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hello, my name is blake and along with my wife, tashi, a year and a half ago we established deaf can! coffee we are a not-for-profit social enterprise aiming to engage, equip and empower deaf youth. deaf can! coffee started just by taking our students on a field trip to meet clarke who is a deaf coffee farmer in st. elizabeth.

is coffee roasting business profitable, and if you meet clarke you will never forget him, because he is a character. clarke is 78 years old and has grown and roasted coffee on a little farm in st. elizabeth his whole life. as a family friend of my wife’s, who grew up around clarke, we said “hey, let’s take our students to clarke’s farm in st elizabeth to meet him and see if they wanted to learn more about coffee.

because at that time we just wanted to expose our students to a role model, to someone who is doing something as a deaf person. well the kids got so excited about coffee they came back to kingston and said “hey, can we roast coffee like clarke?” we said “well we can try that!” and so we got this little tabletop roaster that roasts a half pound of coffee. we got some green coffee from clarke and started roasting… and pretty soon they boys said “can we taste the cofffee?” so we found a mr. coffee machine that was sitting on our shelf, cleaned it up and they started brewing coffee. and then when people came by the school they would ask “do you want to taste our coffee?”

and they would taste the coffee and say “wow this is really good” and we’d say “of course, it’s fresh roasted!” it’s gotta be good! and then people said “can we pay you for this coffee” and we said “ok” so it just organically grew. because the boys were really doing everything as a group and as they started selling coffee to customers their smiles got a little bigger, they started taking pride in it and feeling affirmed with positive attitudes about themselves. about a year ago in march we decided to not just roast coffee but to start a little coffee shop here on campus. after three months of running it here at the school we realized this had the potential to actually employ people. this has the potential to go beyond the walls of this campus.

and so in july of last year we actually registered deaf can! coffee as a business name and started the process of developing ourselves as a legal entity. the name, deaf can! coffee, as i look back on it, just have to say…”god knew what we needed!” we never really had a lot of discussion, we never did a lot of thinking about what the name was going to be. we just talked with the boys groups, the boys only bible study group that this all started from, and asked “what do you want the world to know? what is going to be the core of your being moving forward?” and they said “we want people to know that we can!” and so we wrote out on the board “deaf can! coffee” and then it wasn’t until a few months later we registered the name, when we felt it was right to move forward.

but, you know, it just kinda happened. because the boys that’s the message they want to share with the world is that they can do anything. so deaf can! coffee was the resulting name. when we started we had no idea we were going to have a business, it just started as a project to give our kids a little bit more confidence. we started with just roasting coffee, we were roasting and bagging it, and then selling it. from there we started doing espresso based drinks and lattes, cappuccinos and then some people said, some people said “well, ya know, it’s hot here, some people will want cold drinks,” and we said absolutely. so the boys saved up their own money and bought a blender and started doing frappes. and then someone said “let’s blend up some fruit” and so they started doing fruit smoothies.

and then someone said “we want a milkshake” and so they started making milkshakes too. right now they’re working a “roots” drink, using fruits and vegetables and blending those up to make a really healthy drink. this is nitro cold brewed coffee… what we have is a keg and inside is cold brewed coffee. i think we’re the only people in jamaica doing nitro cold brew coffee, which is cold brewed coffee put into a keg pressurized with nitrogen, which infuses with the coffee, and then served on tap. so we compare it to guinness and tell people we have “guinness coffee”. tastes almost like there is creamer in the coffee, it’s delicious! we started entrepreneurial business education with grades 9, 10 and 11,

and they came up with their own recipe for bottled cold coffee and added vanilla flavouring. it’s an energy drink that’s bottled, you can just grab it and go. we do anything with coffee, whether its hot or cold, anybody can come here and get something they want. we’ve had multiple people who are coffee connoisseurs come in here and say this is the best coffee they’ve had in jamaica. and we’ve also had people come in here who say “coffee? i don’t want coffee, it’s gross.” and so we’ll serve them something else and they’ll find something they like. whether you are a coffee purists or want something sweet or want a fruit smoothie, something healthy or something refreshing, to keep you going, we have something for you.

and so i feel we can match most demographics and most market segments. our tagline that we operate by is engage.equip.empower. my wife, being a deaf jamaican herself, has grown up and seen a lot of people try to “help” deaf people. and often their approach to “helping” is by giving them things, then wait to see what the deaf person did with it. inevitably nothing would really last and then they would walk away saying “oh the deaf person can’t do it.” and so we started with a basic principle that our students have to be “engaged” and have ownership in it. and so we encouraged them to save up their own money from sales to buy better equipment. so they bought their first espresso machine and grinder, and it continued to grow with their own participation. that, for us, is engagement.

