THIS year marks the 60th anniversary of Duhaney Park, one of the earliest housing projects built in the 1960s to address the growing demand for affordable housing in the Corporate Area.

Built by the Matalon family, Duhaney Park was initially a project comprising 2,400 units classified as ‘turnkey’ houses, suggesting their readiness for occupancy.

But what was initially a mass housing project has, over the decades, morphed into what residents now consider to be a productive, peaceful and neighbourly community.

Yvonne Jacobs is one of few residents who have witnessed the community’s transformation from open lots to homes with fences, as well as the development of essential services such as schools, a community centre, a health centre, a police station, and a shopping plaza.

“When I came to this particular house, the area, it never have much people and for me to get to work, I had to walk all the way to Duhaney Drive where the plaza is to get a bus to work, but it never fully develop. You could walk through every yard until everybody start put up their fence,” the 79-year-old woman recalled.

“When my first daughter was born a year later, the police station and health centre were in Maverley, so I had to go there to take the baby to get her vaccine and such,” she continued.

Jacobs has lived in Duhaney Park since 1965 when she first moved to the community with her parents, younger brother and two other relatives.

“My family and I lived in Trench Town, but it was getting bad. Gun ah fire and all of that was going on in Trench Town. The houses in Duhaney Park were reasonable, so my parents moved here because it was better and more progressive,” Jacobs told the Jamaica Observer.

Like her, many of her then neighbours — who were mostly police officers, firefighters and other civil servants — moved to the community for affordable housing and security.

However, the community’s promise of safety was tested due to political warfare in the 1980s. The senior recalls that period as one of heightened tension and danger.

“[The year] 1980 was not so pretty. Brooke Valley, Sherlock [Crescent], it wasn’t so pretty,” she recounted. “Sometimes you just hear gunshots start fire and you don’t even know from where. I remember going to work one morning and hearing gunshots so I had to turn back and run through some of the yards and take fence [scale fences]. Many nights I had to take my children off the bed and put them on the floor to sleep.”

Despite these challenges, the woman, who has raised four generations in the community, has no regrets and is committed to Duhaney Park, whose crime situation has drastically improved over the years.

“I would do it all over again and live here. Nowhere better than Duhaney Park, for me…The crime now is not as bad as it was in 1980. It’s quiet now, different. You might hear one and two gunshots but nothing too much. It has slowed down a lot,” Jacobs shared.

For the long-time resident, the sense of community in Duhaney Park is what makes it special. From her earliest memories, her neighbours came together, forming strong bonds that lasted generations.

“The first Christmas that we spent here, it was like everybody coming together to know everybody,” she recalled. “People came to my house for a drink, we went to other houses for a drink and everybody invited each other in, and it was a good feeling.”

With time, these connections only deepened across generations, Jacobs noted, adding that her house had become a central gathering place for neighbours.

“We know each other, our children grow together. My house was central because everybody would gather out by my gate every night — teenagers, my daughter’s school friends, everybody from every house on the avenue would be out here at night-time — and they sat here and chat. My grandchildren had the same relationship with the neighbours.”

“We are friendly people in Duhaney Park. We live good with our neighbours,” Jacobs said.

Upcoming awards ceremony

To commemorate its 60th anniversary, the Duhaney Park Community Development Committee (CDC) has organised an awards ceremony for Sunday, November 24.

“What we’re going to do is recognise the constitutions of individuals and entities from the inception of Duhaney Park. [The] Matalon [family], we’re going to honour them as a special awardee; we’re going to award the garbage collectors as a pivotal part of the development of the community,” Duhaney Park CDC President Godfrey Williams told the Sunday Observer.

The CDC will also present awards to nominated residents, selected by the Social Development Commission, in the categories of education/mentorship, sports, philanthropy, youth in service, volunteerism, health/well-being, and entrepreneurship/innovation.

The ceremony will also see a special award being presented to Dr Noel Watson, an academic in the field of economics, who helped the community in the 1990s.

Noting that Duhaney Park had crime issues during that period, former CDC President Earl Jones explained that Dr Watson, as executive director of a National Civic Dialogue Initiative under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), educated community practitioners on the power of dialogue.

“The civic dialogue project was a project introduced through the UNDP to educate community practitioners on trying to chat out the thing instead of fight out the thing. So Dr Watson came to Duhaney Park to introduce the programme to us and also to educate us…He eventually introduced a number of us to tertiary education,” Jones shared.

“Even more important than just the Duhaney Park community, he was in charge of roughly 50 communities in Kingston and St Andrew, which led to us forming an organisation called KSAAF [Kingston and St Andrew Action Forum]. It was very active in the early 2000s in a number of ways, basically going into communities trying to out the fire. All of this played a significant role in our quest to make Duhaney Park a better community,” he continued.

Jones, who has lived in Duhaney Park since 1967, described the community as a unique one.

“Duhaney Park is not seen as an inner-city community even though we have pockets of inner city [areas], for instance, we have Sherlock [Crescent] and Brooke Valley to some extent, which can be described as such. And we are the only community on this island that has a peace between the warring political factions, which we have never reversed into war. We have gotten recognition for that from the Project Management Institute and other institutes. So in terms of peace, you have fluidity through the community, which fosters peaceful movement of goods and services and people,” Jones explained.

Current President Williams also praised the community for its peaceful status.

“We have our challenges just like any other community, but it’s one of the most sought-after communities because of the peace. There’s not a lot of violence, and in comparison to some communities, we can say no violence at all,” Williams said.

Highlighting the community’s strengths, Williams pointed to sports, particularly a rugby team, which has produced several national players.

“When you talk about football and rugby — actually we are the number one in rugby for the last six years. Most of the players that play for Jamaica, play for the Duhaney Park rugby team,” he shared.

He also pointed to the Duhaney Park Health Centre, which serves not only the community but also surrounding areas.

“The clinic is good, although we could do with a bigger clinic, but it is good and it deals with Patrick City, Washington, people come as far as Half-Way-Tree because they love the ambience and the service that is given over there. Waterhouse, they have a clinic and most people come from there to come here,” Williams said.

Noting that the community has a vibrant diaspora that gives back, along with government representatives and the Member of Parliament, Williams said the CDC has greater plans for Duhaney Park, including further reduction of crime, improving access for persons with disabilities, and promoting a healthier lifestyle among residents.

Yvonne Jacobs (third left), who has lived in Duhaney Park, St Andrew, for 59 years, is surrounded by members of her family in front of their home where four generations have been raised.

President of the Duhaney Park Community Development Committee (CDC) Godfrey Williams (third right) and mayor of Kingston and St Andrew Andrew Swaby (centre) pose for a picture. They are flanked by other members of the Duhaney Park CDC.

President of the Duhaney Park Community Development Committee (CDC) Godfrey Williams (left) presents medals to the winners of the community’s Easter extravaganza football competition earlier this year.

An aerial view of a section of the Duhaney Park community in St Andrew.

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