PMs but I never get a response. You can contact me at my website www.jamaicanmaroons.com if you can't connect via this board.

Peace and Guidance

Now that I have finally solved my Internet problem (well, at least ‘solving’ is more accurate) as I am just waiting for the phone call to pick up the Digicel-powered unit next week in Mandeville. At least I know it should work here as the school principal, Garfield Rowe, uses it and although it is less than 3G he says it is adequate for most needs.

Until then, I am able to get to the Computer Center at least twice a week to get updates on my email and to do a little work for the motel in So. Florida. Yesterday when I went over for the morning opening at 10am, they were having some problems so I had to wait for about an hour. I had my camera with me so I took a couple of shots of the Computer Center and Library while waiting.

A smiling face to brighten your day.
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“Our Hands, Our Community” is a wonderful montage of handprints to simulate the leaves on a tree. That’s my seat. #2
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There are 12 High Speed Broadband connected consoles loaded with software.
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Also, there is a small library. Mystic Bowie is building a much larger library up at the main school building which is scheduled to be completed by the January 6th Celebration 2014.
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Internet time costs $2 Jamaican Dollars a minute and only $1 Dollar a minute for school related work. A normal, non-school hours day has several groups of youths gathering around a few computers to play a car racing program which requires no Internet but on school hours days you find a half dozen younger adults using mainly Facebook and YouTube and only a few using them for research of some type.

Such a powerful tool with so few people knowing how to use it; the Internet could be used to a great advantage by these people but there is no one to show them how unless someone like me gets more involved. I try to limit my projects to a small number because I must make sure that I succeed with each and every project I embark upon. Too often the people of my town have seen people come and go with great ideas and solutions but, like a mango on a tree, they are seasonal and don’t seem to last long enough to become a project they can sustain on their own. I must continuously remind myself that I am here for the long haul and not to spread myself too thin or promise too much.

Peace and Guidance

Loving your stories and photos Bill. Glad to see you back home were you belong. Best wishes for good health and happiness. Stan and Betty.