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Re:Nassau needs new Jumbey Village - 2006/09/25 15:10
guestfromrochester wrote:
Pardon my ignorance...but what is a Jumbey Village?
READ THE ARTICLE BELOW BY OSWALD BROWN
A remarkable idea
OSWALD BROWN
Writes...
It was a concept that could have had a profound and far-reaching impact on many aspects of Bahamian life and culture if those in the seats of power at the time had the good sense to recognise its full potential. But Jumbey Village, a remarkable project conceived by Edmund Moxey, was allowed to wither and die like a ripe tomato left unattended on a vine in the scorching sun.
Why this happened is still a mystery, considering that Jumbey Village politically was one of those projects that the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government could have benefitted from tremendously for many, many years, and quite possibly it could have been one of its most important accomplishments. But in the end it was probably politics that snuffed out the life of Jumbey Village during its in fancy.
Initially, Mr. Moxey, who was then the PLP's representative for Coconut Grove, was merely seeking avenues to generate economic activity in his constituency when he organized a committee in 1969 to plan for and stage a Jumbey Festival in the summer. It was not your usual festival, but rather a culturally oriented event that was developed around what was termed a Big Yard setting.
They constructed, as authentically as possible, a Big Yard, which anyone who grew up on one of the Out Islands would have been very familiar with. There was a Granny House, which on some Out Islands was called the Big House, and a separate kitchen with areas for storing field products. The various booths on the periphery of the Big Yard featured Bahamian products, arts and craft and sundry indigenous items for sale. Of course, the fact that Mr. Moxey himself is a musician, made it mandatory that music – specifically Bahamian music – was an important aspect of the festival.
The success of that first Jumbey Festival, which was held in July and August, encouraged the committee to repeat it the following year. This meant that they had to go through the process of rebuilding the Big Yard again. Given the expenses involved, Mr. Moxey concluded that it wouldn't be a bad idea to establish a permanent Big Yard. But it was inconceivable that the summer festival itself was something that could sustain the public's interest throughout the year, so he decided to expand on the idea and establish Jumbey Village.
The idea was that the village would include —among other things — a museum and art gallery, a theatre to showcase various Bahamian performing groups, a movie room and a research centre, in addition to the booths and stalls selling indigenous Bahamian foods and products.
The site chosen for Jumbey Village was where the current National Insurance Building is located on Baillou Hill Road, which was situated in Mr. Moxey's Coconut Grove constituency. It is this fact that made Jumbey Village a potential vehicle to pull Coconut Grove, and indeed the entire Over-the-Hill area of New Providence, into the mainstream of the tourist market.
It is impossible now to speculate on what it would have meant economically for Over-the-Hill if Jumbey Village had developed the way Mr. Moxey envisaged it as attracting droves of tourists on a daily basis. At the very least, small businesses in the surrounding communities would have flourished as a result of the residual benefits. But looking at the broader picture, the entire area gradually may have been developed as businesses expanded to keep up with the demand of the increased tourist trade and residents spruced up their homes and improved their surroundings.
What's more, a successful Jumbey Village could have established an environment Over-The-Hill that would not have provided fertile grounds for the proliferation of violence that has turned that area of New Providence into an urban war zone. For it is conceivable that a better environment in an economically sound community would have resulted in fewer angry young men becoming gang members with no hope for a decent future and, consequently, embracing violence as the best means of "making a living."
But Jumbey Village fell victim to the budget crunch, or so it seemed, and ironically its death warrant was signed in 1973 shortly after The Bahamas took its place in the league of nations as an independent country. One would have thought that a newly independent nation would have embraced such a worthwhile project that sought to promote and develop Bahamian culture and indigenous Bahamian music, but this was not to be, despite the fact that a massive arts and craft show at Jumbey Village was one of the featured events of the independence celebrations.
At the time, Mr. Moxey was parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Education and Culture, and the then Minister, Mr. Livingston Coakley, gave him the go-ahead to establish a Community Development Section of the Ministry, which would have responsibility for government-sponsored social and cultural programmes.
Mr. Moxey recalled during an interview several years ago that a budget was developed and agreed to by the Cabinet in November of 1973, but he only discovered during a subsequent meeting of PLP parliamentary members that the entire funding for Jumbey Village was cut from the Community Development section's budget.
His dreams crushed, Mr. Moxey decided to demonstrate against this action by staging one-man protest on the floor of the House of Assembly on December 12, 1973, wearing placards on his chest and back, one of which said" "Mr. Prime Minister, how much do you care? Community Youth and Jumbey Village thrown out of budget. Help save the people and the country."
Obviously, he had made up his mind that he had a limited future in the PLP. To be sure, questioning a decision made by the Cabinet headed by then Prime Minister Lynden Pindling made this almost a certainty. That demonstration in defence of his cherished programme cost him his job, for he was fired as parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Education and Culture the next day.
Of course, he ended up resigning from the PLP, and in 1977 he ran as candidate of the now defunct Bahamas Democratic Party, but failed to maintain his seat in the House.
Meanwhile, in the years that followed, Jumbey Village languished there, deteriorating with the passing of time, until its remnants were demolished in 1987 to make room for the National Insurance Building.
This idea is still a good vehicle to transform the economy of Over-The-Hill, and it is one that a visionary and progressive Minister of Tourism like Obie Wilch-combe should seriously look at reviving, if the appropriate land Over-The-Hill can be found.
Oswald T. Brown is editor and general manager of The Freeport News. Comments on this column can be sent to androsboy@hotmail.com
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© 2006 The Freeport News
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