I’m interrupting your regularly scheduled blog post with an urgent appeal for everyone’s attention:

Instead of writing about my experiences on leave in the States this past month, I’m going to take this time (and post) to send out a call for help.

My friend Bart is attempting to create a documentary about a region in North West Jamaica known “Cockpit Country”. Largely ignored by the tourism industry, and little known or understood even by many Jamaicans, Cockpit Country played a crucial role in the Maroon resistance against the British and is still home to many communities who can directly trace their roots to the original Maroon rebels.

Bart came to Cockpit Country last year as a volunteer in Alps, Trelawny, and though he’s no longer technically a PCV, he’s been living and working in his adopted home on his own funding. He envisions this film project as a way of sharing his deep love of this last, fairly untouched expanse of green on the island and by doing so encourage Jamaicans and the international community to stand up to the pressures of the bauxite mining interests that are currently posing a major threat. Through interviews with locals, explorations in the bush, and a look at the incredible history that made the area what it is today, Bart hopes to raise awareness and help the world understand what makes this patch of bush so crucial to Jamaica’s environmental integrity and cultural identity.

He claims that I’ll do a better job of writing about this that he can, but I’d like to dispute that. Bart’s website clearly and passionately explains his vision and why it could be an important tool in the fight to save the largest remaining rainforest in Jamaica. Where I hope I can be of use is to ask you all to check out his Kickstarter page ( http://cockpitcountrymovie.com/ ) for the documentary and donate.

Bart needs to reach his goal of $5,000 (US, not JA!) by the end of the month in order for the project to take off. I know that everyone’s on a tight budget these days, but every little bit helps.

If it helps, think of things this way:
$15- A new hardcover book
$20: 2 movie tickets, a round of beer for you and three friends, or two martinis.
$50: A mani-pedi + tip, the cost of a salon haircut and blowdry.
$100: A nice dinner for two with a decent bottle of wine.
$1,500: the nightly rate for one room at Sandals, Montego Bay, the most well known of the Jamaican All-Inclusive resorts. (Should be noted I didn’t search for deals, but still.)

So check out the website, and please contribute: without your help, this film will have to be shelved until Bart can return to Jamaica with more funds. And pass on this to your financially solvent (what’s that?!) friends, so that Bart can finally solve the mystery of how Barbeque Bottom Road got it’s name.