Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer
Maurice Smith, decathlon silver medalist, trains four hours each day to maintain form.

Monica Cousins, Contributor

No one has to wonder about the location of the district called Above Rocks. It is aptly named, sitting literally high above rocks in the parish of St. Catherine.

To get to Above Rocks, I boarded a minibus at Constant Spring, St. Andrew, and held on tightly to my seat as the vehicle wended its way around roads with hair-pin curves, up Old Stony Hill Road. We passed through Guava Gap, with gaping ravines that look down into beautiful Golden Spring. Then, we continued climbing through the rocks to Allman Hill, where Maurice Smith, now a local hero, was born. We went past Long Coconut Tree, which marks the border of St. Andrew and St. Catherine. A few miles on, we arrived at our destination, Above Rocks. It may be about 15 miles from Kingston, high in the cool hills of St. Catherine, but getting there is no mean feat.

Everyone in Above Rocks would know St. Mary's. For generations, the Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady St. Mary, has sat like a beacon on the hill, and has been home to countless families. Long before the advent of the Pentecostal churches, St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church, along with its elementary school, was mother to everyone born and bred for miles around Above Rocks and its environs. Generations have been baptised and married at St. Mary's Church and attended the elementary (now called all-age) school. Where there is a mother, there usually is a father.

In the mid-1950s, during the regime of the well-known and beloved Father Cheney, St. Mary's Church gave birth to St. Mary's College, the first high school in the area. Along with the elementary school, the St. Mary's family was growing. At last, children from ordinary families had a chance to get a secondary education without having to travel miles to Kingston.

Numerous successful graduates

Professor Emeritus Barry Chevannes is a product of the first intake of less than a dozen children. Decades later, the successful graduates from these combined schools run into the hundreds and are found in all walks of life. Many graduates, like this writer, are proud of their heritage, and today, I am on my way to St. Mary's to meet Theresa Lewis, the secretary who had been so polite and helpful to me a year earlier when I wanted to get information about my 'family tree'.

It must have been some sort of divine leading that I chose this day; there is no other explanation. A few metres away from St. Mary's, we come upon rows of well-dressed children in school uniforms. As I alighted from the minibus, I breathed a sigh of relief! "Thank God!" I say to my travelling companion, "We are here safely." I give my arms and legs and my neck a little stretch and walk towards the crowd of children waving banners and behaving so well. Some of the posters have messages welcoming Maurice Smith home. "But who is Maurice Smith?" I ask. The kids are surprised at my question and they all laugh. "He won the silver medal at Osaka (World Athletic Championship), Miss," one bright little girl with streaming ribbons in her hair says. They all start shouting "Maurice Smith! Maurice Smith! Maurice!"

I go to find Miss Lewis, who, I am later informed, has gone to Kingston, but a beautiful young nun from Boston, U.S.A. tells me that "Miss Lewis should be back soon."

Just then, the horns start blaring and a police car is approaching, followed by another car with a loudspeaker on top. They are announcing the arrival of Maurice Smith, the silver medal decathlon winner in Osaka, Japan, earlier this year. The children's voices reach a crescendo; they are shouting and cheering and waiting, waiting to welcome home their 'hero', as messages on their banners state.

This is history in the making right here on the rock! There could not have been a better time for me to have come to Jamaica and no better day to come to Above Rocks. So, I get my camera out and wait, like everyone else. I am in a great spot an it is raining, there is no damper on the mood. It is party time and all Above Rocks are out to join in the fun and celebrate the return of a hero.

Above Rocks' finest hour

And then the moment everyone has been waiting for. The motorcade rides in, and behind the police and other officials is the vehicle carrying the man of the moment - the proud silver medal winner of 10 major sporting events known as the decathlon - Maurice Smith. He is in fine fettle and showing his appreciation for the welcome, as he waves and smiles to the screaming crowd. He is high above the rocks in an open-top vehicle as the hundreds of adoring fans rush into the open doors of 'Mother Mary', the church that has been a sanctuary for thousands over the years. This must be Above Rocks' finest hour, and no one wants to miss out.

I go with the flow, camera poised. As the master of ceremony tries to get the crowd to quiet down, I am carried along very subtly by a group of young boys who want to get as close to the front as possible, to be near Maurice. They are having their own quiet little conversation, betting each other that they could run as fast as Maurice. It is such an amusing conversation and they are conscious that they are moving me further and further forward, and apologise. "No problem," I whisper to them, and smile.

Now I am standing next to the font. This is the blessed font where decades ago, my parents brought me to present me to the Lord. Right here, at this spot I am now standing, was where they promised before God that on my behalf, they would "... renounce the Devil and all his works" and that I would "ever remain in the number of God's faithful and elect children ..." It is quiet except for the shuffling movements as people make space to accommodate others. Everyone is in a mood of expectancy; they are here to celebrate and welcome a family member home. They are waiting to hear the accolades showered on Maurice for his victory.

It is a joyful welcome home. This was where he had his formative years he was born in Allman Hill just across the border in St. Andrew, Maurice Smith attended St. Mary's All-Age School as a youngster and his love of sports was encouraged right here.

Daphne Smith, Maurice's mother, is still a teacher and role model here at St. Mary's All-Age, and today, along with others, she is bursting with pride. The pride that every family must feel when one of its own gains any success.

The pride that every mother feels when a son comes home, not as a prodigal, but as a victor. The pride now shared not just by the whole family of St. Mary's, especially the dancing pupils from the all-age school, but also the wider Above Rocks family. Jamaica has much to be proud of.

Sadly, Maurice's father, away in America, could not be there to join with the hundreds who had come out in rain to welcome this hero, but he was remembered, and there can be no doubt he was just as proud. For, wherever there is a mother, there is a father, no doubt, working his butt off in America to make sure he sends home the bacon.

Viva Maurice Smith! Viva St. Mary's Above Rocks!