I felt such an overwhelming sense of relief to see the article by Daraine Luton in The Sunday Gleaner about the effects of bauxite mining on surrounding communities.

In the hills of St Ann where the land was lush and the farmers made a living from farming corn, peas, yams, potatoes, citrus and allowed their cattle and goats to graze, there are now only vast, gaping red caverns bearing evidence of the activities of bauxite mining. I spent my childhood helping my parents to farm these lands which financed the way for me and my five siblings through high school.

Under the People's National Party, some of these lands were made available for share cropping and although these were not ideal conditions, they still allowed the local people to be self-sufficient. Now our hearts bleed to see the abandonment and the indignity that have come upon these people who no longer have the means for self-sufficiency.

I am, etc.,

ANDREA GRANT

andreagrantesq@verizon.net