For the recycling fun day, I had requested a donation of paint from Sandals EarthGuard*, the colors of which now reside on 6 recycling bins set around the community.
A rich red, pale yellow and blue and a deep green.
A day later, that paint was used to re-paint the community welcome sign.
In the past few weeks, these colors have popped up throughout the community:
the artists gate;
the new shop;
And 3 R bar
In the smog that is the politics of community development, in the exhaustion that is motivating the apathetic, in all of the negativity that can come from the masses of this country, this paint to me if proof of good intentions. Well allocated resources passed on by word of mouth and kinship, not politics.
After the fun day, parents came up to me asking (in the demanding fashion second nature to Jamaicans) where the rest of the prizes are and give my child one now, please and thanks. I have to patiently explain that prizes were for exemplary students and winning classes and I get frustrated looks in return.
Persons who have benefitted from the paint have simply stated to me: “we need more!”
I think that this poses an interesting comparison of the effectiveness of donations and community help. A toy is coveted, protected and creates selfish “wanting”. But something like paint, which is only as useful as a person is creative, is passed along until it runs out.
This has prompted me to wonder at my community members- “If you had three pints of paint, what would you do with it?”
*Sandals EarthGuard is the environmental conscience of the Sandals Resorts*
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