Miss Lillian, aunt of Usain Bolt, in her shop in Sherwood Content, Trelawny. - Kyle Macpherson/Freelance Photographer

You can hardly get a good piece of yam in Sherwood Content, Trelawny, these days, what with the unprecedented increase in demand and all. Yam farmers are scrambling to keep up with all the requests, from both inside the community and out. The hometown of the world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, has been invaded by people from all over the country, who want some of the good old ground provisions made famous for powering the athlete.

"Mi nuh hab hand fi sell, sah! Ebbyting sell off!" said William Green, an ageing farmer from the community. "Ef di young bwoy did was tell mi, mi woulda did prepare some more," said he.

There is an air of jubilation in the community and residents are the most excited they've been since Brother Kinsley gave out free pencil cases to children going back to school in 1999. Now, the on-track exploits of Bolt are on the lips of everyone. And everyone you meet claims to be a relative. "Yes, man, him is mi fambily! Mi and Bolt is fambily!" said Sheron, who I met sitting on a wooden bench at the entrance to the community. I asked her what the relationship was.

All family

"Well ... ahmm. Well, di whole a wi is fambily, for di whole a wi coming from the same place," she said, sheepishly. Another woman standing nearby with curlers in her hair said she knew Bolt since she was a little girl. "One time, him push mi down and cut up mi knee when wi did a race," she said, laughing at the memory. The first woman looked her over, curiously. "Lie! Ah Miss Angel big son did do dat! Yuh figet seh mi did deh deh?" she said. The other woman looked at her shoes. "Oh yes, is true," she said.

Sherwood Content is well hidden in the hills of Trelawny, and to get there, you'll need to stop along the way to get directions. This, in itself, poses more than a few problems. A fair-skinned fellow holding an umbrella was the first person I stopped to ask. "Just galang dung di road and yuh will see a man wid one grey hat tan up. Just teck di turn deh so. Yuh caan lost!" said he, confidently.

Wrong way

A few miles down, a short chap riding a bicycle told me I was going the wrong way and should turn around and go back where I was coming from. Later, a woman told me to look for a tyre in the road, then take the left and go straight. "When yuh do dat, just ask anybody weh Bolt house deh and dem will tell yuh," she said.

Soon enough, I was there. A few people were standing on the roadside chatting, while children were playing with marbles in the dirt. There were a number of old, wooden buildings around and a whole lot of open space. At a shop painted red and yellow, I met Miss Lillian, aunt of Usain Bolt. She was grinning from ear to ear. "Him meck di whole a wi proud, man. Him really meck eveybody in di community feel good. When di race run, mi feel mi heart jump!" she said. Miss Lillian told me that Sherwood Content is a small community and that the people who live there all know one another. "Is like one family. Everybody happy di same way," she said.

A woman walked up to the shop and looked in through the window. "Him meck di whole community happy. Sherwood Content gawn a foreign!" she said and then just continued on her way.

Worried

Miss Lillian said she always knew her nephew would grow up to do great things, but admitted that there was a time when family members were worried about him.

"Him daddy did think one time seh Usain did mad inna him head. Yes man! When Usain was about nine, him used to have too much energy. Him used to just a boom-flick and kin-puppa-lick all over did house," Miss Lillian recounted.

"Him daddy seh something must wrong wid him. Him seh him must have quick silver inna him head or something, so him carry Usain go a doctor. Anyhow, di doctor tell him daddy seh nothing nuh wrong wid di bwoy. After Usain start do di running, him settle down," Miss Lillian said, smiling.

The soft-spoken woman has become one of the newest celebrities in the community and indeed the whole of Trelawny.

"Every day, mi come fi open di shop, mi see people stand up here waiting on me. Dem come from all 'bout seh dem just want to meet mi. Is a nice feeling though because, before now, nobody did even know seh somewhere name Sherwood Content," she said.

robert.lalah@gleanerjm.com