once they’re engaged and have a sense of ownership and want it, then they need the skills taught to them. that’s when we partnered with various coffee shops and sidecar coffee from the us was our first critical partner. they were willing to come down here and put on an intensive, two-day barista training workshop. and 17 of our boys got certified as a level 1 barista. and from there it has just continued to take off, when they need funding, they save up their own money. they have objectives and goals for what they want to save up for next and they save up and then go get it. when we built this training centre, because as we saw the growth that happened in the first 4-6 months of the small coffee shop we realized that there was so much opportunity because the kids wanted to learn more. and so we reached out to the digicel foundation, here locally, and said we have this vision, this dream to have

a cafe training centre. they came and did a site visit, loved what we were doing and came alongside of us. digicel foundation gave us a j$3.5 million grant to build the space that we are in right now. we also received funding locally from harvestcall jamaica, which is the not-for-profit that my wife and i operate here in jamaica, which does things outside of the deaf schools, we also work with children’s home and infirmaries and hospitals. but my wife doesn’t want to see us going out and looking for a lot of donations or freebies, because our students need to have ownership. they need to feel involved as a part of the business. the business side of it though that goes mobile, that goes out to public events, is really self-sustaining. we don’t look for outside funding for that because its important for our young men to feel that it’s theirs. we are making a profit, but again because we are operating within a school setting and we’re training them

there’s not a lot of wages or salaries, we’re not paying full-time workers, so we don’t have the overhead that a traditional business would have. or as we grow and go out into the public, we will eventually have that. we don’t have opening public hours now, we don’t want people just randomly coming off the street. we have children here at the school and need to make sure they they’re taken care of and protected. so we can’t have strangers coming in. but we do have people that find out about us and show up at the gate. and if we are here, we’ll gladly open up and serve them, but moving forward we’d like to have a public space. then the general public can just go there, to an off-site location. one of our goals from the very beginning was to create community because that’s one thing our deaf youth lack in their lives, is community, that they really feel a sense of belonging.

so from the beginning we wanted to really nurture that, and make sure that we protected it, and make sure that the boys it started with, that it was theirs. but then as it grew, deaf adults started hearing about what we were doing, and so we started getting interest from outside people saying “i’ve heard about deaf can! coffee, i’m deaf, can i get involved? we’re not out there actively seeking people, they are coming to us and through that we can filter it and determine who really want to learn versus someone discontent with life and just want something easy. because one of the key principles that our boys understand is that you have to work hard. building a business is hard work. you have to be committed and work together as team. through that we’ve developed carlyle and fabian, the manager and assistant manager, where they’re

really the leaders moving forward. they know who to contact if we need somebody else. we have deaf culture already in existence, which has its own set of norms and values. and we incorporate those fully into the business, which means things have to be visually friendly. things have to be spacial. in our training centre here, everything is open. so we can have a group of kids in a semi-circle where it’s visual. everyone can see everything and they can communicate clearly. so everything we do is in a semi-circle and in the open. that’s a cultural value from deaf culture and then within our business culture we’re creating an emphasis on inter-dependence.

first we very dependent on others, as an infant. when we get into our teen years we want to be very independent and we don’t want anyone to tell us anything. but as an adult, you realize you have to be both, you have to be dependent and independent. and that’s interdependence. don’t just focus on an area that you are good at and try to become the best. rather try to raise up your peers. and through that they are working together. and that’s what we want to embody within our culture, that it’s all about the team. and if one person fails, then we all fail. the concept of entrepreneurialism is not something that our students had a strong grasp of before we started.

but as they’ve grown their own business, they’re starting to realize what being an entrepreneur is all about. mostly it’s about learning and one of the things they’ve learned the most is that you have to take risks. you have to be calculated, you can’t be foolish, but you have to try something too. we’re seeing more creative thoughts coming out of them in ways that we never really anticipated. we’re seeing artistic sides of our students coming out when we’re talking about marketing. thinking “how can we make this more visually appealing?” we actually had a young deaf man design a hand-sketch for our new logo for the bottled cold coffee energy drink. then we sent it to justin forbes, who is a deaf graphic artist here in kingston, and he developed the full logo. now it’s digital and we print that for the bottles today.

