The members of the Security and Upliftment Association of Dawkins and Surrounding Districts take a break from work on Saturday. - Photo by Andrew Wildes

Jamaicans who have used the term 'Mocho' as a pejorative byword for Stone-Age back-wardness might have to think again. Citizens from a small Clarendon district there have spearheaded a coup of sorts and formed their own 'government'.

The Security and Upliftment Association of Dawkins and Surrounding Districts is the flamboyant name for a team of ordinary Jamaicans who have resolved not to go cap in hand to the State but instead are taking matters into their own hands.

"People have the mentality that if the politicians can't do it, it can't be done," remarked Enos Anderson, president of the association, as he told The Gleaner of the problems which inspired the genesis of the community group.

"We got together because we wanted to uplift the community, make it safer, and make it a more modern community ... bring back old-time community values, where people know people and people help people," Anderson explained.

Mistic Isuarez, 16, is one of the youths who toil away every Saturday. The Glenmuir High student, who is also the association's secretary, said she is dissatisfied with image people have of her community and is motivated to have it changed.

"If you go anywhere and ask anybody about Mocho, they will tell you that it's a back-a-bush place. It's 2009 now and so we want to upgrade the place.

"When we go out and say Mocho, people must say, 'Yes, yes, I know that place and it's a very upstanding community'," Isuarez quipped, with a radiant smile.

Benevolence noticed

Already, the group's 'upliftment' work is being noticed by many in their communities. On Saturday, for example, after cleaning overgrowth from a stretch of roadway in the scorching sun, residents proceeded to the Mocho Primary School where they started constructing a computer lab. It's an act of benevolence so significant that schoolteacher Gawayne Downs says it will make a world of difference.

"We really appreciate it because technology-wise, we were not up to date but that room there is the start of something wonderful," said Downs, who teaches grade six.

"The kids will have a space where they can sit together and use the computers. The organisation is doing the world for them."

The Dawkins association is also trying to revive the inquisitive culture that has come to characterise rural hamlets and small towns in a bid to root out criminals who might lie beneath the radar.

Close network

British author George Orwell's 'Big Brother' is being downsized to 'Small Brother', an everyone-knows-everyone network which might have prevented crime lords like Donovan 'Bulbie' Bennett finding safe haven. Bennett, a reputed racketeer and murder mobster, was killed in 2005 by police in his Rock River recluse, also in Clarendon.

"There are different approaches to fighting crime and ensuring security. My approach is this: a tight-knit community where people know people are fighting crime already," Anderson said.

Since the group's first meeting on February 1, residents dipped into their own pockets and set to work six days later. They have been labouring every Saturday since. The association has beautified a two-mile stretch of road, plugged potholes, cut down hazardous branches and cleared roadside litter.

The group has also been active in lobbying various government bodies and Member of Parliament Pearnel Charles to tackle a road breakaway and an absence of piped water.

andrew.wildes@gleanerjm.com