The Dorca's Women's Group and things

The Dorca’s Women’s Group was established about four years ago by Beulah, Michelle, and another woman in the village. “How much housekeeping can one do?”, Miss Beulah said to me in explaining the idea for the group. The three passionate women wanted something for the female population of Matelot to do outside of their day to day duties and together they formed the Dorca’s Group – with the simple motto ‘Teach. Travel. Turn’, referring to teaching the bible to each other, traveling and seeing areas outside of Matelot together, and for turning a new leaf in their lives.

The group owns the plot of land that is the Dorca’s Park. Its ocean front view consists of a grove of almond trees and cedar trees. The gorgeous area has a camp house for the women and other groups, a few fire pits with benches and make shift tree stump seats, and some old swingsets. There is a small waterfall on the one side opening up to a small pool for bathing. Unfortunately, the water from the waterfall is often known to flood the majority of the park as it did during our visit, rendering a lot of the land unusable.

The Dorca’s Group has big dreams, for the park and otherwise. In my dicussions with the different members, they each see Matelot as a site for ecotourism in the future, however the money just isn’t there. Without the buy in from the government to resurface the roads, creating easier access, little money is useful in attracting tourists to the area. In the spirit of doing what can be done when it can be done, the women are currently interested in making the park more attractive and useful – and this is where we come in. Jon is majoring in Landscape Architecture at WVU and took on the project with zeal and with knowledge that none of us could bring. In just two days, he created a long term plan for the restructuring of the park in order to enhance its beauty and utilize its full potential. Apart from aiding him, the rest of us proceeded with doable tasks such as preparing rocks for a drainage system and clearing the pathways and entrance points.   The women were pleased! The groundwork is beginning to be set for programs in the future.