Five months later, 15-year-old Kiara decided to take over the corporate; balancing this with school work and ambitions study to turn out to be a lawyer or entrepreneur in America. Despite his age, he understands the ability of heritage. With the assistance of her family and plenty of of her mother’s friends from world wide, she continues to receive guests at retreats.
One night Kiara joined me within the communal kitchen to speak concerning the business and why she had decided to pursue it. “She wanted it to be an organization owned by a black woman from Jamaica. She just loved being strong and independent,” she said.
What sets this property other than the 1000’s of Airbnbs in Jamaica is its commitment to those ideals. “It’s really rare in Jamaica for a lady to be born into poverty and be as successful as Mel on her goat pasture,” said Stacey Davis, a family friend who helped Mel in the course of the early days of the retreat. “Every flower on this retreat, the whole lot you see, she made by hand.”
Although Kiara has struggled financially to keep up the estate since her mother’s death, it stays a haven for visitors searching for that ephemeral and elusive quality: authenticity. Mel, and now Kiara, encourage guests to get entangled in the area people within the south of the island.
On Benta river waterfalls, about an hour’s drive from Mel’s, we were merrily treated to a series of cascading waterfalls and deep pools led by two energetic guides. The property owner, Stacy Wilson, was playing dominoes with a gaggle of men in a small bar next to the waterfall while we ate a delicious plate of crispy fries and giggled with the pink-haired bartender. Mr. Wilson’s American cousin, Jahcobee Faith, explained that the family has owned the realm because the Nineteen Seventies, to locals.
