HOLLAND BAMBOO, St Elizabeth — The famous green corridor along the South Coast no longer forms its familiar archway. Where bamboo once clasped hands above the roadway, Hurricane Melissa tore gaps through the canopy, leaving light, debris, and silence in its wake.
For Kemar Kennedy, the damage cut deeper than scenery.
Kennedy earns his living roadside, selling jelly coconuts and peanuts from a modest wooden stall that had quietly become a landmark for passers-by. He arrived in the area three years ago, following a personal reset after the loss of his mother and a move to Lacovia that reshaped his life. What began as a search for work ended as a deliberate choice to work for himself.
He tried the conventional route first — construction, odd jobs, whatever paid. It didn’t stick. Independence did.
The stall grew into a recognisable stop, painted boldly and known as much for its atmosphere as its coconuts. Social media visitors sought it out. Regulars didn’t need directions.
Then Melissa arrived.
The storm spared his house from structural ruin but flooded the yard as nearby waters surged. His stall wasn’t as fortunate. The structure was flattened, leaving Kennedy to piece together a temporary setup with little appetite for aesthetics or ambition in the immediate aftermath.
Still, customers noticed his absence.
Without the familiar colours and shape, many drove past without realising he was still there. Some urged him to rebuild properly — not just for business, but for visibility, for continuity, for a sense of normalcy returning to the stretch.
Nature, too, offered a quiet signal. Surviving bamboo began to lean back toward the road. New shoots pushed through the soil. The canopy, though broken, wasn’t defeated.
Kennedy read the message clearly: recovery isn’t instant, but it’s inevitable if effort meets opportunity.
To restart fully, he says the needs are basic — a few sheets of plywood to reconstruct the stall and a small refrigerator to bring back cold jelly coconuts, the product that built his name there.
More than materials, though, the storm left him with a distilled perspective.
Life remained. Work could resume. What was lost could be rebuilt.
In a place where bamboo has always bent without breaking, Kennedy intends to do the same.
