Atlanta Jamaica Association repping the parishes abroad
Published:Friday | November 26, 2021 | 8:26 AMCecelia Campbell-Livingston/Gleaner Writer
The Atlanta Jamaica Association (AJA) will be batting for Jamaica’s 14 parishes under one umbrella through a project launched in March of this year called ‘Rep Yuh Parish’.
Commenting on the initiative, Evette Taylor-Reynolds, secretary of the steering committee, said the project was born out of an ideation session of the 2021 steering committee to see how they could positively impact respective communities in Jamaica that were identified as needing help. She added that was it was influenced by the thought that “abroad we live, but a yard we love”.
“It entails members teaming up and undertaking an impactful community project within the parish that they are most closely connected to by birth, heritage, or interest. The goal is to have 14 significant projects funded and under way by the beginning of 2021 and completed or showing significant progress for Jamaica’s Diamond Jubilee in August 2022,” Taylor-Reynolds said.
After months of extensive research from parish team, AJA members’ projects have been identified and work is under way to service them.
Among the projects are the August Town Primary School and Maxfield Park Children’s Home for Kingston and St Andrew; the adoption of the Halse Hall Clinic for Clarendon; the Mount Olivet Boys Home is slated for repair of its greenhouse in Manchester; the Savanna-la-Mar Infirmary, hospital, and police station are on the agenda for attention in Westmoreland; and in Hanover, the agenda is to provide school supplies for the Kingsvale community, as well as refurbish former playgrounds and keep them manicured, so the children can have somewhere to play sports.
Taylor-Reynolds said she is very encouraged by the reception to the projects outlined as she said the response has been very contagious in the Atlanta Diaspora as well as other states.
Although the project is slated to be completed by July 2022 to culminate with Jamaica’s 60th independence celebrations, Taylor-Reynolds said they plan to continue with the concept to the extent that they have expressed the desire to have it as a focal and continuous activity.
The idea has also caught on with members in other parts of the US as she noted that some have even created their own version of the Rep Yuh Parish.
“Members have rallied and have joined up and it is of much pleasure to see the excitement on folks’ faces as they state which parish they are from. We recently had an event in the park, ‘Big up Yuh Parish in the Park’, where persons highlighted their parishes. They displayed their projects, the uniqueness of their parishes and fundraised towards their goals,” she informed.
The mission of the Atlanta Jamaican Association, Inc, the oldest Jamaican organisation in metro Atlanta, is to foster goodwill and understanding among Jamaicans and all peoples in metro Atlanta through civic, economic, cultural and philanthropic programmes and activities; and to provide assistance to Jamaicans living in the area and in Jamaica.