Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
Left: Cockpit Country in Trelawny as seen from Alps. Right: Delroy 'Ras D' Scott.

Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Delroy 'RAS D' Scott is a rustic naturalist who depends on Trelawny's Cockpit Country for survival. He is a farmer, self-proclaimed medicine man and a craftsman. He cuts twigs which he uses to weave baskets and to make wicker chairs and tables.

The numerous species of plants required for use in his herbal medicine and roots drink are found in the Cockpit hills, which is home to at least 101 indigenous plants.

But, if planned bauxite mining reaches the Alps community in the Cockpit Country, Ras D, like 200 and odd other residents of this yam-farming district, will have to bid good bye to life the way they know it.

Forced relocation

Albeit, a possible 25 years away, the bauxite mining, which will take place on the periphery of the Cockpit country will force persons to relocate to facilitate the extraction of the mineral.

Farms, houses and tombs of those who have departed will all have to be left behind. Persons will just have to start a new life in a new environment.

And that is not all. Alps, which is earmarked as an eco-tourism destination will be etched in the annals of history as a place that was.

The Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency currently conducts tours of the Cockpit Country. One feature of the tour is to view the Alps and its environs from the rugged terrain made up vastly of sharp limestone rocks.

If Alps becomes a bauxite pit, the scenery will be lost forever.

No wonder there is great resentment on the part of the residents, many of whom have vowed not to sell out to the bauxite company, if and when that time comes.

Alps is a farming community which is located about seven miles outside of the closest town, Albert Town.

"The whole place is valuable. Mi would want dem do something fi preserve di value ... people a go want money but money alone a nuh everything," Ras D says.

Natural way of life

He adds that bauxite is essential to the Jamaican economy, but says the medicine found in the plants is very valuable and mining will destroy these plants.

Ras D, and his allies, Prophet Humble and Juicey, along with his dog Tiger, took The Sunday Gleaner team to a section of the Cockpit Country to view flora and fauna.

They named almost every plant and told us about their uses in producing herbal medicine. They even knew when and how to catch wild parrots which sang overhead almost the entire day.

"Mi caan give up dis an go weh mi might caan raise mi goat dem ... or go where pure thief deh," Prophet Humble, a 66-year-old Alps native said.

Farming in this section of the Cockpit is the only skill for many and has become a way of life.

A 23-year-old farmer, rests on his hoe and machete along the roadway, having just returned from his yam farm in the hills. While not being a landowner himself, the youngster says the bauxite company will have to come good to cause him to move.

"Dis a weh mi know, farming," he exclaimed as he displayed red dirt residue which had stained his hands and under his fingernails. "Mi want fi know how mi a go live if mi lef yah suh."

If money right ...

Interestingly, one young man who had overheard the conversation, thought The Sunday Gleaner team was a representative of the bauxite company.

"Pay mi fi mine now an gwaan," he exclaims.

But after another person told him that his statement may be published in The Sunday Gleaner, he erred on the side of caution and tempered his view to reflect the general mood picked up in the community.

If the money is right and they can maintain their livelihood, it seems Alps residents will sell out in order to accommodate bauxite mining. Not even Ras D has an absolute position.

"Mi wi deh ya a seh mi nah sell out an mi nah move, but what if everybody round mi decide fi sell out?"