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<p>The district of Woodside in St Mary was selected as the winner of the Carib Cement Build Your Community competition.</p>
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<p>The rural community was awarded a $5 million infrastructural development project at the Carib Cement Sports Club in East Kingston on Tuesday. Woodside was selected out of a total of 46 communities from across the island.</p>
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<p>The money will be used to enhance the community’s ancestral gardens, which has served as an attraction for locals, tourists and students alike.</p>
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<p>Community elder, Erna Brodber, said the community was grateful for the honour. “The young people were leaving but what is there to hold them? At least now some of them can get work,” Brodber said.</p>
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<p>Carib Cement Communications and Community Outreach manager Klao Bell-Lewis said the company is committed to community development. “Carib Cement seeks to contribute to Goal One of Jamaica’s Vision 2030 and Goal 11 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal which both recognises the importance of safe inclusive and acceptable public spaces and their role in contributing to healthy lifestyles and communities,” she said.</p>
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<h2>Here are some interesting facts about Woodside</h2>
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<ul><li>The community of Woodside was declared a national heritage site in 2015. It was once home to the Tainos who carved out steps from solid rock from the 18th century in order to access water. Woodside was also the site of a slave plantation where coffee was grown and also the home of an ancient St<em>. </em>Gabriel’s Anglican Church. It's famous site known as Daddy Rock was a spot where the slaves used to gather to host their religious ceremonies and plot insurrections. The community is known for its heritage tourism and hosted students from North American Universities, descendants of the Tainos from Puerto Rico and other Caribbean nations, black Americans as well as local high school and university students. It also has an extensive cave network that was used by the Tainos and still has carvings inside its walls. Woodside was once built on the farming of bananas but now that the crop is no longer the mainstay of the district’s economy, the project will allow the residents to breathe again.</li></ul>
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