GoodHeart | Driving hope home

Going home should be easy, a familiar drive along a road you know by memory, leading back to the place that shaped you. But for Dr Kadijah Robinson, whose trips to and from Newmarket, St Elizabeth have become a duty, the road home is a reminder of what she must do. Home calls her to help and rebuild.

“I have spent most of my life in Newmarket,” Dr Robinson said, adding, “My siblings and I were raised there, and so were my parents. It is the community that groomed generations of my family, so it means everything to me.”

The silence after the storm brought anxiety and fear. The few images she saw online from nearby towns confirmed her worst fears. By the time communication began trickling back, one thing was certain, she had to go home.

The drive west, one she usually navigated by instinct, felt unfamiliar. Landmarks were gone, and hillsides lay stripped bare.

“Usually, when you leave Kingston and head west, you can almost tell where you are by the smell of the air and the spread of the greenery,” she recalled. “My parish was unrecognisable. There were no trees. Houses on hills I’ve never seen before, well, what was left of them. For miles and miles, there was just rubble.”

With support from friends, colleagues and strangers who heard what she was trying to do, she began collecting supplies: food, hygiene essentials, cleaning items, anything she could fit into her car. Trip after trip, she returned to St Elizabeth, delivering what she could to Carr district, Newmarket and the surrounding areas.

Still, she said, the need remains overwhelming.“The last time I delivered supplies, it was just a temporary fix,” Dr Robinson explained. “People are trying to rebuild their homes from the ground up. Not having to think about their next meal, or where they’ll get hygienic supplies, that’s one small relief from a burden that is otherwise enormous.”

And in a moment when families must focus on entirely reconstructing their lives, that small relief becomes a lifeline. It frees them to put their energy where it matters most, rebuilding what the storm tore away.

When donations started to slow, Dr Robinson worried she might not be able to keep up the support. That was when Wisynco’s Legend Jamaican Lager provided food packages and essential items for women, giving her essential supplies to reach the families who needed them most.

The food packages included non-perishable staples like rice, tinned goods, flour, and oil. The dignity items contained soaps, sanitary pads, toothpaste, tissues, and other essentials that women often struggle to afford, and that become even harder to access during disaster recovery.

“Sanitary products are a major monthly expense for women, even before the storm,” she said. “In these conditions, they’re as essential as anything else. The women were grateful, truly grateful.”

Legend’s support arrived at the right moment. “It means so much to me. Especially now, when donations have slowed, the benevolence of Legend has been a beacon in a very dark time. I’m forever grateful to the brand for seeing the people of Carr district, Newmarket, and being moved to help. I’ve been encouraged to keep faith alive because of them.”

Even now, she continues her back-and-forth journeys home. But, the list of needs is long: building supplies, skilled labour, temporary housing, food, and clean water. “All of western Jamaica is on my mind,” she said. “All of western Jamaica needs help.”

goodheart@gleanerjm.com