in a lot of ways entrepreneurialism is effecting the way they think, to realize that inside of every one of us we have creative capabilities. we all have ideas, they just need to be tapped in to. we believe deaf can! coffee can go anywhere. if you ask our boys, they’ll say “we’re not just thinking about jamaica, we want to see deaf can! coffee all over the world.” one of the reason for that is 90% of the coffee is grown in third world and developing countries. and in those countries you will by default have less government programs and less intervention and lower educational standards for deaf people. and so you could literally go into most coffee producing countries and already there will be a disenfranchised

and at-risk deaf community, and you can go into that and engage them in the business. once it’s a deaf person going into that area training and teaching, deaf people by nature will flock to it. the deaf community throughout the world may not share the same language, but they share cultural values. our guys could literally go to another country and walk around with a deaf can! coffee sign and deaf people will come and want to know more. and you can engage people through that process. and once they’re engaged and want it, then you can equip them with the skills necessary to run it. once you have a person who is “engaged” and “equipped” then that leads to “empowerment.” our boys have dreams and visions of being beyond just jamaica! that’s something i absolutely believe can happen.

i think there are a few things that are critical for an entrepreneur. first you have to believe in something. if you don’t believe in it, there’s no way you can convince and convey to your customer that it’s worth their time or resources to buy your product or service. it has to be something that your passionate about. you also need to have a vision of where you want to go. and allow that vision to guide your decision making. for us at deaf can! coffee, it’s our vision to have a deaf community and deaf youth who are empowered. every decision we make is filtered through “do we believe that this decision will lead to our youth becoming

more empowered or will this be a distraction?” besides the vision, theoretical stuff you have to put in a lot of hard work, be willing to make sacrifices. you have to be willing to take risks and to learn. every time you make a mistake, it’s a phenomenal opportunity to learn something and you’ll never make that mistake again! but if don’t view it as a learning experience, you become frustrated and you’ll make that mistake again. success for us is not defined by what margin we’re making or how profitable we are. we believe that if our students are getting the skills they need and the confidence and self-esteem necessary to perform, that (the profit) will all take care of itself.

i think for my wife and i, our biggest fear is that, somehow through a failure to guide this social enterprise properly, that we could actually end up convicing people that “deaf can’t” what do i mean by that? in some experiences or mistakes that we’ve learned from, say we have the opportunity to open up our own shop somewhere and we say “yes, let’s do it” but if we’re not ready for it and open up our own shop and have our own storefront and everything, but we’re not to the point where we are actually mature enough as a business to handle that, and it fails…? everybody that walked through those doors, and then saw it close, are going to look at it and say deaf can’t. so we’ve been very careful about how we grow the business. we’ve used an analogy with the students of an infant growing into a toddler up until they’re an adult, and so as an infant you learn to crawl.

as a toddler you learn to walk and as an adult you learn to run. we used that analogy with them to teach that we’re still crawling or we’re still walking as a business, we’re not quite ready to run. because if we don’t manage it properly and allow it to grow sustainably then people might think deaf can’t and that’s the antithesis of what we want people to believe. in everything we do we want to affirm that deaf can. what motivates me is people like clarke, the man that started all of this, and people like my wife, who through their lives are proving to people that deaf can, that literally deaf can do anything! and maybe in some ways deaf can do things better. i get excited when someone comes in here and says ‘wow, this is the best espresso i’ve ever had in jamaica!’ and you see our guys smile, stand up straight, and they’re proud of themselves. that motivates me.

those moments where someone comes in and says “wow, deaf can!” and then the response of our guys, ‘yeah, we know we can.’ as that confidence grows, they’re starting to believe in things they can do outside of coffee. they’re gaining confidence in their own creative talents, and other things are starting to bubble to the surface. we’ve realized as we’ve shared this message that some of our guys are phenomenal with crowds, an audience will be sitting out there and telling them a story and the facial expressions, body language just captivates people. we know our guys can do anything. those moments where the general public get’s it and says ‘wow, deaf can’ and our youth say ‘yeah, we know.’ that’s what motivates me. i live for those moments where people get it and say ‘i want some more of this!’ you can’t go to sleep at night. you’re dead tired, completely spent and lay your head down

and an idea pops up, and then your brain starts going and you can’t turn it off, so you’re up at 2am typing something out or emailing somebody with something you want to tell them, those moments where you know, you wish you didn’t have that on your mind, but then you say “if i didn’t have that on my mind would life be as exciting as it is?” and so i’ve learned to embrace those moments of inspiration and to realize that those moments where you wish you could turn off your brain, but it’s still going, are some of the greatest moments to focus, get the clutter out of your mind and to put things on paper, get them out and think about them. i love the interaction we have with different people that deaf can! coffee has attracted, literally people from all over the world that have heard about us and come to see it.

