Housemaker in Little London Westmoreland

It is Little London in Westmoreland, but call it the land of opportunity, if you may. Board houses are in demand, mostly by tourists seeking accommodation for their local partners.

"White people buy a lot of my houses for their lovers, at least half of my yearly supply," Stanley Davidson, the sole board-house supplier in Little London, tells The Sunday Gleaner.

Little London lies between Westmoreland's busy capital of Savanna-la-Mar and the tourist haven of Negril. Any stranger in this part of Jamaica would find it difficult to ignore the litter of board houses and motorcycles which are features of the parish.

We are told that the abundance of board houses in the parish is due mainly to the fact that land ownership is not very high. As a result, many persons putting up houses are forced to either lease or rent lots. One land owner says he would treat anybody who offers to buy a piece of his land with disdain.

land fi mi pickney dem

"My land is fi mi pickney dem. Westmoreland land expensive and mi own piece and yuh want mi sell ... yuh mad, man. Mi wi hate yuh," the man says.

But the drive to have a roof over one's head in this part of the country is not tempered by the lack of land, The Sunday Gleaner finds. Residents work hard in the fields or in resort properties.

Here, it is hard to ignore the interaction between dreadlocked local men and foreign women. Shorty, a radiator repairman calls them 'rent-a-dreads' many of whom get houses, cash and motorcycles for sexual favours rendered.

Davidson, known to many as 'Englishman', builds houses, which he says are sold all over the country. For $320,000 one can purchase a two-bedroom house, which may be transported from the roadside workshop on the back of any truck. A one-bedroom house costs $260,000.

Davidson says that his houses are in high demand, especially from young persons who are moving out of their parents' house.

Another set of young persons, it is understood, actively market themselves to foreigners with the aim of making money to buy a house, a vehicle and the possibility of migration.

One young man tells The Sunday Gleaner that it is the aim of many persons of his age to get friendly with tourists for personal reasons, but notes that it does not always work out.

"Nuff a dem no realise dat when yuh married to a foreigner yuh might just a trap yuself," he says.

"Wah (what) most man do is hook up wid dem and get fi go a foreign. Nuff a dem married but at dat point, dem realise seh if yu deh a foreign and nuh straight, di woman dem wi use yu," the man adds.

pulling out all the stops

But, a fair number of persons along the Negril belt are pulling out all the stops to get noticed by tourists wishing to hook up with locals.

"Di locks very important and yuh affi (have to) smell like rammy," Shortie says. Perhaps it is out of envy, but The Sunday Gleaner team's observation of life in this tourist belt confirmed the statement. Dreadlocked men of all sizes and ages willingly escort visitors around town, many of them allowing very little daylight between themselves and the tourists, while all this time having their eyes fixed on various prizes.

- D.L.