EPWORTH, St Ann — Over the last quarter-century senior teacher at Epworth Primary Carrol Wilson has often thought of quitting — and it was not always about her salary. Sometimes it was the state of the roads she had to traverse that made her want to throw in the towel.

“It used to take us a while to get up here,” Wilson told the Jamaica Observer.

She recalled how some of her colleagues who rode to work with her had to get out of her car — a combination of the vehicle’s distance from the ground and the shoddy roads — and “walk parts of the way”.

“Now in five minutes I can get to work. So I’m very happy for that and the children are also making it to school in better time,” said Wilson.

Her colleague Hilary Johnson is also happy that it will take her less time to get to the educational institution where she has worked for the past eight years.

“The road was really, really bad… We are grateful to JSIF for doing this wonderful job for us,” she stated.

A section of the road was reconstructed at a cost of $109 million by the Jamaica Social Investment Funds (JSIF) through a $105-million donation from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) under its Basic Need Trust Fund programme. Another $4 million was donated by Epworth’s community development group.

“It was not just a road, it is something that has changed the quality of life and brought additional investments to this farming community,” said JSIF Managing Director Omar Sweeney who spoke about how good it felt to have a positive impact on Epworth.

“This is a moment to celebrate for this community,” he added.

Sweeney was speaking during a ceremony in the community on Friday to mark the official opening of the road that was completed in late 2020.

With help from JSIF area residents have been playing a role in its maintenance.

“The community received equipment to care for the roads such as machete, brooms and rakes and these are of great importance. This road has been in use for over three years now and you can’t tell because it is well taken care of,” noted Sweeney.

Through partnership with the CDB, JSIF has reconstructed more than 200 roads across the island, including Epworth’s main road. According to CDB vice-president of operations Isaac Solomon, the projects have contributed significantly to changing the quality of life for many who have benefitted directly.

“This is the involvement that CDB wants to have as communities are most powerful when there is true partnership. I must commend the people of Epworth for their commitment to the project so both current and future generations can benefit from the investment,” said Solomon.

“The individuals in agriculture here in Epworth have been benefiting, as farmers are now able to import materials more efficiently,” he added.

One of those farmers is Noel Craig who said the repaired road has opened avenues for him to sell his produce.

“We very grateful, man because things change for me as a farmer. More people start come into the community to buy my crops; first time nobody wouldn’t really come because the road bad,” he stated.