they may not come to jamaica specifically for it, but they hear about it and want to come see it while visiting. then to have local jamaicans come here and realize that wow, the deaf community has a lot to offer. what we’re hoping is that other employers will come through and see what they’re doing, see the commercials they’re making, see the cakes they’re baking and say ‘hey, i have a job for you. you can come work for me. because we’re not just about creating this massive deaf can! coffee thing, i believe that because we are addressing root issues in the lives of vulnerable people, that’s god’s heart. god’s heart is for the vulnerable, for the oppressed, he’s not about people who think they have everything in life. as we’ve strived to address the true lack that’s experienced in the lives of our kids, that god is blessing that and he’s growing it to allow us to fill up their cups so that our kids lack nothing anymore

that they don’t lack the confidence or the skills necessary or the opportunities in life to grow themselves and to use the gifts that he has given them. as we traveled around with our mobile coffee shop we met the digicel foundation and showed proof to them and they were so impressed by what we did that they provided a grant to build the cafe training centre. and so as you can see there we have a new espresso machine that is really powerful and we’re really happy for what we have. our goal is to continue to grow our business. i think the most satisfying experience i’ve had so far has had actually nothing to do with a cup of coffee. it’s when i’ve seen our boys, our young men, stand in front of a group and professionally and powerfully explain the story of what’s happened with deaf can! coffee

and people in an audience, you see just a little bit of water in their eye and it start to trickle down, because they’re so touched because our boys are developing the confidence to allow their natural talent to come to the surface and people are seeing that. there’s really nothing more satisfying than someone who sees the message of deaf can! and believes it with all their heart. some of my favorite things to do are to get out of kingston and go to st elizabeth, my wife is from an area called top hill and its the most beautiful place on earth, in my opinion. we love to go there, just hang out, go down to treasure beach, swim and enjoy the country life. being an entrepreneur is full of sacrifice, times you may sacrifice relationships but you have to balance that, because if at the end of the day you have a successful business but fail in relationship,

then the business has no merit. there is a balance there. you sacrifice a lot of time, you sacrifice financially. there are times you have to contribute to help the business grow and take care of something out of scope but needs to get done. you sacrifice with other things in life and other things you like to do, maybe hobbies that you had before but maybe now don’t have as much time. i think my dog suffers sometimes, i don’t spend as much time with her as i want to. we have some opportunities coming up, nothing is set in stone yet, but we are very possibly going to be opening up a full-time coffee shop inside of another cafe, its not named yet and branding hasn’t been decided yet, but it will be off hope road and it will be their own cafe where we will be the coffee service.

they will be doing food, bistro kind of stuff and we will be providing the coffee. that’s one opportunity, but we’ve had a couple other organizations that have reached out to us and have expressed interest in us operating a coffee shop inside of their business at some point down the road. but nothing is set in stone now, so we currently are just focused internally, using our new training centre that we have here, thanks to the digicel foundation. also the jn foundation has reached out to us, they have a “social enterprise booster initiative, sebi” which we are in the process of applying to be a part of it, and then they would really walk alongside of us, helping to develop the internal mechanisms that we need to give us a foundation on which the business can grow. deaf can! coffee encouraged our younger students in grades 9, 10 and 11th grade to join junior achievement

and through that program they came up with a vanilla cold coffee energy drink that they blend and bottle. this is what it looks like. as we’ve grown we’ve decided that we want a message about “this” and reach out to someone who can help us but as much as possible we try to do things internally first. so we created a message for the national inclusive education conference that happened last year in montego bay and we developed a framework for the message but then the students decide what they want to portray through that poster that was all about comparing a negative view of a deaf person that says deaf can’t with a positive view of a deaf person that says deaf can that was really powerful and we’ve used that one medium in a lot of ways.

as we go mobile we will put that poster up on the table and allow people to come by and read it because just by interacting with the baristas they won’t get the full depth of the story but then its there in print form and people can read it and learn in more depth what we are all about. but honestly in some ways we’ve tried to hold back on marketing because again, we have to balance being on the campus of the deaf school and we can’t have too many people coming in and ruining what we are doing at the school with the kids, that has to be the primary focus. but as we go mobile, out in the public, we are developing marketing tools. and our website is phenomenal, and it was developed by one of our deaf graduates, and he is now in college studying computer science at rochester institute of technology, new york he’s a computer science major and made the website for us, runs it from abroad and he will actually be coming

back to jamaica this summer to do an internship for us and to develop some more online based tools. we are social media, facebook, twitter and instagram, everything is @deafcancoffee we’re streamlined in that sense, when someone wants to contact us, its just “deaf can coffee” google “deaf can coffee”…our email address is deafcancoffee@gmail.com and our website is deafcancoffee.com and all of our social media is there as well. online has probably been our most successful mode of marketing as far as reaching out with our message to customers. a year ago when we realized this was viable as a business, one of our first strategies was to go public. go to where the people are at instead of worrying about trying to attract people here. and then the second thing was partnering with other people. any press is good press.

