Blue Mountain Project works with five rural villages (Hagley Gap, Penlyne Castle, Carrick Hill, Grass Peace, and Eping Farm) in the District of Hagley Gap, St Thomas. Hagley Gap is in the Blue Mountains that are located on the east end of the island of Jamaica. Here you will find the Caribbean’s highest mountain at 7,402 feet above sea level. There are approximately 3,000 people who live in this district strung out along roads that wind up and around the Blue Mountains. The part of Jamaica known and loved by Blue Mountain Project differs greatly from the resort areas that are familiar to most tourists. In rural areas such as Hagley Gap, clean water is a rare luxury and the lack of it leads to medical and childhood development problems. Economic opportunities are limited forcing the majority of the community to rely on subsistence agriculture or on seasonal income from coffee production.

The main village square of Hagley Gap consists of one streetlight and about ten little shops, varying from bars to grocery stores to fast food stands where you can taste local delicacies such as: jerk chicken (made from one of the hottest peppers known to man), bun’n’cheese, patties, peas and rice (white rice and red beans cooked in coconut milk seasoned scallions and thyme). Friday evenings are often filled with music of all types and on Saturday and Sunday a parade of brightly dressed women and children make their way to and from church.

The mountains are covered with coffee farms and mango trees. Unfortunately, the coffee farmers take detrimental losses on their crops each year due to erosion and lack of equipment. Although Hagley Gap is home to Blue Mountain Coffee, one of the best and most expensive coffees in the world, there is no fair trade coffee from Jamaica. Farmers only earn $10-$20 per day during coffee season.

The people walk almost everywhere as the infrastructure and access to transportation barely exists. Roads are not paved and are extremely narrow and dangerous. The roads become worse during the hurricane season as a result of landslides and flooding. Sometimes the roads are completely impassable, leaving entire villages cut off from food and other necessities.