Education | Sustainability | Advocacy
WARE'S WHY
The WARE (Wattle and Red Earth) Collective believes preservation is at the heart and soul of sustainability.
We champion the culture and heritage of rural communities in the parish of St. Elizabeth. The parish’s traditional earth and limestone structures symbolize rich tangible and intangible legacies. However, only 40-50 of the century old buildings remain and require community mobilization and investment for their preservation. Spanish walling is the limestone and earth construction method used for these buildings but is currently a dying art.
WARE'S TEAM
Committed to the Cause
COURTNEY C. COKE, M.D.
Dr. Courtney C. Coke is the Medical Director of Radiation Oncology at Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, IL. Dr. Coke spent his formative years on a citrus and sugar cane farm in Pennants, Clarendon where he was raised by his grandparents. He obtained a B.S. in biology at the University of Chicago and his Doctorate in Medicine at Washington University, St. Louis, MO. Dr. Coke completed his residency in Radiation Oncology at McGill University, Montreal, Canada and is board certified by the American Board of Radiation Oncology.
Dr. Coke also has a home in Potsdam, St. Elizabeth and is deeply entrenched in the community. He has worked with the local chapter of the Lion's Club to refurbish the Potsdam Community Centre; has given multiple Jamaica Cancer Society sponsored talks to the community; has helped to co-found a two-week summer Arts and Enrichment Camp for 6-8 years old students; and most recently he led a team of US physicians for a 3 day oncology clinic where over 175 patients were seen and treated free of cost. Dr. Coke’s hobbies include distance running, gardening and traveling. He resides in the Chicago area with his wife and daughters.
ANN HODGES
Architect Ann Hodges lived as a child in Red Hills, near Kingston when it was still a rural community. She trained in London. She is known for putting a new spin on Jamaican Traditional architecture, using vernacular pitched roofs, decorative fretwork, and verandas and natural ventilation which allows a connection between the interior and nature beyond the building.
She has a portfolio of Resort, Residential, Educational and Community and Heritage restoration projects. She works for sustainability in all aspects of design while recognising the value of vernacular solutions as well as the potential of modern materials and systems. She is a recipient of the Governor Generals Award for Architecture and the Jamaica Institute of Architects award of Merit, and is a fellow of the Jamaican Institute of Architects.
.png)
DANNET PARCHMENT
Dannet Parchment is a proud native of southern St. Elizabeth. She is an applied linguist and English language arts and advanced academics educator and was educated in the parish at St. Elizabeth Technical High School and Bethlehem Moravian College. She completed undergraduate studies at UWI and pursued graduate studies as a Hornsby Trust, British Council scholar at the University of Southampton, UK.
Over the past 30+ years, she has taught at various levels of the education system including secondary, teachers’ college and university levels in Jamaica, and middle and high school in the Bahamas and United States.
She has frequently been part of leadership teams implementing school change in the institutions where she has worked, and has frequently had membership on English language arts curriculum committees at school district and state education board levels, in the states of North Carolina and Virginia.
With her passion for preserving the cultural retentions of southern St. Elizabeth, as strong as her passion for students’ development of language and literacy skills, she currently spends her time between New York and Southfield, St. Elizabeth. In NY she works with NYC Dept., of Education but goes home to Southfield as much as possible, where she is working on developing literacy projects for the community.
ENITH WILLIAMS
Enith Williams is a founding member of the WARE Collective, a business and investment professional she has worked in both the USA and Jamaica. Enith migrated to New York City with her family as a child, and returned to live in Jamaica in 2010. She has been involved with and led various community and human capital development projects since then.
PETER FRANCIS
Peter Francis is a UK trained Architect with many years of work experience in Jamaica and the Caribbean, as well as in the United Kingdom in single and multi-family housing, building refurbishment, historic restoration and preservation, and conservation planning. Since 2006 has been a partner with Ann Hodges and Oniel Johnson at Kinston10 Architects,Kingston, Jamaica, working on a range of residential, conservation and resort projects.
Board of Directors
CAROL CAMPBELL
Carol Campbell is an award winning Jewellery Designer / Goldsmith with over 40 years’ experience in the field, as a practicing artist, exhibitor, and lecturer. She is a graduate of The Alberta College of Art in Canada. Her talents have been employed in the fields of Fashion, Film,
Museum reproductions, Arts Management, and Education, locally and overseas.
A champion of cultural development through the arts, she has served as consultant to, and continues to be active in, several organizations that support artists’ development, (ex Alberta Craft Council, Jamaica Visual Arts Cluster, The Jamaica Cultural Development Commission,
Diasporavibe Cultural Arts Incubator - Miami), and is also a founding member of the Wattle and Red Earth (WARE) Collective.
From 2001 to 2011 she was owner/curator of Revolution Gallery, (for exceptional craft objects) in Kingston, representing 30 – 50 craft artists working in various media. With over 40 international exhibitions to her credit, her own artwork is represented in private collections in
North America, The Caribbean, and Europe.
She currently maintains a private design studio where she mentors graduates of the Jewellery Department at the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts, where she was a Senior Lecturer for 15 years.
Team Members
GEORGIA LOVE Executive Officer
Dynamic professional with 10+ years in project management and programme development in gender equality/human rights. Georgia centres a diasporic sensibility in her use of performance art, education and media as pathways for Jamaica's national development. Her ventures have included the creation of the SO((U))L HQ, an urban community space for discussion and collaboration to promote social justice, equality and self-reliance. She also founded BeCon, a socially-conscious apparel and lifestyle brand with a line of social justice themed T-shirts. The
BeCon challenge permeates Georgia's work: Be Conscious, Be Connected.