FLAGAMAN, St Elizabeth — With sections of St Elizabeth remaining without electricity, children in the farming community of Flagaman have ditched their tablets and resorted to outdoor games.

When the Jamaica Observer visited the area last Wednesday two cousins, both age seven — Aden Hanson and Destiny Williams — went back to basics with outdoor recreation, playing on a swing at the front of their yard.

The children recounted their experience witnessing Category 4 Hurricane Beryl two weeks ago.

Aden said he wasn’t afraid of the storm, even though he looked out a window and saw the storm’s devastation to his grandmother’s ackee tree.

“I saw the ackee tree just go bap [uproot] because of the wind,” he said smiling.

“I have fun playing outside but I [like] to be on my tablet,” he added.

However his cousin said she prefers to play outside or with her pet cat, rather than on her electronic devices.

“I had kitty [her pet cat] to play with so I wasn’t scared [during the storm]. I do gymnastics outside,” she said.

For their uncle, Paul Ebanks, Hurricane Beryl was no joke as his watermelon and tomato farms were battered by the storm.

“I wouldn’t want to see something like that come here again; it was frightening. I thought the house was going. They say it was Category 4 but I feel like it was Category 5 because it was so heavy,” he said, comparing the storm to Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.

“Gilbert was not like this and it was Category 4. This was more powerful than Gilbert; it was horrible. We on the south get a beaten,” he said.

Like other farmers, Ebanks said he is not waiting on the Government’s assistance to get back on his feet.

“We know that we have to pick up the pieces and move on because you can’t depend and wait on the Government. What they will give you will take a time before you receive it. You might need 10 bags of fertiliser and they might just give you one, so you just go on and do what you have to do,” he said.