Life in Denham Town, which has been under a Zone of Special Operation (ZOSO) for nearly four years this October, isn’t easy for many inner-city youths, however, in the eyes of German-Jamaican Marvin Campbell, it is a special place brimming with limitless potential and talent. 

Aiming to uplift the community and challenge stereotypes, the Making An Impact All-Together (MAIA) Foundation installed Jamaica’s first eco-village in Denham Town, Kingston on Monday (September 20). 

Campbell, the MAIA Foundation’s CEO, speaking exclusively with Our Today, said the initiative covers a 200-foot x 90-foot area adjacent to the Golden Heights housing scheme along Hannah Street and forms part of the organisation’s core mission to promote self-sufficiency amid a changing climate. 

The Denham Town eco-village (or urban garden) boasts a variety of 12 fruit trees, a ‘trench’ of plantain and banana, as well as close to 400 assorted vegetable seedlings, which were planted and gifted to the community.

Additionally, the eco-village was handed over to the community complete with an apt foundation of nutrient-rich, compost soil to further boost the growth process.

His motivation behind the urban garden was simple: to sow the seed of empowerment through children and young adults in the area.

“While we usually plant out for [children’s] homes, shelters and schools, I always had this dream to install the first eco-village within a community that is not related to or taken care of by any Governmental institution,” he explained.

“When you look at the vulnerable areas—communities that have a lot of stress and pressures—their youth always struggle and suffer. So, I wanted to provide an option beyond what they may be used to; being a ‘badman’ or gangster,” Campbell added.

“We looked at a few ZOSOs, including Denham Town and I found a great spot in Golden Heights. We went back a few times to familiarise ourselves with the community, get the buy-in and so on. We then cleared the area [for the eco-village] and it was really beautiful to see that this was exactly the target group we’ve always aimed for,” the MAIA founder told Our Today.

Campbell was very pleased with the overall effort and thanked Dr Saphire Longmore, Rachael McDonald, Anaitee Mills and Kandre Leveridge, as well as dozens of children and adults, who played their part in making the eco-village a reality. 

“At around 8:30 am, up to 50 children were out with us and I had wonderful assistance; when I was leaving they ran to the car and said ‘So, when are you coming back?’, and it was heartwarming to see how enthusiastic these children are,” he beamed.

“And that shows us Jamaican children aren’t ‘bad’, they are just taught and [continue to] see bad things, you know? It was quite amazing to see how high the drive was. With this eco-village, they really have a chance,” Campbell noted further.

Campbell told Our Today that the MAIA Foundation will be returning to the eco-village to finish up the project, including the installation of a fence as well as additional pipes and hoses for irrigation.

The German-Jamaican is already fired up to invest in more eco-villages across the island, especially in areas dominated by ZOSOs, where many children are neglected due to the high-stress circumstances some families fall into. 

“The children need another option, and particularly in the vulnerable areas, the demand is high. We have been planting out at children’s homes recently and the overwhelming thing which I hoped and prayed for happened yesterday…These children have nothing doing; nobody cares for them properly,” he said.

“Nobody pays attention to them and nobody allows them to be their own, strong selves and become the persons they want to be. They get quarrelled with a lot and in this case, you have someone coming and saying ‘Here is a spade, this is what you do with it and I’ll show you’—they pick it up in a heartbeat! I’m extremely happy and motivated to have more and larger eco-villages, if I could, for all the ZOSOs,” Campbell added.

For more on the MAIA Foundation, click here to see related articles.