Small Shacks?

Treasure Beach Forum: TB Runnin's: Small Shacks?
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Notamused on Monday, July 28, 2008 - 09:25 am: Edit Post

Just read a generally pleasing article in Breaking Travel News, featuring Jason Henzel and his commendable work at Jakes and in the community through the BREDS foundation.

This article is all of four years old, but please forgive me for just seeing it courtesy of a link provided through another discussion on the Forum.

Like I said at the outset, it is generally a good, positive article, but then, like many so-called First World writers, it seems Ken Kilbey just couldn't resist a bit of condescending stereotyping.

Here's the most offensive line, from my perspective:

"We continued on our journey back to the magical Jakes, the country whizzing gently past. Vibrant colours and sparkling water on the horizon, small shacks and little more."

Now, this might not fit the picture some outsiders have of an unspoilt destination, but the real news is that Treasure Beach moved out of the "Small Shacks" era many years ago!

The housing standard in this section of the South Coast is higher than manny other parts of the island. And, don't think it is attributable only to the influx of returning residents coming back from the UK or to a few expatriates who have established vacation homes here. The small farmers and fishermen have, through dint of hard labour, managed to build quite substantial, stylish houses for themselves, sometimes adding bit at a time, as money becomes available, since most do not avail themselves of mortgage financing.

I have visited quite a few other countries, including the US, UK and other sections of Europe and can assert that the housing standard for people in similar income brackets in those countries is not higher than what we have in and around Treasure Beach.

With respect, we can maintain our reputation as a laid back destination for community tourism without the "Shacks" myth being thrown in for good measure.

Treasure Beach deserves better.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By goneback on Monday, July 28, 2008 - 08:00 pm: Edit Post

One definition of the word 'shack' is: "A simple shelter used as a dwelling." Two others are "hut" and "cabin". It all depends on how one interpretes a word. I for one love to stay in simple shelters when I visit. I do not think the authors intent was to be offensive.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By KAT on Monday, July 28, 2008 - 10:48 pm: Edit Post

Sorry Notamused, but I think you are reading to much into that message. Jamaica has always had shacks and will continue to have shacks years down the road. I can't speak for anyone else but when I go back home I don't expect to see lavish houses all over the island. Seeing the shacks on the island somewhat gives me that home-island feeling and lets me know that there are still some places where you can feel that country feeling and not so modernized.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By shacklover on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 06:06 am: Edit Post

I have used the word shack myself and I do not use it in a condescending way whatsoever,I am sorry you feel that way,on my travels to Jamaica the first thing I noticed was infact these little shacks,I had no idea what they were, dotted along the roadside many with christmas lights strung around them or inside them,I arrived late at night and I was intrigued they looked so pretty,I later found out they were shops -roadside shops and then later I saw some larger versions which were houses.I think the whole simplicity of the shops (shacks)and the way of life and shopkeepers attitudes was one of the things that draws me back to jamaica. In Europe ,too much time money and effort is wasted on the tile of the floor or the lighting system etc etc,It doesn't really benefit anybody except the tax man as the more expensive the shop and its fittings, the more expensive the items in the shops!I really would not take it personally,from what I have seen Treasure beach does have houses, quite large ones and not what I would consider a shack ,infact most are a lot bigger than what we have and we usually only have 1 bathroom whereas a lot in Jamaica have ensuites with 2 or 3 bathrooms!!very posh!but also there are some people who still live in what are refferred to as shacks,that is the only word I know for them so please excuse me if I am ignorant and you call them something else,please educate me and tell me the correct name if I have it wrong.But whether you live in a shack or a big mansion does it really matter as long as you are happy and proud for whatever you do have?
and I heard a saying once and it was:

"IF YOU ARE GOING TO LOOK DOWN ON SOMEBODY YOU BEST BE THE PERSON HELPING THEM UP"

I like that saying,and I would not read too much into the man saying the word shack I dont find it derogatory I just feel he was trying to explain something.
Everywhere has poor and rich people living in different accomodations..Jamaica may have shacks-villas-mansions
uk may have bedsits-penthouse suites from council houses to detached country houses
we all have different accomodations and I for one love the little shacks and the people that are in them and they are one of the reasons i head back every year and would not say no to living in one myself.THANKS for listening!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Monday, July 28, 2008 - 08:56 pm: Edit Post

Notamused, I intend to build my small, neat, indigenous, ingenious shack ASAP.

Thatched roof, hardwood uprights, clay floor and cotton hammocks. Clean, neat, cool.

Tranced out iguanas everywhere and yellow snakes slithering on the beams.

Hurricane...No Problem....historical fact.

Why would I want something pretending to be a Swiss Chateau in the midst of a seaside dryland paradise?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By CHILLING on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 09:08 am: Edit Post

turey let me know the cost of one of these shacks..
I want one!


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ohliz on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 02:29 pm: Edit Post

I suspect the writer referred to shops as well...


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By I love my shack on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 02:47 pm: Edit Post

Turey has the right idea.....Treasure Beach could do well with more like him.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By jeannie_brim on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 01:10 pm: Edit Post

Turey,
I will build mine right next to yours as long as you keep all of the yellow slithering snakes at your home. :-) eeewww.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Eric on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 10:12 am: Edit Post

As I read the line quoted, it's talking about seeing shacks along the way to Jakes. Doesn't say where they started, so maybe its from the airport and they're talking about all the parishes they travel though. Or from 9 Mile. Or ???

"We continued on our journey back to the magical Jakes, the country whizzing gently past. Vibrant colours and sparkling water on the horizon, small shacks and little more."


