IT is only mid-morning but already Donald Williams is sweating profusely and it has nothing to do with the sun peeping through the clouds hanging over the bustling Port Maria town in St Mary.

Lugging huge pieces of settee frames around the cramped upholstery shop, he begins another day’s work to create employment for himself and his business partner. What he does is really hard work, sometimes going throughout the night to complete an order.

He had learnt the trade of upholstering sofas, car and motorbike seats from his uncle and worked with him for many years in another part of the parish. So when Williams relocated to live on the outskirts of the seaside town, he immediately knew he could offer a service not readily available in the area.

“More people can create their own jobs and learn to do different things from what everybody else is doing,” he said, as he repaired a motorbike seat.

The busy atmosphere at Williams’ shop is in stark contrast to the town centre where scores of young men stand idly around all day. A few jostle with each other to convince weary travellers to board a particular bus or taxi.

“Most of the youths don’t want a trade, they just want the money,” he said, emphasising that the hard work is often a deterrent to many.

Over the years, more and more fast food chains, clothing stores and supermarkets have come to the predominantly agricultural constituency but it is not enough to meet the job demands.

“We hoping that some more business can come in so more work can be in the area,” Williams said.

But the crowed town, with its police station crammed between business places, seems to have very little room for expansion.

The drain system seems also to be buckling under the pressure, flooding out the area whenever it rains heavily.

Here, residents are calling on Member of Parliament Dr Morais Guy to have the drains cleaned to prevent flooding.

But while development has come to Port Maria, other areas of the constituency, such as Sandside and Hampstead, have lagged behind. Residents blame pothole-riddled roads, and in some instances, areas that have not been asphalted at all.

One of them is Calvin Bryan, a coconut farmer who has no problem finding market for his produce. While there is no shortage of buyers, the bad road in his Old Ground community is seriously affecting his livelihood as vehicular access to the area is restricted when it rains.

“When it rains trucks can’t come in there to get the produce to go to the market,” he said.

But ironically, he still prays for daily rain since without it the coconuts will not do well.

“It is the rain that dry the coconut and mek dem drop off the tree and it is the sun that blights them,” Bryan said.

Piped water is also very high on this community’s wish list.

“We have to use river water to wash, to bathe and even to cook and this is not very hygienic because sometimes the water is dirty,” said one resident.

Another coconut farmer, Everton Campbell of Trinity, maintains that finding market for his crop would not be an issue if only he had enough crops to sell.

The drought has affected the coconuts severely and increased praedial larceny has further reduced his yield.

“Only the bigger man dem still in coconut farming. The young boys dem nah do it but as it come in dem tief it,” he said.

Damany Grant, 23, of Sandside, wants to improve his station in life, but he is not very hopeful.

He used to work in the hospitality industry but lost his job when the tourism sector slowed.

He is aware that skills training is available at a facility in the neighbouring Trinity community but the young people are not falling over themselves to attend since they say they cannot find jobs when they are finished.

“We want to see more employment for the youths,” said Grant, adding that if he could get a job he could afford to pursue his dream of attending medical school.

But while lack of employment is a common cry in Trinity, for some communities, like those in the Hampstead division, it is the need for good roads, a community centre and a playfield.

Breakaways, huge potholes and large boulders are what motorists manoeuvre as they travel from Sandside to Hampstead on roads residents say have not been repaired in decades.

Onel Smith said if the roads were repaired then the community would start to develop and more of the unemployed would find jobs.

“If the road fix people would move in to live on dem lands and more development would come to the area,” he said, pointing to the vast expanse of unoccupied lands.

He argued further that if the community had a centre, the facility could be used to facilitate skills training. Adequate lands on which to build such a facility is not the problem as resident Alfie McCalpin pointed to unoccupied state lands which could be used.

Smith reiterated views that although acres of fallow land is available in diffrent communities, young people today are not interested in farming.

“Farming dead here suh,” he said. “Is people land here and dem not giving it up for farming although dem not using it,” he added.

So, for people like Alverine Shurriah, buying goods from others for resale in the market is a daily reality.

She used to do odd jobs, like washing, but the tough economic times in her community means there is now very little demand for those services.

She has considered learning a skill but says being over 40 makes it almost impossible.

“Dem seh skills training is fi the young people and me too old now so me haffi ah ride the market truck daily,” she told the Sunday Observer.

Residents also say their MP has neglected the community, although he is visible in other areas.

Barton Oliver and Dave Morris, councillors of Hampstead and Islington respectively, both of whom the Sunday Observer spotted overseeing the relaying of a cricket pitch when we visited the area last week, reiterated the need for the road to be fixed and for a community centre to be built. They also pointed to the lack of skills-training opportunities and sporting facilities in the area but Oliver disagreed that the MP was not visible.

“When it comes to educational funding, we have to give him credit for that side of things though,” said Morris.

A few miles from Highgate is a community call Esher. Residents there say roads and running water are not a problem for them. But they are not without concerns as they too complain about lack of skills-training opportunities and employment.

The only community centre has fallen into a state of disrepair and the mass employer in the community, a banana exporting company, has sent home scores of workers.

“A whole heap of people use to work there but now that dem not exporting banana anymore dem have to send home the workers,” said Barbara Henry.

A farmer, Henry also complained about the unwillingness of landowners to lease land to those wanting to farm.