25 By Sophia Findlay LORNA BINNS is a smart, fun, disciplined, hard-working and energetic woman who loves to lead the daily operation of SunValley Plantation, a botanical farm she runs with her husband, Nolly, mainly for excursions and export. During a recent Canadian diaspora press trip to Jamaica for journalists from different media houses in the Greater Toronto Area, hosted by the Jamaica Tourist Board, Binns, along with her son Brian in tow, presented an unforgettable educational tour through a section of their 34-acre property where she patiently teaches the medicinal and old-time remedies of the fruits, herbs, spices and plants they cultivate. Located in Oracabessa, St Mary, the Sun Valley Plantation has been in constant production since slavery days and is a highly recommendedmust-see spot for anyone who wants to learn about the island’s tropical fruits, such as bananas and their farm specialty, coconuts. Her nurturing of the estate surpasses just planting as she demonstrates a delicate hand pollination process on a Sun Valley Plantation offers the best of Jamaica Lorna Binns stands next to a Jackfruit tree loadedwith fruits. CONTRIBUTED PLEASE SEE JAMAICA, 27 that, and I can only speak really about policing, there is that very still troubling element, I believe, that is less a crime problem and more a corruption problem. And until you tackle the corruption issue, the crime issue will never be substantially addressed. So, there are signs for hope and there are signs for struggle. “I would like to see it [Jamaica] go back to those heady days of the world is ours. We are the masters of our destiny and with the guidance of the good Lord, we’re going to get there sooner and better as a result of it. But the world is a far less simple place than it was then and as simple as it was then, it became very complicated for us. Now we have social media, now we have global economy, now we have existential threat like climate change. We have far more different types of threats now – cyber, domestic and international terrorism, the economic impact of COVID, the psychological impact that its had on a generation of young people and a generation of elders. I’d like to go back to that day of anything is possible, we had national heroes we celebrated, we didn’t question them, we had values that were rock solid as opposed to debatable on social media. “Younger people will tell me that’s old man thinking, we’re the most educated, most information savvy, most tech savvy generation, the largest cohort in the history of our island, we’re going to take the island forward. I believe that, but they’re taking it forward CORRUPTION CONTINUED FROM 7 PLEASE SEE INDEPENDENCE, 29 THE MONTHLY GLEANER | JULY 31 - OCTOBER 21, 2022 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | FEATURE
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