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Stories of Courage & Resilience:
Amalga Gayle-Smith
Service Professional: Amalga Gayle-Smith
Department: Housekeeping
Years at Half Moon: 22
A few hundred metres from the Eclipse shoreline where land meets sea, Amalga Gayle-Smith sat with her hands clasped and her back straight, speaking quietly about the days after Hurricane Melissa, the most devastating storm to strike Jamaica since Hurricane Gilbert in 1988.
For Amalga, a long-time member of Half Moon’s Laundry Department who also operates a small chicken-farming business she has grown over time, the impact was deeply personal. "I have a 20’ by 30’ coop that raises chickens. It can raise 500 chickens. But at the time I had 75. I lost all of them. Everything came apart, blown right down.
“When I raise them, I sell them to other people, and get the money and buy and sell again. This has helped me to buy my food for me and my family and so on." Across Jamaica, stories like Amalga’s are common.
Chicken farming, especially small backyard operations, is the backbone of many households, providing income, stability, and food security. When Hurricane Melissa destroyed coops, disrupted feed supplies, and wiped out hundreds of thousands of birds nationwide, it dealt a painful blow to agricultural livelihoods already vulnerable to the changing climate.
Yet even as she described her losses, Amalga’s expression softened when she spoke about her 22 years at Half Moon: “I am very grateful,” she said. “Working at Half Moon, I’ve built my house and built the coop and have done whatever I’ve had to do, and I am very grateful.”
Her story is one of resilience, of beginning again, rebuilding what was lost, and finding strength in community. As we continue to support our team and the wider parish of St. James, Amalga reminds us why every act of giving matters.
