'Daughter of the soil' sheds Mocho stigma, gains confidence

MOCHO, Clarendon: IN THE nine years she has been a member of the Mocho Community Development Association (MCDA), Odette Eccles has moved from being a painfully shy individual to a confident, vibrant businesswoman. Vice-president since 2005, she is comfortable doing impromptu live interviews on radio or television, a far cry from the 'country girl' who joined the association in 2002.

By her own admission, the transformation was like "pulling a snail out of its shell" , for which she credits Indi McLymont-Lafayette, regional director, community media and environment at Panos Caribbean. While working with her group on a number of projects over the years, Eccles says McLymont-Lafayette pushed her to excel.

'speak up ... step out'

"Oh, you got to do this, you got to do that, you go to speak up, you got to step out," the Panos executive would challenge the Mocho resident. Over time, Eccles began to realise the potential McLymont-Lafayette had long seen. What McLymont-Lafayette could not have known, though, was just how deep the roots of her protégée's low self-esteem ran.

"Leaving primary school, you went to Clarendon College and introduced yourself and say you come from Mocho ... it was pure laughing," she recalled. "Afterwards, I used to tell people that I come from Dawkins and they would ask, 'Where is Dawkins?' I would tell them on the road to Thompson Town but it's not in Mocho. I grew up that way and just wanted to get out."

Immediately after graduation, the Mocho resident kept that promise to herself and moved to Guy's Hill in St Catherine. Ironically, though, soon after she was missing all the things she had for years despised. "I found myself yearning for home and came back," she admitted.

Since then, Eccles has made peace with herself and is now a proud ambassador of Mocho, where she farms about 20 acres with partner Garfield, and is looking forward to helping her 18-year-old son, Rushane, realise his dream of a university education.

crops

Cultivating crops such as sweet potato, yams, banana, coco, plantain, sweet and hot pepper, while also rearing goats, cows and pigs, even as she looks to get back into chickens, Eccles believes that as a 'daughter of the soil' she was destined to do farming. The last of eight children for Ray and Muriel Eccles, she was the tomboy among four boys and four girls.

"I grew up in a farming community and my dad was a farmer, and I liked looking after his cows, the goats and chickens. It was great going into the pen and taking control of the bull. You could take command of them and it was a good feeling."

Upon returning home, Eccles dedicated herself to caring for her father during the last three years of his life and went straight into farming after he died. Muriel, whom she describes as a "great lady, fighter and a lively character and a strong lady" at age 81, still gives as she gets and also lives in Dawkins.

At 42 years old, the younger Eccles woman is enjoying life in Mocho and plans to head back to school to complete a business course and spend much of her time educating members of her community about climate change, sharing information garnered from a number of training workshops hosted by Panos and other agencies.

rural@gleanerjm.com