People tend to have difficulty locating their deceased relatives buried in cemeteries across the island, but for the Jamaican Chinese that is not a problem.

In fact, the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) launched a cemetery web gallery roughly two years ago.

The gallery allows Chinese relatives to locate their ancestors who were buried at the Chinese Cemetery on Waltham Park Road in Kingston free of cost. With the use of the Internet, Chinese descendants can view and locate the graves from anywhere in the world via the CBA website.

Vice-president of the Chinese Benevolent Association Robert Hew told the Jamaica Observer that since it was announced in a newsletter in 2015, peoplehave been taking advantage of the database.

“You go on our main website cbajamaica.com, click on the database tab, click on request access; to access it you need aGoogle drive account which most people has and it is free. You will receive an email saying that you are approved and then once you get an email that you are approved, it takes anywhere from a hour to a day. We have a worksheet, then you make your selection by surname, date, age etc,” Hew explained, adding that there has been an increase in searches since the launch of the site.

The 11.5-acre cemetery, which holds approximately 3,600 graves, was founded in 1907.

For those whose relatives’ tombs have been shattered, Hew argued that they will be able to locate their relatives.

“Even if the entire part of the tomb is destroyed, we know who is there and we can recreate the headstone information,” Hew said, adding that all the records have been transcribed.

He, however, disclosed that only six of the graves were not found in their records and only two graves do not have a headstone or a record.

The vice-president, while noting that vandalism has been taking place since the 1970s, said it does not affect record keeping. He also said that turbulence has also contributed to the removal of headstones.

“From the 70s that area has been a very bad area. In wmany of those years Gah San was not held there. Then the scrap metal trade came in and they started removing the grille around the graves. They shave off some of the marble from the headstone,” he disclosed.

Gah San is a practice where local Chinese families, as well as those from the diaspora, pay an annual visit to the Chinese Cemetery on Waltham Park Road to pay homage to their relatives and ancestors.

At the same time, he said half of the graves were without headstones for a variety of reasons prior to the restoration process that started in 2005, but they were able to restore over 500 plaques from their record.

The Chinese Benevolent Association, which was founded in 1891 to provide representation for the early settlers, is responsible for the upkeep of the cemetery. The association also maintains its former headquarters at 129 Barry Street in downtown Kingston where the temple is located and operates the Old Age Home at 1 North Street, which provides care for the elderly.

The mandate then was to settle disputes and to lend support to individual members requiring assistance. The mission has expanded to preserving the Chinese culture among their members and to sensitise the wider community.