Robert Lalah, Staff Reporter

Ziggy Morant (left), Kevon Baker (centre) and Deneil Foster take a moment from their field to have a chat. The little boy is Ziggy's brother. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

In a quaint rural community called St. Toolis in the hills of Manchester, there's a group of determined young men who have gone against popular sentiment and have set their sights on becoming farmers.

Yes, young people aspiring to become farmers. No deejays, no drug pushers, no dons. Just hardworking men who rely on good old elbow grease to survive. It's not exactly the in thing for young people these days, but this group of 20-something-year-olds has decided that their fulfilment will come from the soil.

Now that's not the only strange thing about this place called St. Toolis. There's literally no crime in the community even though it's made up primarily of young people struggling to make ends meet.

A Gleaner news team spent some time in the community recently,getting to know the people.

Meet Deneil Foster. He's 24 years old and makes a living growing pumpkins and coffee. "We know that most young people turning against farming these days, but it's what we know to do. It's hard work and a lot of people afraid of hard work. But that don't stop us," he said, smiling.

"It's really hard for us up here though. We don't even have running water so we have to run back and forth with buckets just to water the crops when there's no rain," added Deneil.

We walked with him through the lonely community and met up with Kevon Baker. He is also 24 years old and spends his time looking after his crops. He focuses mainly on bananas.

Forgotten community

"Yes sah. St. Toolis is the forgotten community. Most people never even hear about this place. But we here trying to make things work. We tried to get some help from the Government and it never work out, so we decide to just press on,"he said with determination. Kevon said that St. Toolis is home to many young people. "Living somewhere as forgotten as this place can be difficult for young people. We have to work hard to lift up ourselves. Things really difficult for us though, but we determine to make it," he said.

By now a few other young men had joined us and they were all singing the same tune.

Paul Sinclair is a barber and a farmer. "As a young youth, trying to make it is difficult in this place. We don't even have a football field, the basic school is falling apart and the roads are bad. But when you want to uplift yourself you cannot look at the way things are now. You have to just press along and work to make something out of yourself," he said.

A 'must do'

The farmers travel as far as St. Catherine to find buyers for their crops. It's an expensive venture, but a 'must do' if they are to make it. Sometimes their crops go to waste because they can't afford the transportation costs. But for now, the men press on with their simple dream of making something of themselves and making it out of their forgotten community.