Kenyatta

Kenyatta - Kenneth Gerald

I sent the photo above to my ninety-five year old mum Hesta who lives in Montserrat and she said “Yatta… Ken..my god…you’re still dancing”. She’s a farmer and she still walks around her garden planting her ‘likkle’ peas. I still talk to her every week. Whenever I get to visit home she say “Ah the prodigal reach.. my prodigal son reach home”.

I was born in the country in Monserrat in 1953. The Queen visited in 1966 when I was thirteen. I remember this vividly. They put on an exhibition for her in the school yard and they brought all the best food, animals, and clothes to show her. We had to line up and wait for her. It was very tense. But when I saw her, I ran out of the school and up into the countryside. It was the first time I had ever seen a white person. A white lady all dressed in white shaking everyone hands. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do, so I ran away. I spent most of my time up in the mountains with my animals so that’s where I found myself. I got licks for that, from my schoolteacher. And we still have that same Queen who is the same age as my mum.

I spent a lot of my time in the jungle and the mountains hunting with my dog when I was young. We used to hunt the mountain chickens and I would spend all day and night there with my dog and my donkey. They were the only friends I had. It was hard at home because my stepfather never liked me and if I was late back, I would have to sleep outside on the donkey bag, on the floor. I am the fifth child of ten children, and I was the only one with a different father. All my other nine siblings had the same father, except for me. My real dad Sam did not connect with me, so my mum was always mum and dad. My mum loved me, but my stepdad made things difficult. When I was thirteen, I found out I had a grandmother who lived in the city. My real fathers mother. So, I moved to the city and looked after her, as she was going blind. She died when I was seventeen, so I got a job in the port. Montserrat was beautiful back then and I loved every minute of it. People used to call it “strangers paradise” because if you came here and you were a stranger, the mother would take the child out of the bed and put you in the bed. People from Montserrat had kindness in their blood. Back then the country was controlled by England, so people visited from overseas all the time. I made a life in Monserrate working for the port authority. There were three gangs and I worked for number two. I was a hard worker, except at carnival where I am known as the dancer. I love to dance. That is my freedom. I had a good life there working and raising my children.

In 1989 Hurricane Hugo mashed up the country. I never forget that. It was September 13th, and it came at one o clock in the morning and stayed until midnight the next night. We got lashed from this hurricane. It flattened the island from one side to the other and there were no trees, no bush. no houses, just dust everywhere. Everyone thought Montserrat was finished. After the hurricane the animals, sheep, birds, people – everybody in the one house, everybody come back together. People had to bath in the rivers, and it was like God brought everyone together. About two years after I met an old lady and asked if I could help her. She said ahh “it’s Ken the dancer” – that’s what they used to call me. Walking her up the street she told me how she felt the country had gone from bad to worse and the hurricane had finally brought people together, but they will disperse and go all over like sheep in the pasture. People left the country after that and went all over the world. They fled the country. I went to Pickwick, in Toronto, Canada but then returned to Montserrat years later, and that’s when the volcano started. Any country you go to now in the world, you will find a ‘Monstraten’.

I arrived here five years ago from Montserrat after a volcanic eruption mash up the country. It wiped out half the island destroying people’s lives and I lost my home and all my possessions. It was a shocking experience and I never thought I would be starting a new life at my age. It was funny because for about two weeks before the volcano, we felt this thing dropping out of the sky like water. Then the ash came like snow, and we were walking through it, and it was dropping on our heads. It got hot, so hot and the next thing I hear a sound like an atomic bomb. There was ash everywhere, in the air and falling down. The whole place was dark, and you could not see from the back of your hand until your shoulder. I tell you.. it was crazy. Lightening and thundering and I saw lightening running on the ground and climbing up lampposts. People were running scared. Some people died and lots of animals died still standing with fish and sharks jumping out of the sea. I tell you, I see stone come out of the volcano, like a bomb.

Tony Blair came and saw what went on and sent aid to the country to clean up the place and allowed some of us to come here – who want to come out – come out. I miss my home because that is the only freedom I have. Montserrat is the only freedom I have. Any other country I go I have to abide, but in Montserrat I am free. I always want to go back but this is not possible because my home gone, my little home is gone. It burn. I watched my house burning.

I went back to Canada as my girlfriend lived there. But after some years I wanted to see my daughter who I knew was here. I knew anytime you want to meet a ‘Monstraten’ you go to Ridley Road. I walked from my yard in Homerton. I had heard about this place and my daughter is local so Ridley is where I landed when I reached London. On Ridley Road I feel good because I mix with the good, the bad and the ugly. But it’s me now that has to pick out the good ones. Hackney is fantastic, London let me tell you is fantastic. But you have to accept that you have the good, you have the bad and you have the wicked. So, you have to pick out what you want. It’s the same all over the world.

I have brought my daughter Delphina up on my own since she was 3 and I now live with her and my grandson, here in Hackney. Anywhere I go my daughter was always behind me – on my back, on my bike. When I dance there she was….everywhere. When I was at carnival, there was my daughter, right on my shoulder. I live with my daughter Delphina now and my grandson Darian who is twelve and he wakes me up every morning saying grandad. My daughter won’t let me go. She say “Daddy anywhere you go you have to live with me.” If you met my daughter, you would love her. So quiet, so easy. I have made new friends here and you will always see me up and down this road. It’s a special and magical place for me. When I dance there is no one here so I kill all negative vibe. The picture you see above is of me dancing on Gillett Square at Albion Hi Fi’s speaker box party in August. That’s what they still call me.. Kenny the dancer.”