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MAKYN THE NEWS.......in Accompong

( left )Colonel Sydney Peddie points to a monument in honour of Maroon hero Cudjoe. ( right ) George Huggins shows a few Gumbey drums also known as Maroon drums, which he made with goat skin and Cedar wood from trees in the community. - ricardo makyn photos

IN 1738 SOMETHING very significant occurred when the Maroons and the British signed a treaty to end years of war between them. Hence came Accompong, the first, and some believe, only free village in Jamaica.

My first impression of this seemingly hardly inhabited village is that it is quiet but to my surprise after just a few minutes in the area, the streets were almost filled with curious people.

The news team was greeted by Colonel Sydney Peddie O.D who gave us a warm welcome. We met a few more villagers coming from the Accompong Cemetery which they had just finished giving a face lift, organised by the community youth club.

I met Richard Kuhn, an American who has fallen in love with Accompong and wants to turn a section of the village into a camp ground and guest house. This is a really beautiful village surrounded by the beautiful Cockpit Country but even more beautiful is it's people. I guess now I understand why Cudjo and so many died as I repeat the words of Elder George Huggins from the village "All Blacks are considered Maroons because we all have faced the sufferation."