#BTColumn – Finally, a clear path

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados Today Inc.

As a young reporter at the Nation back in the 1980s, I wrote of the plight of residents of Fruitful Hill who pleaded for their road to be rebuilt.

As a young man courting in Parks Road, few things matched a walk into areas like Fruitful Hill on a moonlit night as the soft light mingled with the lush vegetation…

As Editor of Barbados TODAY, I returned to Fruitful Hill to highlight the lack of change. Since moving to St Andrew as a resident, I was again struck by the lack of progress.

Then, about two months ago, I was overwhelmed when I discovered that MTW had finally completed the road into lower Fruitful Hill from the Cane Garden side. But it was bittersweet because Mother Nature continues to choke a large part of the district because the section of the road cut off by a landslide long before I had any connection with St Joseph remains untouched.

Residents raised it, even as they hoped that help would come soon. I, in turn, raised it with MP Dale Marshall, who said he had received a commitment from MTW that once they are finished with repair of the road at Dark Hole, the crew would turn their attention to Fruitful Hill.

Meanwhile, the MP, with the consent of the Prime Minister, asked that I coordinate with the Soil Conservation Department, the clearing of the original pathway so that, until MTW returns to the area, the forest that grew up between Fruitful Hill, St Joseph and Fruitful Hill, St Andrew would no longer divide neighbours.

Over the weekend, Soil Conservation did just that. I literally saw a big man brought to tears as he declared that he had resigned himself to never again seeing a road through the area in his lifetime.

I watched him walk through the mud in childlike glee as the bulldozers pushed through. And with every metre cleared, he pointed out the locations and names of families that had packed up and left after the landslide of 1966 – the same year Barbados became independent. He was overwhelmed by emotion as he pointed to the spot where he grew up, even highlighting the concrete from the foundation of what used to be his home.

He romanticised about why it was not just Fruitful Hill in name, even temporarily walking away from the work site and returning minutes with the most tempting mango I have seen in years.

But he declared: “I want you to give this to the Prime Minister and tell her thanks. We don’t have a road yet, but I can now see from one side of the village to the next. I can’t remember the last time that was possible.”

I don’t live in Fruitful Hill, but I have a pretty good idea of how those who have lived there all their lives feel right now.

Roy Morris