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 10:48 am: Edit Post

Correction: Swiss Chalet. French Chateau.

I'd build these in a place like Malvern.

They would not be pretend.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Tuesday, July 29, 2008 - 10:44 am: Edit Post

Lets see CHILLING...a thatch person and pressed thatch.

Uprights, beams and laths of appropriate strong non rot woods.

We cheat by using nylon cord as ties instead of traditional vines.

Clay for flooring unless sand preferred.

Fibre to weave the sides.

The form is called a canaye and was used in TB from about 500-1500 AD.

Check out 1991 Reconstructing a canaye: An exercise in experimental archaeology. Journal of the Bahamas Historical Society 13:24-30 by Anthony Aarons.

The weaving must be tight, ties firm and wood of best quality.

In old times the building was communal; now, figure wages per day per person for about 4 days.

We can even add pseudo corinthian columns for those insisting on an upscale image :-)

Cost, peanuts. Shack, priceless.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By TB2 on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 09:34 am: Edit Post

Turey, I can't stop loving you. For as long as I have lived abroad, when I return to TB to retire, the house that I build will be a simple one. No fanfare, and no thatch, please, I am afraid of lizards, but others will talk about me for months and years as a simple and poor person.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By ... on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 07:11 am: Edit Post

Eric, the writer was speaking of a journey back to Treasure Beach from Black River, not from the airport through other parishes.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 10:40 am: Edit Post

Thanks TB2.

Insects and lizards do fall from a thatch ceiling sometimes. No problem mon! the lizards eat the insects.

The most pitiful poverty is the unwise/unethical use of assets. There are many poor millionaires and many rich people lacking cash flow.

Everything is simple, complex is just many simples in a knot.

Best, turey the complex.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mrs. R on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 09:22 am: Edit Post

By TB2 on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - 09:34 am:
Turey, I can't stop loving you. For as long as I have lived abroad, when I return to TB to retire, the house that I build will be a simple one. No fanfare, and no thatch, please, I am afraid of lizards, but others will talk about me for months and years as a simple and poor person.

I am US born (non Jamaican parents). I am married to a Jamaican. We have a small piece of land. When we can finally find the $$ to build it will be a fairly simple house with a concrete roof. But, I do want a washing machine.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By sheryl on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 04:43 am: Edit Post

thought this snippet of information may interest somebody
http://www.jamaicans.com/helpjamaica/nonprofitprofiles/habitatforhumanityjamaica .shtml


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mrs. R on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 09:24 am: Edit Post

He did not pass any big beautiful homes?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Thursday, July 31, 2008 - 01:26 pm: Edit Post

Mrs R, as a married lady you would wear a nagua in born-again-Taino-land. The unmarrieds wore only polished agate etc necklaces and maybe guanin (a natural alloy of gold, silver, copper etc) earpugs/noserings. The meeting of the Portland Bligh Taino Cacique with his family and entourage with X Columbus & Co is a must read for old Jamaica imagery.

This strip of cotton would be easily washed in the reestablished Pedro Plains River which empties in Backseaside.

However as I do not plan to stretch the concept that far, I'd find you a long lasting, simple unit (those switches and dials grrr), biodegradable washing soap (use it here), electricity for power from photovoltaic cells/fuel cells and hot water from solar panels.

Your washwater, or grey water, could be useable directly in the gardens or passed through physical and biological filters/cleansers for reuse in washing etc.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By amused on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 09:17 am: Edit Post

here is another reference to shacks in treasure beach
http://jamaicatraveldiscount.info/treasure_beach.htm


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Friday, August 01, 2008 - 12:25 pm: Edit Post

Jeannie, yellow snakes are cool, it's the male iguanas that get brindle in mating season.

You ladies and your nanny-suggested? herpetophobias....can't live with y'all, can't live without y'all.

I hope you will accept the presence of hawks and sometimes eagles, so I've heard, about 5 years after the forests and fruit walks are planted and the birds come to feed and nest and they are in turn preyed on. No bird shooting!!! No bway with slingshat...aoooh!!!

I also hope that at that time the area will still be welcoming to 'The Invasion Of The Chlorophyl Beings' with it's cooling and rain inducing effects.


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mrs. R on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 08:37 am: Edit Post

However as I do not plan to stretch the concept that far, I'd find you a long lasting, simple unit (those switches and dials grrr), biodegradable washing soap (use it here), electricity for power from photovoltaic cells/fuel cells and hot water from solar panels.

Your washwater, or grey water, could be useable directly in the gardens or passed through physical and biological filters/cleansers for reuse in washing etc.

Turey, If I could afford it I would love to put in solar panels. I did not know that wash water could be filtered and used for the gardens. (I figured that we would catch rain water in barrels) Would it be expensive to set that up?


Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By turey on Saturday, August 02, 2008 - 10:10 am: Edit Post

I'd certainly catch rainwater Mrs R, I would create a storage tank under the dwelling.

If push came to shove, seawater can be distilled with a simple apparatus needing good wood framing, metal sheeting and tempered glass. I plan to cook using solar ovens built in a similar way, slow but sure.

All drinking, cooking and bathing water would be filtered and cleansed, stored water should be used with caution.

For me it is more expensive to have the stress of monthly electricity and water bills and to be at the mercy of beaurocratic tyrants (no, not all a unnu!). The independence is the greatest reward.

The $ costs of photovoltaics is falling and the technology maturing.

I would encourage everyone to check out these things, it seems they may no longer a luxury for the rich but may become more important as technology for all.