Before Thursday, August 24, 2006, Jamaican deportees arriving home, usually with only the clothes on their backs, would be carted off to the Central Police Station, processed and let loose to fend for themselves, minus their dignity.

For the 20 deportees who were brought back to the island that day, it was a reception with a dramatic difference.

The men, who were banished from the United States for committing various crimes – ranging from drug possession to rape – were the first to benefit from the Land of My Birth Association (LOBA), established to help deportees reintegrate into mainstream Jamaican society.

Once the men were processed at the airport and the Central Police Station downtown, they were taken to the St Paul’s United Church on Lockett Avenue for a reception they hardly expected. They were given motivational talks, hygiene kits and the opportunity to call relatives, using cell phones belonging to members of the LOBA.

In one of the motivational talks, the Reverend Lavern Sinclair assured them that there was “hope in the word of God”, and that being deported was not the end of the road for them.

“Your midnight may have been dark but you are now standing in a new dawning,” she said.

Sinclair told the Sunday Observer that she felt burdened to help the deportees and that she “could not, not do anything to help them”.

Evangelist Evelyn Mason of Corner Stone Ministries and founder of LOBA, related that when the men returned to their respective homes LOBA would keep in contact with them, in order to offer them counselling and assist them in finding jobs, if possible.

“What we try to do is help them to be reintegrated into the society,” said Mason, herself a three-time deportee. “Once they leave here, we will keep in contact with them to make sure they are doing all right. We are also going to help them to get their TRN (Tax Registration Number) and IDs.”

Most of the men were casually dressed in jeans, T-shirts and track suits. Some of them said they had been transferred to several different correctional facilities before being sent to Jamaica, which was tedious and arduous.

One deportee who spoke to the Sunday Observer on condition of anonymity said he had spent three years in jail before he was deported.

“I lived in America for about 25 years, but I visited Jamaica very often,” said the 30-something man who was wearing a shorts and a shirt. “I was in jail on marijuana charges and then I was deported. I tried to go back up on false documents and they caught me. I was in jail for three years before they deported me again.”

But this deportee, who claimed that he was an entrepreneur, seemed very optimistic that he would succeed despite the odds. “I did what I did because I had to take care of my family and there was no other way to do it,” he said.

He didn’t think he would be stigmatised once he attempted to reintegrate himself into the society. “I don’t feel that I will be stigmatised, because there are thousands of people who are worse off than me,” he said. “So when I walked out of that airport I walked with my head up.”

Not all the deportees were banished from the US. Donovan Counsins said he was the only one in the group that would be able to travel to the US once his documents had been processed. And unlike the other deportees, he was allowed to bring a suitcase with some of his belongings. He said the Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS) was lenient with him because he had been a “model citizen” up until he was charged for marijuana distribution.

“I have pictures of my family, some clothes and two Bibles in the suitcase,” he said, adding that most of his family lived in the US. “I worked and I filed for my wife. My kids also live there.”

Counsins said he had lived in the US since 1981 and the last time he visited Jamaica before being deported was 1997.

He said his experience in 10 different correction facilities in the US was unpleasant. “Them treat we like dog or like seh a we bomb up the World Trade Centre,” he said, referring to the September 11, 2001 disaster in which two American Airlines planes were crashed into the famous New York building by A- Qaeda operatives.

Counsins was arrested in 2003 and recalled having to wear chains on his hands, feet and around his waist. He said he probably came across more than 1,000 Jamaican inmates while he was in prison.

“Me all see man wah de pon life sentence over there,” he said.

But like other deportees, Counsins said he was not phased by his situation. He plans to “chill out” for a while before he makes his next move.

“Me can’t suffer out here. The whole of my family going to support me,” he said confidently.

For him, LOBA was a positive start. “It is very helpful for us to come down and have a programme like this to rely on. Without it a lot of us would wonder aimlessly and get into trouble.”

But while most of the deportees seem content with being here, there was one man in the bunch who seemed overtaken with sorrow. He was overheard telling a group of persons that it was his girlfriend who had reported him to the (INS). A shirt that was thrown over his shoulder was also drenched with tears.

At the same time, even though 46 year-old Michael Simms, another deportee, had spent most of his life in the US, he believed that starting over was not all bad. He was first arrested for possession of a controlled substance in 1988. He spent a few days in jail for that conviction. However, in 2004 he was arrested for trespassing and was then deported.

“When I play it over in my mind it doesn’t make sense,” he said in a thick American accent, as he waited for his family to pick him up from the church. “Now that I am here I want to get a job and put my life back together. I may open a fish shop on the beach as soon as possible.”

Meantime, a temporary office, located at 12-14 Lockett Avenue, has been opened to house the association.

The office is to be manned by Mason, who will manage the administrative functions. Mason will be assisted by a team of counsellors and other workers, as the association moves to provide guidance and motivational talks for the deportees.

davidsont@jamaicaobserver.com