Left: Orville Brown, resident of Content district, shows a piglet from his farm while Dexton Evans looks on. Right: Althea Wellington and two children on their way to catch water at Content square. - photos by Sonia Mitchell

Residents in a rustic St Catherine district are not living up to their name. Citizens in Content, a rugged hamlet in Bog Walk, are anything but satisfied.

They said they have endured more than 80 years without access to electricity and water, literally depending on sun and rain for survival.

Vassell Edwards, an 83-year-old resident of the district, believes the community has been slighted by successive political administrations. Nearby communities such as Morrison Hall, Omeally and Lucky Valley all enjoy electricity and piped water.

Catch rainwater

Edwards said residents were forced to place tanks or drums in their yards to catch rainwater. Sometimes they travel several miles to get water at the nearby Pelo River to wash clothes or for household purposes.

Catchment drums on a housetop.

"God help us all in Content when the rain don't fall, as we have to make several trips to carry water on our heads, which makes us become tired," Edwards lamented.

Life in Content is as low-tech as it gets. Residents still cut down trees for fire wood, or purchase coal, to heat stoves and irons. While other Jamaicans fight over the remote to flip through cable television, discontented residents buy batteries to power radios and mini-TVs. Kerosene lamps are still a mainstay in homes there.

Edwards said deplorable road conditions had driven many residents away from Content, which is estimated to have a population of 500.

Four taxis

"There are only four taxis that run in the district and it costs $100 for adults to come from Bog Walk to the district, and those children who travel to school in Linstead, it costs them $260 per day," he said.

North East St Catherine Member of Parliament Gregory Mair, in whose constituency Content falls, has come under fierce criticism. But Mair, who defeated People's National Party (PNP) candidate Phyllis Mitchell in the 2007 general election, said he inherited a destroyed constituency.

Mair said the community had been registered and approved under the Rural Electrification Programme (REP) to receive electricity by June. He said the tender process would soon be under way.

Mair said he would be looking to secure funding through the European Union to fix roads in Content leading from Morrison Hall and Harkers Hall districts.

He said he did not know if the district would be able to gain service from the National Water Commission.

In the meantime, Keith Garvey, general manager at the Rural Electrification Programme, said 92 per cent of Jamaica had access to electricity. The REP said it had projects planned for 46 locations, in the parishes of Portland, St Mary, St Ann, St Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester, St Elizabeth and St James.

Garvey said the projects were scheduled to be completed within four to six weeks at a cost $100 million. He could not confirm if Content would benefit from the current project drive.

sonia.mitchell@gleanerjm.com

Corner Road, which leads to Omeally, Lucky Valley and Content districts, has been eroded by heavy rain over the last nine years. - Photos by Sonia Mitchell

Monday evening cooking in Content district using wood fire.