TREASURE BEACH, St Elizabeth — For the second time in 16 months the operators of Jack Sprat, a popular eatery in this community on Jamaica’s south-western coast, have spent big to complete extensive restoration work at the facility which is set to reopen today.

Hotelier Jason Henzell told the Jamaica Observer on Sunday that the restaurant was battered by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa just over a year after Hurricane Beryl ravaged the beachfront property.

“We are going to reopen Jack Sprat on Tuesday, so that will be exactly two weeks after the hurricane. I thought it was going to take longer, but our staff are determined,” said Henzell.

“It is not going to be perfect. It is not going to be the Jack Sprat that we saw before, but we figure it is better to open with it not being perfect than to wait for it to be perfect. Overtime we will just keep improving, but people want to get a hot meal,” added Henzell.

He said the restoration and reopening are key to bringing joy to residents and visitors amid the stressful conditions on the western end of the island.

“People want to hear a little music playing and come and charge their phones and get on the Wi-Fi and stuff like that so we know that Jack Sprat is one of the institutions of Treasure Beach. A bit of the heartbeat of the place, so we can’t wait to be serving our tasty meals down there,” Henzell, who also owns and operates Jakes hotel, told the Observer.

He said it is an all-hands-on-deck approach to restore Jakes.

“Everyone wants to come back and they want to know when Jakes is going to be ready, so my nephew is here helping me — a lot of friends, my sister who never leaves my side, my mother, my wife — all hands on deck. We have a dedicated crew here and we are really in the cleaning out phase and then we have contractors coming in this week,” Henzell said.

He explained the need to have rooms urgently restored as he argued that the accommodations are vital to the recovery effort in St Elizabeth.

“We are getting some requests for relief workers who want to come in and volunteer, so we are housing some of those persons already at some of our villas…Our villas never got hit as badly as the main property.

“On the main property we have some rooms that need minor work, some more heavy work and then we have some that got hit really hard, so we have definitely decided on a strategy of opening Jack Sprat first and then expanding on the villas and then we are going to open Jakes in phases starting in a few weeks,” he added.

Henzell said the devastation of the St Elizabeth parish capital, Black River, is heartbreaking.

“We are right here on a Sunday and we feel very grateful that it wasn’t worse, because when we see our neighbours in Black River and other places, you know our hearts really go out to those persons…So much devastation across the country,” said Henzell.

“We have had past guests come and stay, bring supplies… So many of them want to help in various ways. In life if you have support, you can get through anything at all. I am really feeling that level of support at the Jakes level, at the community level, and even at the national level,” he added

In terms of the relief and recovery efforts, Henzell is calling on businesses to move to rebuilding and reopening.

“We are in phase one now, which is really food, water, tarpaulin. We are in a crisis right now…What we want to do by the end of this week is to move into rebuilding livelihoods, so we have fishing wire that has been secured from Tank-Weld. We are in discussions with H&L Agro about vouchers for farmers, and we are also in some discussions about small grants for small businesses…” he said.

“The places that are ready to go into phase two we need to make that leap, so I know that when the Tank-Weld truck comes in here on Tuesday with 300 rolls on wire, it is going to move mentally to another level of hope, because this is a fishing village. I know for a fact that all of the fishermen have lost their traps, because we went and pulled some the other day and they were all destroyed just from the sea surge and the waves and stuff,” he added.

Henzell also urged citizens to join in and restore where possible to regain their livelihood.

“I know the hope is going to come back and it is going to start making people [go] in the frame of mind that we need to start building back livelihoods. I don’t want to be insensitive to the places that are not ready for that, but the economy is not going to come back all at once, it is going to take years, to be totally honest,” he said.

“It is going to take a few years for us to get back our national economy to where we were, but move with the places that are ready and let us start to build back the hope little by little, village by village, district by district, community by community, parish by parish,” Henzell added.

He expressed appreciation to the many Jamaicans who have journeyed across several parishes to bring relief supplies to fellow citizens.

“Especially on a Saturday and a Sunday, the Kingstonians are showing up. I am talking about convoys of people who are organising convoys of 20, 30, 40 cars coming down full of things and asking us which districts they should go through,” he said.

“Some are coming to St Elizabeth, some are going through to Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland…going all the way to Montego Bay, St James, and Trelawny and St Ann,” he added.

He also pointed to the international support coming into the country.

“People are showing up for Jamaica in a big way. When I was on the [Jamaica Defence Force] Coast Guard the other day [there were] these huge boxes and when I looked at them they were from the Government of Colombia. Now, the average Jamaican would never have known that we would be getting aid from Colombia,” he said.

“There are people here from The Bahamas, there are people here from the Cayman Islands. There are people here from Barbados, so there is a huge amount of solidarity out there for us and the truth of the matter is, the private and the public sectors in Jamaica couldn’t do it on our own and we really have to be grateful, it is almost like a community tourism story has now become a national story,” he added.

Henzell commended the Government’s response to relief and recovery efforts.

“This is more far-reaching than we would have seen in Beryl 16 months ago. This is now on a national scale and I am proud of our Government. [Prime Minister Dr] Andrew Holness has led from the front, being very deliberate in his thoughts,” said Henzell.

“He is really rallying everyone. Sometimes I say to people, don’t wait to get it perfect, just do what you can do and that is how we are going to get this done. Jamaicans are such proud people. Their spirit encourages us and keeps us going, because as bad as my hotel is here, some people lost everything and whenever I have a tough day… I think about those people who have lost everything and the fact that they still have their spirits up that gives us a lot of motivation to keep going,” added Henzell.

Jason Henzell points to where a tree was uprooted by Hurricane Melissa before being lodged in the bar section of Jack Sprat in Treasure Beach. (Photos: Garfield Robinson)

Jason Henzell (third left, front row) and his staff at Jack Sprat pose for a photo during a clean-up and repair exercise at the restaurant on Sunday.

Keith Taylor was busy on Sunday cutting lumber to help restore Jack Sprat in Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth.

A tractor operator loads debris onto a truck during clean-up operations at Jack Sprat on Sunday.