Residents of Cassava Piece in St Andrew have realised one of five priorities highlighted for action in their ongoing community development plan, spearheaded by the Social Development Commission (SDC), with the delivery of 21 drums to store garbage across the community.

The drums were provided by the Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA) and Island Dairies Limited.

Members of the community, as well as representatives of the VPA, SDC and other sectors, gathered recently on International Peace Day to officially hand over the drums, which were placed strategically across the community.

According to Sasheena Johnson Boyd, SDC’s community development officer, the collaboration with the VPA and Island Dairies to assist with the drums came out of priority planning discussions that the SDC had been having with the community.

“The VPA was invited to be a part of the discussion because of its continued presence and purpose in the community. One of the priority issues that came out of one of our weekly discussions was the matter of the poor management of garbage, not only the collection of it but also how the residents disposed of garbage,” said Johnson Boyd.

She noted that the weekly meetings, which started in August, are aimed at finding solutions to ongoing problems, which are then documented in a priority plan for the community.

“In fact, out of these discussions it was determined by the community that there were five priorities, among them poor parenting at number one, school retention, and crime and violence,” added Johnson Boyd.

Present at the handover was VPA’s chair, Dr Elizabeth Ward, who stated that cleaning up the community was important for building peace in the community, while noting that the bins would be branded “Climate Action for Peace”.

“We have partnerships with not only Island Dairies, but also with Jamaica Public Service Company and Metropolitan Parks and Markets, which is key in collecting and clearing the garbage from the community, surrounding churches, schools and community members in the area,” she disclosed. Other partners include the police.

Residents, who were instrumental to the process, expressed satisfaction with the initiative.

For Sanjean Roberts, a long-time resident of Cassava Piece and a regular at the SDC-hosted weekly meetings, the garbage bins were deeply appreciated.

According to Roberts, keeping the community clean as well as the gully, which runs through it, garbage-free is a necessity.

“The garbage pile-up in the gully cannot work. It not only looks disgusting and distasteful, but it is causes our mosquito problems,” she lamented.

“We are looking forward for more drums. The persons in the community love what is going on and are really excited. We are going to also have our parenting forums, which are set to start in October,” said Roberts.