we’ve had the opportunity to get several print media, where they’ve written stories about us, in the gleaner and the observer. we’ve been on tv j and several radio stations, and now we’re on business access tv, which we’re really thankful and excited for this opportunity! if you are a young person that wants to be an entrepreneur, if you have an idea you want to try… then i would encourage you to go for it, but you have to understand a few things first. you have to be committed to it and you have to believe that what you do will make the world a better place. if you don’t believe it makes the world a better place, at the end of the day, you won’t be able to sell it to your customers and to whoever you want to reach. and you have to really believe in it, and if you don’t believe in it, then you’re going to run of out energy,

because there are times where you feel like you want to give up, it’s too hard, too impossible… if you don’t believe it makes the world a better place, then it’s not going to be worth it. if you look at some of the greatest businesses the world has even know, it started with someone who believed “my idea will make the world a better place.” when you start with the premise, if you believe that, then there should be nothing that stops you. and then my other encouragement, as you go, is to not do it alone. reach out to people who can help you. if you’re selfish, if you try to keep it for yourself and say “no i want to hang on to this” then you’re not going to let your hands open up to allow it to grow and to fly. so you have to open up to others and say “i want to work with you and see how we can work together”

and then the third thing is that you have to get the right people around you, and if you have someone inside who is toxic or cancerous to your organization, no matter how talented they are or how many gifts they have, if that person is not matching the team or becoming more about themselves than the team you have to be willing to stand up and tell them that you can’t have that be a part of the team. so you have to be willing to sometimes do the tough work and be willing to say no. when opportunities come but don’t fit your business model or your vision, you have to be willing to say no.

as an entrepreneur you’ll mabye have a hard time saying no but you have to be willing to stand firm and say no. and the last thing i would say is to have a business plan. if you don’t know what a business plan is and don’t know how to write it, then reach out because there are people who are willing to sit down and offer advice

and help you to work through some of those components that maybe you haven’t thought of.

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Robin Levy (centre), Deputy General Manager of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and Claudette Anglin (left), Programme Management Specialist at the United States Agency for International Development are fascinated with the work of art done by Alpha Wear JA, one of the companies being supported by the Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI). The occasion was a workshop on Social Enterprise 101 organised by SEBI for business enablers, industry stakeholders and policymakers. The two-day workshop took place June 7-8 at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew

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Director General in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Mr. Vivian Brown, says that social enterprises in Jamaica are now becoming critical agents for growth and development.

Social enterprises are businesses with primarily social objectives, and whose surpluses are reinvested in their business or the community. Their primary mission is to solve social, economic or environmental problems at community or national level through effective and ethical business practices. They have the dual responsibility of creating social value and ensuring financial viability.

According to the Director General, the social enterprise model has shown particular strength in addressing issues related to inclusion of the marginalized such as youth, rural women and persons with disabilities.

Mr. Brown was addressing the opening session of a Social Enterprise 101 Seminar for Business Enablers and Industry Leaders, at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston on June 07, 2017.

He noted that social enterprises will be critical to Jamaica’s growth and development thrust going forward.

“Along with Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), social enterprises are indispensable to achieving, not just mere growth, but broad-based, inclusive growth, which also supports the attainment of several specific goals under the National Development Plan – Vision 2030,” he stated.

He further stated that the Government will continue to increase its efforts in providing robust support to the sector by enacting and implementing the necessary institutional reforms and legislations to make the sector more vibrant, competitive, and sustainable.

The director general also lauded the work of the Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI), one of Jamaica’s most innovative business development programmes whose primary goal is to create an enabling business environment which facilitates the growth of social enterprises in Jamaica.

The two-day seminar, June 7-8, 2017, is hosted by the Social Enterprise Boost Initiative, the World Bank and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries.

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The Government is assuring investors in social enterprises that legislation and institutional reforms are being implemented for the sector.

According to Director General in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Vivian Brown, the sector is getting crucial attention to ensure widespread awareness of the concept of social enterprises, and the provision of business development support services.

He was opening a two-day workshop on the sector, today (June 7), at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

Mr. Brown said capacity building that strengthens and enhances the growth of the sector is ongoing to promote creativity and innovation in social entrepreneurship, and will culminate in a viable legal structure for social enterprise operation.

“The Government will continue to increase its efforts to provide robust support to the social enterprise, to make the sector more vibrant, competitive and sustainable,” he told the participants.

The event is part of the Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI), organised by the JN Foundation, in conjunction with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which has been established to create empowering opportunities in social enterprises.

