Its challenges education, jobs, selfsufficiency. They were 12,000 before the eruptions. I dont know how many theyre going to be in 10 years. rose willock montserrat has always been a place where people from different parts of the world came to, starting from the 16th or 17th century, when the irish people first came. Montserrat adopted several place names and people names very similar to ireland. Our National Colors are green and white. And of course, you see the greenery around you. The hills and the valleys and the goats; so typical of ireland. However, the sea, thats for everyones sight, the mountains, that are for everyones sight. How can you not love montserrat . Sophie Fouron rose willock, journalist and radio talk show host. She chose to stay on montserrat for better or worst. Known as the voice of montserrat, this is her island. rose willock we have a population which is comprised of persons who live here from different parts of the caribbean and outside of the caribbean, including the united kingdom. Following the volcanic activity, about 8,000 of our population had to go abroad because we did not have enough accommodation to facilitate them in the north. Prior to this, the north was considered one of the least developed parts of montserrat because most of the people worked in plymouth and plymouth being the capital, thats where most of the jobs were. Originally, the island was given in terms of size as 39 square miles, now we say its well passed 45 square miles and growing, primarily because of all the material, the millions of tons of material that were brought down through volcanic eruptions. It is true that for over 8,000 of us, we lost our properties, we lost our livelihoods. We lost loved ones too, because in june of 1997, about 19 persons died and a few others are considered missing. So it has been traumatic, but in spite of that, because we are a very religious community, we always say we have life. rod stewart the volcanoes up here behind all the clouds, to the left handside, we have lots and lots of deposits from the 2010 collapse. And then on the right handsight of the volcano, theres a big plain of volcanic deposits that have come down in pyroclastic flows from the dome. And then after that is another hill, georges hill. Its a major landform. And then next to that is the actual port of plymouth itself. The full plain basically comes all the way down behind the hill to the sea in plymouth. Scientifically, it was being monitored and we had two years of activity before the actual lava started coming out. So it was clear that something was happening. On the other hand, if you had asked us in 1995 would it last more than 20 years . , we would have laughed in your face. Weve had five periods when lava has come out, and five pauses when nothing has happened, and were currently in a pause. Nothings happening in the surface. But our monitoring shows that theres still something pushing up underneath the volcano. Theres still something trying to get out. And thats why were still very weary of allowing people around the volcano because we know it has the potential to do something, and perhaps do it quickly. And its when it does something quickly, that the real dangers lie. Two thirds of the island is sort of inaccessible to people and this shows it perfectly. This is a satellite image of montserrat. Its a thermal infrared image. So vegetation shows up as red. Its hot. And the grey areas show where all pyroclastic flows have gone. So this is the volcano itself here, and weve had flows in all these different directions. So really, here has all been affected by the volcano. And thats about 60 of the island. And it is essentially offlimits because places that have been affected before will be affected again in any future eruption. Weve had one occasion when we had no precursors, nothing had happened for a month and suddenly we had an explosion in the volcano. No warning at all. And within two minutes, a pyroclastic flow had gone from the volcano down to near the sea of plymouth behind me. If youd had people in plymouth, they would have not been able to get out. Sophie Fouron this looks like an abandoned house. A little abandoned house. Like there are thousands on montserrat. But its actually a big abandoned house, because all we see is the top floor. The floors below are underneath, covered by mud over the years and nature has taken over. A lot of people owned houses like these on montserrat. They had to leave 20 years ago because of the volcano. Your whole capital was just gone. david lea it was a gorgeous place. Youd have seen people in golf carts, and there would have been a flag right there on the green there, youd drive back down in the valley. But thats all about 35 or 40 feet below us. This is all mudflows that have come year after year, after year, and filled in the entire valley. This is a big village here. That used to be a big village. Yeah. All this whole road, this would have been people going up and down on bicycles and kids playing in the street, kids dressed up in their uniforms to go to school. There are houses all over, if you look in the bushes, youll see houses all along here. This is typical here. Sophie Fouron look at that. My god. So, were entering the zone. The zone. The zone. This is the zone. Youre not supposed to be in here, but youve been given the privilege of going in the exclusion zone. Right. david lea thats a barge that