BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - FOR many years, up until recently, while walking the road of Lower Market Street, one would encounter an unpleasant sight as well as an unpleasant smell.
The sight of old abandoned buildings and empty lots filled with growing trees, garbage, insects and rodents, and the smell of urine and faeces emanating from the inside of these structures was all that filled the air.
This sight and smell is what business owners and residents in the area had put up with, until lately when they all came together and decided that they had had enough and something had to be done.
In July this year (2011), these individuals came together and formed the Environmental Beautification Group (EBG), and they are working steadfastly to clean, beautify, and bring together the Mc Knight community.
In a few meetings, the entrepreneurs and residents of the area voiced their concerns and passed on ideas on how they would go about dealing with the issues at hand – the much needed cleanup of the abandoned buildings on their street.
It was then that they decided that one specific building was of more concern than the others and should be made a priority. They further came up with a brilliant idea knowing that this building has a very rich historic background.
The group decided to take the more than 100 year old Mutual Improvement Society (MIS) building, and resurrect it as a community centre for the people of Mc Knight.
In its glory days, the building was used as an intellectual hub by the Society - to hold meetings to discuss and debate topics of local and international interest. Apart from the meetings, the building was used as the original practice area for the Okolo Tegremantine dance and drumming group
It was also used to host weddings and such meaningful functions. It was said that a church was situated on the upstairs floor of the building.Marcus Garvey is said to have given a speech in the early 1900s in that same building.
Chairperson of EBG, Sandra Weekes, explained that the building, which is situated directly across from her Island Girl store, gathers insects and rodents, and that persons use the area as for garbage disposal, which has become a real bother to her and the other business owners and residents.
She said that apart from that, and the concern that gave rise to the idea of the community centre was the fact that the many children in the area had nowhere to play, or sit in a group and do their homework, or even for persons to have tutoring classes.
She said that with the building being used as a community centre, it will provide space to make all these and much more possible, such as after school programmes for youths, dance and art classes, domino-playing for male residents , or community functions to bring the people together.
Jacqueline Ryan, Vice Chairperson of EBG and owner of Jacqueline’s Beauty Salon on Lower Market Street explained that upon seeing the need for space for the children to come together and play and help each other with their homework, she decided to turn the store room of her Salon into a play area for some of the children in the area.
She further explained that as the children grow older, the space provided is no longer big enough for them.
She went on to say that there are several teachers who live on that same street who are trying their best to work with the children in terms of tutoring and help with homework, but lack of space is the downfall of that and so the idea of the community centre is not only a great one but a much needed one.
The cleanup of the MIS building started in August, and the EBG is hoping to complete this process this coming Saturday.
The group has partnered with the Ministry of Health, and Her Majesty’s Prison, which has persons sent out every Saturday to help with the cleaning.
Weekes said that some of the items that were removed from the building while cleaning were old stoves and beds that persons threw out, dead rodents and even human faeces.
Persons interested in helping are welcome to join in on the cleanup this Saturday (Oct. 1), and sponsors, donations, or assistance of any kind are also welcome to lend a helping hand in the reconstruction of the building.
Persons willing to assist may contact Vice Chairperson, Jacqueline Ryan at 465 1442, or Chairperson, Sandra Weekes at 764 2820.
