Jamaicans in Diaspora Rally to Support Highgate, a Small Town They Call Home
South Florida’s Jamaican-born residents are among the most active diaspora community when it comes to giving back to the country of their birth.The growing number of high school alumni associations and parish development groups in the state underscores the importance of community building and support among Jamaicans.
Shepherd addresses UFOH audienceMore than 50 such associations are listed on the Coalition of Jamaican Alumni Associations of Florida’s website. These groups are not just about meeting old friends at reunions. They host events to raise funds for educational and infrastructure development for the institutions and communities that helped shape them.
One such organization, The United Friends of Highgate (UFOH), hosted a gala event in December to raise awareness and funds for Highgate,a town in the parish of St. Mary. Steered by a group of volunteers who were born or grew up in the town, the non-profit organization, in existence for more than 10 years, said it is committed to contributing “to the economical, physical, educational, environmental, cultural, and social development of Highgate,” according to UFOH President Lorrimer Burford.
NEEDS
With the help of its Highgate Chapter, also known as UFOH Ground Zero, the organization identifies essential needs of the community and, with funds raised through its events, provides medical supplies and equipment, skills development and educational tools to schools, health centers and social groups. The group describes itself as non-partisan, making decisions based strictly on community welfare.
“Our immediate job is to meet with the leaders in Highgate and … encourage them to hold hands in a remarkable yet common cause for Highgate’s development, no matter their political persuasion,”Burford explained.
Among supporters at the December function was guest speaker Dr. Verene Shepherd, professor of social history at the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, and director of the Institute for Gender and Development Studies. Shepherd extolled the work being done by UFOH for the parish in which she was born.
“St. Mary has a proud history of advocacy and activism for social equality and social justice,” she said. “You are truly living up to the meaning of the word ‘Highgate’ … meaning way, road, path.”
NOTEWORTHY
Shepherdnamed several Jamaicans who hail from St. Mary and who have contributed much to society, including Member of Parliament and former Minister of Youth and Culture Lisa Hanna, Senator Floyd Morris, singer Beres Hammond and Audrey Marks, Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States.
She also reminded the audience that these contemporary leaders could not have achieved success without the support of revolutionary activists. She credited Chief Tacky, who led a war to liberate Jamaica from British bondage in April 1760.
“Tacky’s fight was not in vain because every couple of years after that a war for liberation broke out in St. Mary,” Shepherd explained. “We need to lobby for Chief Tacky to become a National Hero of Jamaica because he and his army laid the groundwork for what (Jamaica National Hero Sam) Sharpe and others later achieved.”
UFOH said it is continuing the legacy by focusing on its mission to create a strong social and economic base through collaborative community development.