comes in and they load it with these big trucks, roll on, roll off, dump it, and the next truck comes and it does it over again. When they fill it up, it is exported to islands where they dont have that kind of material. Sophie Fouron whats the material, david . david lea its the sand. Its one of the best materials you can build with that you could ever find. So its actually a good thing coming from the volcano. Theres a positive effect. Very positive. There are five companies, all locally owned, that export like this. Almost every day of the week, theres something leaving montserrat. Sophie Fouron how much is this worth, you think . david lea ive heard estimates of xcd 100,000. Thats a big barge, it might be more. There are different sized barges. So about usd 50,000. Usd 40,000 or 45,000, yeah. Sophie Fouron this is quite impressive, david. What are we looking at . david lea they call this town hill. This was a very busy metropolis. I mean for a caribbean island, it was ancient. It had wonderful buildings and everything, people up and down all day long. And it was just little by little buried by layer after layer of mudflows. I might mention this is probably the most dangerous place to be on montserrat, right here, because if that big mass of material thats up on the dome still, 400 or 500 degrees centigrade, was to have a regional earthquake or something, a pyroclastic flow could be down here in minutes. I mean, it would cover the pier. So were all pointing in that direction, ready to go, in case that happens. Oh, with the cars, you mean . Yeah, thats why everybody parks facing that direction, so that we can make a quick getaway. Thats interesting. david lea were on the main street, going into plymouth. Thats a gas station. Thats a texaco station, believe it or not. There were gas pumps right here. That roof, you know, that was over top, that was probably 15 feet down to where the gas pumps are. And there was a big texaco sign right across the front. Its all gone now. This is the barclays bank. These roofs theyre just barely sticking up. And thats the cinema. Oh, boy. The screen was where the wall is sticking up there, and all the seats that angled down towards the screen were there. This is angelos. They now have another place out in the north, but it was a big grocery store. And then up top were places, apartments and stuff where you could stay. How many floors deep here, do we have . This is only maybe 8 or 9 feet deep here. Eight or nine. The streets about 8 feet below us. O. K. How long has it been like that for . Oh gosh. Its been ongoing. Every time we get big rains, hurricane seasons, stuff like that, you get another 2, 3, 4 or 8 inches of mud that will work its way over here. Plymouth was evacuated though in 1995, way back in 1995 . They evacuated once in late 1995, and then 1996 and again in 1997. Each time, they went back thinking that it might be o. K, and then it wasnt. Then finally, i think it was april 3rd of 1997, they went out and never went back. But each time, youd think it was going to be o. K. Because theyd say bring your toothbrush, bring a few Little Things of food, bring your passport, and youd always think you were going to go back home. Sophie Fouron do you still see stuff that youve never seen before . helicopter pilot every once in awhile, ill see a place where the roof has caved in and i can see somebodys closet with clothes hanging in. Still there. Yep, because they left thinking they were coming back, so theres a lot of stuff that got left behind. Most of the rooftops had collapsed already, but theres still one or two that havent and i went by and there were all these clothes hanging in there. luc rozon this is a baby turtle thats going to sea right now. Were going to save it. Yes, were going to put it in there. Oh, absolutely yes, were not bringing it back. No, not at all. No. Sophie Fouron all of the beaches, except one, have black sand. Yes. Yes, this one. O. K. Like this one. Look at this. Volcanic sand. Yes. Actually, it gets very hot, this sand. Oh yeah, look at that. manon rozon when the sun just hits on it, its very hard to keep your foot on there. And also if you have a backache or muscle pain, you just lay in it and it heals. It has a healing property. Hes happy here. Sophie Fouron the name of the beach is woodlands, right . Woodlands beach, yes. You live right there. Yeah, were just five houses. We live five houses away. This is a public beach, but its hardly ever full. Now and then, you see a couple of people come just before sunset. Its a very cozy place for people to meet. Its just for that occasion. This is your special place, your little paradise. Its our hideaway. Yes. Your hideaway. Hideaway. But how did you end up here in the first place . Its a long story. Its a childhood dream. I was fascinated by the stories of the pirates of the caribbean, the swiss family robinson; its just, that amazed me. I saw an ad one time in the globe and mail magazine 26 years ago for a villa for rent in montserrat. And in the morning when i got up, because we came in after dark, in the morning when i got up, i looked outside, i looked around, and it was exactly what i had imagined all these years. Incredible. That was before the internet. There was nothing on montserrat available. Sophie Fouron are you guys montserratians now . luc rozon i dont consider myself a montserratian. No. Id like to, but we get along good with the