It is particularly geared at organisations that are committed to the development and sustainability of the social and economic well-being of communities, groups and individuals. They are receiving support from the SEBI to become significant contributors to national growth.

Topics for discussion at the workshop include ‘Social Enterprises: a global trend – but what are they?’, ‘Jamaican social enterprises supporting social and economic goals’, and ‘Using social enterprises to address developmental challenges’.

A social enterprise is a revenue-generating business whose primary objective is to maximise profits so as to reinvest the surplus in the business or the community for social or environmental well-being.

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Authors of Global Change and the Caribbean, adaptation and resilience, Dr. Thera Edwards (left) and Professor David Barker sign copies of their book which was launched by the University of the West Indies Press and the JN Foundation. Sharing in the moment are (from right ) Fitzgerald Jeffrey, high commissioner of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago; Saffrey Brown, general manager of JN Foundation and Onika Miller, managing director, MCS Group. The book launch took place on Thursday, May 25 at Alhambra Inn, Kingston. The book looks into issues of regional and community vulnerability and focuses on the solutions in terms of adaptation, resilience and transformation of society.

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More than 50 employees of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts were recent beneficiaries of the JN Foundation’s Financial Empowerment Programme.

An interactive session, participants were exposed to smart and practical money management lessons to promote financial stability and wellness. Launched in 2015, The Financial Empowerment Programme targets employees across the Jamaica National Group, as well as students, organisations and sundry groups across the island, to promote financially literacy among Jamaicans.

Backed by JN Bank, the programme was established based on the theory that saving and investment play a pivotal role in empowering individuals as well as for the enhancement of the country’s economy.

A doctor bird seeming to greet visitors as it swiftly flaps its wings and plunges its elongated beak into a fiery-red ginger lily in pursuit of nectar, is all the confirmation one needs to know that they are in for a truly authentic Jamaican treat. This is Bunkers Hill, Trelawny, located at the entrance to the biodiverse Cockpit Country, which abounds with nature and history.

Home to 66 of the country’s endemic plants and several species of animals not found anywhere else on earth, one could describe the Cockpit Country as the “literal heart of the nation,” preserving not only plants and animals native to Jamaica, but also cultural rituals and practices dating back to the inhabitation of this land by the Maroons, led by Captain Cudjoe and the legendary heroine, Nanny.

All of these fine distinctions make the Bunkers Hill Cultural Xperience unlike tours that Jamaica has to offer in its versatile tourism product.

With the gushing waters of the Tangle River, which flows into the Martha Brae, creating the spine of the five-acre property, this cultural enclave captures the history of Jamaica and gives one the opportunity to live and breathe its essence.

As you enter the caves on the banks of the river, for example, you can see the writings and carvings of the Taino people who once inhabited it; or hike a few miles and bravely climb the steep cliffs to a cave which sustained Cudjoe and his men in their effort to evade the British. However, caution: it’s not a trip for the faint-hearted.

Beyond the caves lies the ruins of the Dromilly Great House, and the site where Cudjoe and his men ambushed British troops around 1795.

Everything about the Bunkers Hill Cultural Xperience is authentically Jamaican.
“We prepare authentic Jamaican meals such as run dung and roast yam, roasted sweet potato, dukoonoo, rice and peas with coconut milk —grated and the juice strained —your cornmeal pudding, all cooked on wood fires,” Clover Gordon, who jointly manages the property with her husband, O’Brian, explained, stimulating one’s appetite.

The drinks and meals are served in painted enamel cups and plates along with the utensils Jamaicans used in the 19th to mid-20th centuries; or, on banana leaves, carefully cleaned calabash shells, as was the practice of the Maroons. These traditions are also kept alive by their descendants in some rural Jamaican communities.

One of the social enterprises nurtured under the Social Enterprise Boost Initiative by the JN Foundation and the US Agency for International Development, the Bunkers Hill Cultural Xperience relies on the resources of the Bunkers Hill community and its surrounding hamlets for sustenance. Consequently, more than 90 per cent of its food and 100 per cent of its human resources come from the community.

“We are going to need more support from the community,” Clover Gordon said, as the attraction, which recently received its permit from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and is in the process of applying for an operating licence from the Jamaica Tourist Board, prepares for its official opening to the public in July.

“At that time, we may be needing 100 pounds of chicken, so they will need to increase supplies. Therefore, if Jane don’t have, Mr Peter will have next week,” she stated. “Because 90 per cent of what we use comes from the community and we want as many guests as possible to come here so that the community benefits.”

The operation provides an employment and production boon in the community, giving its mainly farming constituents an additional source of income. It already employs 10 people part-time; and, with its upcoming launch and expansion, there will be need for additional cooks, tour guides, life guards, and others.

