Rosemarie Langoth: Impacting an entire community
TODAY, RESIDENTS of the Longville Park Housing Scheme’s new phases can enjoy the services of two Jamaica Urban Transit Company buses, as well as the annual Easter Monday sports day and other activities that are hosted in the community.
Credit goes to a woman who, while battling recurring cancer and dealing with health issues, still managed to make her mark on one of the largest communities in the Caribbean. Observing Rosemarie Langoth as she passionately goes about the business of serving – her energy, her zeal, her drive – one could easily believe that all is well with her world.
Responding to The Gleaner’s question on what drives her, she said her passion stems from being born a couple of months before Jamaica’s independence and the desire the country had in shaping itself into an ideal one.
“I felt that passion and grew up with parents who trained me to be patriotic to country and taught me values and attitudes. I worked extensively as a child with my mother in community work and also in the school system with children because she was a teacher,” explained Langoth on her early love for volunteerism.
Langoth, who is a former president of Longville Park’s citizens’ association, wrote an anthem for the community that is proudly played at its official ceremonies. She was also instrumental in designing the Longville Park flag.
She is the founder of the Longville Park Culture and Theatre Movement, as well as the ‘Mi Nah Dutty Up Mi Community’initiative.
Langoth said that this initiative aims to instill the value of environmental cleanliness within community members.
“Every section of the Longville
Park community that is plagued by bush and garbage will be transformed. The first garden being worked on now is called the Vision Garden, in the vicinity of the police station,”she said on the initiative that was launched live on Power 106 FM earlier this year.
Langoth, through the culture and theatre movement, works extensively in the community with the children, where she is able to detect learning disabilities in the youngsters through music, dance, speech and drama.
“I can detect a part of the brain which is slow and would have meetings with parents as we work with the child to correct the problem. Children’s grades have improved at school, and also their attitude. I have also prepared the young adults for job interviews and also [given them] guidance in going into their own business. Both children and adults engage me for guidance,” Langoth shared.
How does she manage to carry out her regular job and still be so involved in community work? Langoth said that it’s all about knowing one’s calling.
“We are spiritual beings, and we’re not sent here to be parasites but to contribute to God’s plan. The things I do have impacted many persons’ lives because some have returned to let me know. I do not have to do anything to impact a change in a person. All I have to do is be me,” is how she simply put it.