As I have said before, I live in Accompong Town. Accompong Town is the home of the Leeward Maroons who have lived there since the 1650’s and, after winning a war of Independence from British Rule, signed a Peace Treaty in 1739. For the past 275 years, they have self-governed the land granted by the treaty and have done so without the daily presence of a police force.
My passion for the past 25 years has been to help the youngest members of the Maroon Community; the children of Accompong Town. I have been joined, in recent years, by a number of visitors to Accompong Town and by several town residents who share my passion. Last year, for instance, we had a painting project where children and their parents shared in the joy of creating art and learning the skills necessary to sell their art.
http://negril.com/forum/showthread.p...Project-Part-1
The project raised a small sum of money through sales of the art to tourists at the January 6th, 2013 Celebration. That is money is now being used for taxi fare to get them to school and to form a club of youth volunteers who were the painters in that project that will be working on several projects. One project is a beautification of the town grounds, the Accompong Cemetery and town tour route. Another project is helping the elderly and infirmed within the community to get food supplies and to run errands.
Mystic Bowie, a Reggae Artist, who was born in Accompong Town and now resides in the US has stepped forward to form the Mystic Bowie Cultural Center.
https://www.facebook.com/mysticbowie...center?fref=ts
The MBCC is constructing a library next to the Accompong School. The shell of the building is almost complete and work will continue in earnest when Mystic Bowie returns after his summer tour schedule.
http://mysticbowie.com/
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=2&theater
Another person is stepping up to the plate. His name is Nicholas Da Silva and he is a graphic artist, comic book writer and designer, musician and a man with a deep social conscious. He recently gave me an interview.
http://www.jamaicans.com/articles/pr...ator-nic.shtml
He is launching something called “Project Accompong” that will be collecting donations to help these causes as well as the MBCC in finishing the library.
http://www.dreadandalive.com/causes/project-accompong/
Another partner is Food for the Poor. They donated a new Basic School for the smallest children of the town when the old school building suffered from structural problems and lack of sanitary facilities.
http://www.comehomejamaica.com/food-...-basic-school/
If you haven’t had the chance to visit Accompong Town and learn about the Leeward Maroons, I would like to extend an invitation to come visit. The town has a tour for a fee, a small museum and a lot of great people. Bring along some books for the schools and the library.
Peace and Guidance