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Camp Verley – poised for development
Over
the past thirty years Central Jamaica Conference has been developing
the Camp Verley property. Originally part of the Spring Village
sugar estate, the land was gifted to the Central Jamaica Conference
(CJC) of Seventh Day Adventist churches by its last owners the
Verley family. Many development proposals have been put forward
during this time. To date the only development that has taken root
has been the building of a camp site on ten of the twenty acres of
flat land on the southern fringes of the property which is used for
church conventions, annual youth camps, educational and recreational
events, and other church and non church meetings.
However Camp Verley sits on two hundred and twenty six acres of land
of which some fifty percent is low lying lime stone hills
interspersed with fertile cockpit type valleys. Three years ago the
CJC constituency urged the Administration to redouble its efforts to
develop the entire site into a spiritual, educational and
recreational center within a sustainable framework. After much
prayer, thought and discussion the Development Committee of the
Conference prepared a Concept Paper. This Concept Paper is being
used to guide the preparation of a Development Plan for the
property.
Below
is set out the concepts that are guiding what is being planned.
The Camp Verley Vision Statement
To be the premier Spiritual, Recreational and Training facility
within a sustainable economic framework for CJC.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Camp Verley site is to use its unique
environmental and cultural assets to create a sustainable program
for the Spiritual Development, Education and Training, and
Recreational Use of the internal and external customers of CJC.
Policy Objectives.
To achieve this mission action will take place under three headings.
1. Spiritual
2. Education and Training
3. Stewardship to include Recreational, Wellness, Sustainable
Development and Environmental Management.
1. The Spiritual Concept
Camp Verley because of its location and environmental makeup is
ideally suited for moments of spiritual refreshing and reflection,
and over the years it has been well used for this purpose. The aim
will be to extend this use through formal, planned activities, and
to encourage a greater informal use by small groups and individuals.
Programs that are being recommended include monthly prayer and
fasting sessions, bible conferences, educational and training
sessions, and special Sabbath programs.
One of the central and distinguishing doctrines of the SDA church is
the sanctuary and its relevance to an understanding of the plan of
salvation and the last days. A year ago when a life size model of
the sanctuary was brought to Jamaica it caused quite a stir.
Unfortunately the study of the sanctuary has declined in recent
years. A proposal is to recreate a model sanctuary on the lawns or
in the hills of the camp site to be used as an educational tool.
Recently the Conference sponsored a Prayer conference at the Camp
site and created a short prayer trail. It is proposed to create a
more permanent prayer trail into the hills with rest and meditation
spots.
2. The Education and Training Concept.
The need for continuing training especially in usable and marketable
skills is one of the important actions that the church needs to be
involved in if we are to improve the ability of our members and non
members, especially youth, to compete in an increasingly globalized
market place: to earn a living and to contribute in a positive
manner to the church and the society. Camp Verley has the space and
accommodation to conduct such training activities on a short to
medium term basis.
There is a need prophetically for the church to become more
organized and consistent with its training programs. The Spirit of
Prophecy has instructed that the most important work of the
pastorate is the training of the laity and setting them to do a
greater work. Although CJC has begun this training program in Lay
Preaching and Sabbath School Teacher Training among others, it is
obvious that much more can be achieved if the program is organized
on a more coordinated and systematic manner, using the Camp as a
campus site.
The camp site is a part of a once larger historic estate. The area
of the site includes the remnants of a Taino site and several
artifacts from the sugar estate including an irrigation/aqueduct
that ends at a sugar factory in Bushy Park, and a village in the
hills that includes quite substantial tombs. This is an ideal
opportunity to establish in partnership with the Northern Caribbean
University an integrated cultural/archaeological/oral history
project that can assist with the creation of a heritage park and
offer exposure of our children to the study of archaeology.
In addition to this there is a great need to train both our own
people together with others into micro economic skills and ventures.
These skills could include:
1. Horticulture
2. Book binding
3. Brick laying
4. Fruit preservatives including jams and jellies
5. Physical training
6. Vegetarian cooking.
3. The Stewardship Concept – Recreational,
Wellness, Sustainable Development and Environmental Management.
Camp Verley is ideally suited to support an expansive recreational
and wellness program. The location and resources of the site
contribute greatly to its potential as a health and wellness center.
The two hundred plus acres with a stream, hills and tracks through
it together with the large flat and its closeness to Jamaica’s major
population centers makes it well placed for this kind of
development. The nature of Camp Verley’s environment and the recent
inclusion of the environment as a part of our stewardship commission
has added importance to the site from an environmental conservation
and educational perspective.
Some of the recreational proposals include the creation of tours and
trails. In addition the landscape of the entire property lends
itself to the building of mini camp sites in the hills which can be
used for single day as well as overnight camping trips, survival
training and environmental study tours. The camp site already has a
basket ball court. It also has the space to hold other courts such
as badminton, netball and a walking/running track. There is a small
historic swimming pool. However there is enough land to build a
modern 25 m pool for both therapeutic purposes, and swimming lessons
and training. A recommendation has been made from the Health Dept of
the Conference to establish a wellness center at camp Verley. In
addition the camp site can be used for health rallies and exercise
training programs.
The camp site is well placed to be used as an environmental training
center. With its mix of limestone hills, cockpits and an ever
flowing stream, together with faunal and floral resources that are
as yet to be discovered but which if the natural history of Jamaica
is anything to go by exist, the property can be used as a training
ground for the management of water shed areas, conservation of
environmentally fragile areas, and the propagation of organic and
environmentally friendly agricultural foods and horticultural
products using plants that are endemic to the area.
The need for Camp Verley to earn its own way is both an imperative
and a great possibility because of its resources. Nevertheless it
should be remembered at all times that the funding for the
development of the property must not comprise the spiritual
guidelines that govern God’s people. Rather the site must be managed
in an efficient and environmental friendly and compatible manner
with programs that will glorify God so that God will be able to rain
down His blessings on it.
The
financial viability of the site will depend on the ability of the
CJC to use the site all the year round. Visitor statistics are only
available for the past two and a half years. They indicate that the
site is used less than fifty percent of the time. CJC and its
associated churches and sister conferences are the heaviest users
accounting consistently for 60% or more of the usage. The private
use of the camp site is relatively negligible. It is obvious from
this that once the site is developed that there needs to be an
effort to advertise it to increase usership and revenues in order to
enhance the ability of the CJC to have the financial resources to
manage it efficiently, effectively and in a sustainable manner.
Programs that have the potential to be income earners include
weddings and other types of receptions. To do this it is proposed:
1. To
build a chapel that can hold one hundred (100) persons. In addition
there is the need to landscape the area around the site on both the
eastern and western sides to include the creation of garden areas
with rustic tables and chairs, gazebos and ornate wooden bridges to
span the stream and provide access to both sides.
2. To
encourage retreats and other types of conferences. To accomplish
this it is proposed to enclose the auditorium.
3. To
hold festivals to include four annual ones:
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Music
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Food
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Health
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Recreation.
4.
Develop Economic activity zones. The property opens out on its
northern side into large tracts of land broken up in places into
hills and cockpits. The open tracts of land are ideally suited for
the planting of organically grown vegetable crops and horticultural
products. Whether these will be grown by the conference or will be
leased out to self-supporting ventures is a decision that will have
to be made at a future date.
5.
Water bottling
In order to achieve these objectives and plans there is a need to
hire consultants to assist with the planning. Below find Terms of
References for a number of such consultants. If you are trained to
do this work or you know of someone within the church who does
please invite them to read this article and apply.
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