For Kemar, who travels daily to work miles away in Hanover at the Tryall Club, it provides an income during the “off season” when visitor bookings are low at the high-end resort and there is no employment for him.

“It’s good employment here,” he said shyly. “It uplifts the community and gives us work.”

However, more important to him and Alexander, another young male resident employed as a tour guide, it allows them to discover aspects of their community and its indigenous culture that were not well known to them.

“I’m now learning about the Maroons and Tainos, because I’ve never been inside the caves,” said Kemar, a sense of excitement evident in his eyes, as he chopped wood to build a new thatch hut on the river bank.

To this, Alexander added: “I am more aware of my culture. It gives me a confidence boost that this place is rich in culture, and I feel rich being a part of the Maroon culture.”

For the Gordons, this historical introspection and cultural preservation is a primary objective of their Bunker’s Hill Cultural Xperience, which emerged to Clover Gordon in a literal dream some four years ago.

Beyond simply generating employment and economic activity in the community, the registration and inclusion of cultural groups, such as the Deeside Cultural Group and the Wakefield Tambo Group, are essential to maintaining the cultural development which the Gordons want to engender.

“Unfortunately, some residents are not aware of the historic and cultural value of their community,” said Clover Gordon. “The ruins of the Dromilly Great House is right around the corner and residents were not aware of the ambush that took place there; the caves are there with the Taino’s writings, and it was not until the Jamaica Caves Organisation came here that they learned about it.”

“Therefore, we want more residents to understand what they have in their community, because they have something rich here,” she stated.

“We have lost a lot of knowledge,” acknowledged Parish Manager of the Social Development Commission, Paula Barrett, who was born in Bunkers Hill. “Even the Nine Nights. They were not about large sound systems, as they are now, but about the ‘gere’ and the ‘bruk stone.’ We have lost that now.”

Plans are underway to formally open the Bunkers Hill Cultural Xperience to the public in July; and, to preserve and promote cultural authenticity, which is the primary objective of the Gordons.

The project capitalises on Clover Gordon’s years of experience and influence in the tourism industry in Negril, Westmoreland; and they are networking and using social media to promote this unique product.

“The sky’s the limit. We are less than an hour from the Falmouth Cruise Ship Pier and we have everything that tourists want to see in terms of who Jamaicans are — the beauty, landscape and experience the ambience,” said O’Brian Gordon, himself a native of Trelawny.

During the next month, the Gordons will complete areas such as a parking lot and septic tank to ensure congestion and health issues do not dampen the Bunkers Hill Cultural Xperience, and in the short term, cabin accommodations will also be added.

Jamaicans living overseas also have the opportunity to contribute to the development of the Bunkers Hill Cultural Xperience by investing in the JN Bank Diaspora Certificate of Deposit, from which a percentage of the interest earned will be matched and re-invested into businesses being nurtured by the Social Enterprise Boost Initiative by the JN Foundation.

“Our community is ready for the experience and look forward to the success,” O’Brian Gordon affirmed.

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It’s Monday afternoon at Jamaica College (JC) and the integrated science lab is buzzing with life, despite a downpour outside.

It’s not class as usual at JC, one of 12 high schools participating in the JN Foundation’s Science Genius Jamaica project. The others are Glenmuir, Clan Carthy, Westwood, Spot Valley, Cedric Titus, Maud Mcleod, May Day, Holy Trinity, Godfrey Stewart and Clarendon College.

The boys’ attention is fixed on their peers performing lyrics about ‘Healthy Lifestyle’, ensuring they smoothly ‘ride’ the dancehall track being played by their teacher and facilitator, Georgia Rudolph Blake, from her laptop. A young man deejays:

“Vitamins in a di lettuce and tomato,

Carbohydrates from the yam and potato,

A no meat alone gi u protein you can check cheese

Calcium build strong bones and teeth

Proteins mek yuh abs tough like concrete…,”

Blake desperately tries to contain the eruption of ‘forwards’ – mimicked blank shots in the air. “What you hear makes you think, ‘but I haven’t taught that area yet?'” says Blake. The boys put their lyrics together in 10 to 15 minutes after the teacher completes a topic.

“This is a new experience for me; and I believe it’s something we can incorporate in other subjects,” Blake said.

MUSIC INFECTIOUS

“Music is so infectious,” says dancehall DJ and mentor to the JN Foundation’s Science Genius Jamaica project, Tifa. “We simply want teachers to be open-minded,” she urged at the launch of the project in February.

Science Genius Project co-ordinator, the JN Foundation’s Chevanese Peters, said, “Our teachers are discovering the approach and they believe that dancehall and pop culture can in fact facilitate learning … . Some teachers may not be sure about the lyrics and beats and so on, but they are ready to meet the students where they are.

