Trenchtown

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Trenchtown is a neighbourhood located in Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica. It gets its name from a large open-trenched sewer that runs through the neighborhood. The majority of the residents live in squalor and infant mortality is rampant.

Contents 1 History 2 Trivia 3 References 4 Further reading

History

During the 1930s, Trench Town, in West Kingston, was a residential area. Squatters lived in the Dungle (city dump) area near the waterfront. Trench Town was re-developed when a housing project was built, replacing squatter camps that were destroyed by Hurricane Charlie in 1951. Many who came from rural Jamaica to find work settled there as it was a desirable location.

Most of the new development consisted of one- or two-story concrete buildings, built around a central courtyard with communal cooking facilities and a standpipe for water. Due to lack of funds no sewage system was planned for Trenchtown. Before the hurricane, the squatter camps had emerged around Kingston’s landfill and had become the home of one of Kingston’s Rastafarian communities. The neighborhood became unstable and dangerous from the early 1970s onwards. Two major rival Jamaican political parties — the People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party, had emerged in Kingston and enforced code that ensured only their party’s supporters had access to jobs and services. They sponsored "dons" to enforce their authority in the so-called "garrison communities" and shot any opponents with guns. Trenchtown was controlled by the PNP, which put it at war with neighboring Rema, a JLP stronghold. The road connecting the two became the front-line in an all-out war. After a while the "dons" outgrew their masters and turned to drug trafficking and extortion, and Trenchtown, like other parts of downtown Kingston, was carved up into warring gang territories.

Community projects such as The Trenchtown Reading Association [1] setup in 1993 and The Trenchtown Development Association setup in 1996 were formed to increase literacy and encourage government spending in the area. Crime in the neighborhood has recently declined; the murder rate in west Kingston has dropped sharply since the mid-1990s^[1].

Trivia

• Famous Jamaicans who lived in this area include Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer as well as numerous other Reggae musicians.
• Bob Marley and the Wailers dedicated a song to the neighbourhood, titled "Trenchtown Rock".
• Marley's songs No Woman, No Cry and Trench Town also make a reference to it.
• Trenchtown is also mentioned in songs by the band Sublime and in the music Alagados from the Brazilian group Paralamas do Sucesso ("Alagados / Trenchtown / Favela da Maré...")

References

1. ^ Pressly, Linda. "One Love in Trenchtown?", BBC, 2 December 1999.

• Trenchtown: A Spiritual Powerpoint by Eddie Brannan

Further reading

Voir Trenchtown et mourir, by Helene Lee, 2004, Flammarion, France, ISBN 2-08-068405-1de:Trenchtown fr:Trenchtown ja:トレンチタウン pl:Trenchtown sv:Trenchtown

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