MAROON TOWN, St James – LIKE many other amputees Winston Barr refuses to give up and insists that hard work and determination can be rewarding.

At age 19, an accident on a construction site left him without both hands, but that has not stopped Barr. When his disability made it difficult to find a job, he simply created one for himself, and others.

Barr, who lives in the Woodland section of Maroon Town in deep rural St James, now operates a thriving bag juice manufacturing plant and distributes the product to scores of locations across the parishes of Trelawny, Hanover and St James.

“Nobody would want to employ me without two hands and I had a family to feed, so I had to create a job” the 53 year-old Barr told the, Jamaica Observer West earlier this week ,as he made the rounds in the busy Fustic Road area of Montego Bay.

“It has been a challenge for me on a daily basis, but right now I don’t have a choice because I can’t do like the rest of people them who sit down and not doing anything, and like those who have two hands and are begging. So, I had to try something, and it is working out,” the double-amputee argued.

He and his wife Tollentia began producing Ju-Cee Barr fruit juice seventeen years ago. It wasn’t easy.

Barr had left the hilly terrain of Maroon Town, about 35 years ago, to find a job in the island’s capital, Kingston. A welding job with a construction company lasted less than a year and he soon found himself back in Maroon Town — without his hands.

“I was on a roof pulling up a length of steel, it went above my head and touched a high-tension wire and that was it,” he explained. His two arms had to be amputated a little above his elbows as a result of the severe burns he sustained.

After the terrible accident that left him devastated, the young man went back to his parents in the country, despondent but still hopeful that despite his disability, one day he would become financially stable.

His parents were supportive, helping ease some of the pain and frustration of returning home with a disability. They showered Barr with love as well as provided him with financial and emotional support. About a year after he lost his hands, he met Tollentia and they were married five years later. The union produced one daughter, Melissa.

But it was not all smooth sailing for the Barr family. Money was tight, and the solution was for Tollentia to give up her teaching job and migrate to the United States in search of greener pastures. In the meantime, Barr tried to raise chickens as he tried to help support his small family, but that project was a failure and soon abandoned.

After nine years of separation from her family, his wife decided to return home. Their lives took a new path in 1997.

Barr, now a devout Seventh-day Adventist, said God spoke to him and told him to try his ‘hand’ at making bag juice.

“It must be God who told me to do so, I didn’t even know how to make bag juice. I had not seen anybody making them and I didn’t even know how I was going to sell them, but I was willing to try,” he recalled.

During the first few months, selling the product proved to be a major challenge, but the couple, determined to succeed and bolstered by their strong belief in God, did not relent.

“I remember going out with 32 bag juice to Trelawny,

Hanover and St James to sell and after a whole day out there, we came back home with 29 of them in the vehicle,” Tollentia recalled, remembering how hard it was to build up a steady market.

“Nobody really knew us and our product, so they were reluctant to buy from us. It was really rough.” But things are much better now.

The plant now produces roughly 48,000 bag juice every week and Barr has secured a fair share of the market.

“Basically, we produce the juices two times per week. We make them on Sundays and distribute them on Mondays and those that are made on Wednesdays are distributed the following day, so we sell fresh juices,” he explained.

He stressed that the production is done by his wife, daughter, himself, as well as two employees.

The distribution and sales of the juices are done twice weekly by Barr, an attendant and Melissa, who is the driver of the vehicle, which takes the product across the western parishes.

Barr, who lauded his customers for their support over the years, told the Observer West that he tries hard to keep them happy.

“My customers love the quality of our product and the service we provide. For one thing, we use spring water to make the juice; they know that they can depend on me and that I am committed to the task,” said Barr, adding that he tries to get new customers on a daily basis.

Melissa is proud of his achievements. “I am extremely proud of my father and the job that I do, it’s not an office job, but I love it,” she told the Observer West.

She said on Mondays and Thursdays when deliveries are being made, the team leaves the production plant at about 6:00am and remains on the road until about 6: 00 pm.

“It’s basically a 12-hour job, but I like it; we are just doing what we have to do,” she stressed.