‘Mocho is the place to be’
Though the word Mocho often conjures up images of poverty and neglect, residents of the Clarendon community insist that it is one of the best places on the island. According to a vendor, who owns a shop on Whitley Drive in the community, Mocho is the place to be. “People nuh dead up yah all to dat, unless a sick yuh sick and dead,” he said. But while they may not live in constant fear of gang violence and reprisal killings, the residents admitted that the community is not without its problems.
“Dem fight against dem one another. Me madda deh a foreign now, so a me have her shop a run. Call it seh a month and odd now, and people a fight me ova it. Oh Lord man, every day,” the vendor said. His sentiments were echoed by another vendor, Ira Roach, who says he is a constant victim of theft.
“Dem bruck in all the while. Last time dem tek off di door. Di amount a things weh in deh, dem tek some and leff some so I couldn’t see wah missing specifically. Dem tek mi money ... cause me leave like me phonecard money and some other silver was there weh missing. Dem tek dem.”
Roach told THE CENTRAL STAR that there is absolutely no police presence in the area. However, he believes that police officers wouldn’t make a difference. “It woulda gwaan same way, enuh, because man wiser and wiser more and more. So dem woulda outsmart di police dem, and yuh know seh phone a mek di links now,” he said. Despite all of this, he holds firm that his home is a good place. When asked if he believes Mocho is a bad place to run a business, Roach disagreed. “Nothing nuh go suh. I wouldn’t seh dat enuh. I wouldn’t seh is a bad place. A must di people weh come from country and go town a seh suh,” he said while laughing.
Cynthia Williams, another resident, told THE CENTRAL STAR that Mocho has everything she needs. “I was born here, raised here, left a little while and I’m back home. Mocho is a good place. Educational wise, we have people from every category police, nurse, doctor, every type of entrepreneur,” she raved. “Growing up, things was a bit tougher than now, cause we have things more frequently now. A lot of things are more open up now. Overall, it’s a very good place, we’re not short of anything here. We have light, we have water, we have telephone, we have internet. I would recommend anybody to come and live in Mocho. It’s not the place, it’s the people that are in the place.”