“What we are experiencing is a ripple effect, in which students are teaching themselves and teaching others; and they are being influenced to do the research.”

The project’s mentors, dancehall artistes Tifa and Wayne Marshall, are also assisting students to place what they are learning in a serious context, Peters explained.

“We really want to ensure that students are grasping and understanding the scientific concepts that are being taught,” she said.

In June, Science Genius Jamaica will move into its competition phase, as the schools engage in lyrical clashes in a series of BATTLES (Bringing Attention to Transforming Teaching, Learning and Engagement in Science).

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Scores of employees of the Jamaica National Group and dozens of volunteers in the JN Foundation’s ACTION Jamaica Volunteer Corps, laboured to enhance police stations, lock-ups and schools in 14 communities across the country, on Tuesday.

Among the main entities which received the attention of employees and volunteers was one of two national projects — the Central Police Station, downtown Kingston’s main police facility.
More than 60 JN Foundation ACT!ON volunteers and employees of the JN Group joined people from other corporate entities and government, to give a needed facelift to the nearly 100-year-old police station.

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Bresheh Enterprises will become a major employer of Jamaicans with disabilities, if brothers Randy and Davian McLaren continue to pursue the right development strategies to fulfil their dream.

If you have seen any of these stunning bags -knapsacks, tote bags, laptop sleeves or pencil pouches – you will remember Bresheh Enterprises for its beautiful products. However, what makes the small East Kingston company truly stand out, is the fact that their eight-member staff, includes two persons with disabilities.

“We believe that for our country’s economy to grow, more persons in marginalised communities, such as inner-city youth and persons living with disabilities must be empowered. And, ‘decent work’ is one of the ways for them to be empowered,” Randy McLaren said. “That is why we have established our business to be a source of empowerment for marginalised persons.”

Randy and Davian founded Bresheh in 2015 on the veranda of their home off Windward Road. They wanted to offer high-quality local alternatives to imported bags and to provide jobs for residents in their community.

Increased Demand

Within a year, the brothers relocated to a larger location at the Alpha Institute on South Camp Road, in East Kingston, based on increased demand for their bags.

“The opportunity emerged because they understood our vision as a social enterprise. It was centrally located and they were willing to accommodate us,” McLaren stated.

In addition to their own efforts, they employed staff members through the HEART Trust/NTA and disabilities’ organisations. “We grew up in Whitehall, St Thomas, and understood what it felt like not to have opportunities,” noted McLaren. “Therefore, in expanding our operation, we provided opportunities to persons who would not be traditionally considered for employment,” he added.

New employee, Georgia Williams, who is hearing-impaired, said she previously worked in the craft industry, but found it difficult to acquire a permanent job.

“Frequently, when I seek employment, I am told that it would be difficult for other persons to communicate with me,” Williams said, via a written response. “This usually meant that I did not get the job. Now, I have been with Bresheh Enterprises for the past three months, and I am hoping to grow with the company.”

Learning sign language to better facilitate employees with disability
Randy McLaren noted that the two employees with disabilities were hearing-impaired, while the other workers were from “at risk” and rural communities.

“The communication barrier for the hearing-impaired staff was eliminated by getting them to write their requests,” McLaren explained. “At the same time, we are learning sign language to make this process smoother.”

He noted that this will ensure that quality standards can be maintained by the entire team. “We receive orders from around the globe, as far away as Scotland and Switzerland, in addition to our local customers,” he added.

Recently, Bresheh Enterprises placed second in the Social Enterprise Boost Initiative (SEBI) Pitch for Purpose Competition. The contest allowed five social enterprises to pitch their business concepts and highlight their purpose and the company’s potential to use the development funds, to a panel of judges.

As part of their prize, JN Small Business Loans (JNSBL) will provide coaching, assistance in strengthening their business plan and strategy, as well as identify financing options.

“In addition to the Bresheh pitch in the competition, we were also impressed with the quality of their bags; and their focus on employing persons with disabilities,” explained Thelma Yong, deputy general manager, JNSBL.

“The feedback about the quality of their bags has been excellent, and more persons, particularly teens and young adults, are gravitating towards the trendy items. We are pleased with the quality work they have achieved and look forward to working with them to become a household name,” explained Yong.

Bresheh Enterprises purchases all the raw material needed for their bags from local companies, who import the textiles. Their dream is to use only items that are locally produced. “We are currently researching how to make organic cloth, and, in the future, we will be expanding into that area; as well as, making all new types of bags,” Randy McLaren said, declaring, “I feel good about the future.”

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