people. Yes. Theyre very gentle people. They have a touch of irish blood. Whats the link with the irish . Well, ireland. England used to send the irish people here as slaves. And then in time, they brought in the black from africa, and the irish and the black mixed well. And thats why you see sometimes in the natives that they have bluish, greyish eyes there. Thats from the irish. Thats the mix. Thats the mix. Sophie Fouron its a u. K. Overseas territory. Yes. The relationship with the u. K. , how does that work . Well, its a colony. There are sometimes frictions, but its been good to montserrat to a certain point, especially with this situation. When the volcano erupted, these people all lost their homes. manon rozon england has always provided for montserrat, because since its colony from. Was there any moment when they thought they should close down montserrat . Yes. They would have closed down the island. That would have been economically the easiest thing to do, to just bring everyone into the british system. Because they have the british passport. Yes. O. K. But this is only since the volcano. Prior to the volcano, they had the colony passport. But now, if they went to england, theyd give them the European Union passport. Automatically. Yeah, automatically. So it was tempting in a way because they lost everything. But at that time, even then, 2,500 people refused to leave. Sophie Fouron they just did not want to leave their island. No, i think its the irish blood, you know . No, im just kidding. Look at this exactly. Its. Its beautiful right. Their roots are here. Yeah, its home. Their roots are here. Its home for them. Right. And every montserratian that comes back from abroad, they nearly kiss the soil when they get off the plane. Theyre so happy to be back home. To them, this is their home and they love their homeland. manon rozon thats what you do here, in montserrat. You simplify. You learn how to simplify. You dont look very unhappy doing that. No, not at all. No, and you learn to repair things. At home, something doesnt work, what do you do . You throw it away. You throw it away. Buy a new one. Yeah. Yeah. Here, ive learned how to repair chainsaws. Ive learned how to repair about everything. One thing i appreciate on this island, theres no absolute poverty like you see in some other places. No one is hungry on this island. People are happy, people are smiling. It really is a good atmosphere. rose willock montserrat was considered to be the great basket of the caribbean, from the point of view that it produced quite a lot of vegetables and fruits. And these were exported to places like antigua, neighbouring islands antigua, saintkitts and nevis, even dominica. And perhaps for the fields. But following the volcanic crisis when two thirds of the island became uninhabitable, and thats where most of the Agricultural Farms were, in the areas where much of the food was grown, we had to come here to the northern third of the island that is considered dry, not very good soil for cultivation. Some of our farmers, they have become very creative in the proper use of the land space that they have. Youll observe, as you travel in the northern third, youll see that there are a lot of steep inclines. The people are able to cultivate some land around their homes and in the immediate neighbourhoods, and create contours, you know, so that you dont lose the soil and that the moisture and water can remain. So theyre able to grow things. The farmer we are visiting loves farming, but he also collects produce from other small farms in the neighbourhood. He takes them to one location each weekend and he sells them, and gives the farmers whatever he sells. rose willock and theres a little guava coming here. You see there . rose willock there are several actually. Theyre not ripe yet. rose willock ishmael, you have to put some little steps for us to step down, man. rose willock theres a lot for you to do. rose willock because it would be tearing up the land, as you know. You cant get tractors coming in to do the. rose willock this is a contour using little bits of galvanized or galvalume if you like, to hold up the soil, so youre able to plant, yes . Yeah. You made different beds, obviously. Thats great. Oh, and the pineapple. I see you have some pineapple here as well. Oh yeah, the aubergines are over here. Great these are tiny little aubergines here. We still have access to the produce. Dominica has a boat that comes on every week with bananas, and dasheen and potatoes and cucumbers and that sort of stuff. They come every week. They sell at the port, the little bay port, people buy in bulk and then they sell in supermarkets. However, were looking towards a day when montserrat again can be selfsufficient in food, you know. Especially the foods that we used to grow. manon rozon sometimes we do miss things, but you know, we have the privilege of sending barrels. luc rozon you find everything you need here, but not necessarily a great variety. Were always pleased when we get it. We see a fruit cake. Sophie Fouron oh yeah Little Things you dont necessarily get, like maple syrup. Things like that. luc rozon usually, its family members who send it, or friends. Or in our case, we pack our own and we ship it. Its something that was started several years ago, and the government has been very good to the people with this, because montserrat has heavy taxes. But once a year, they give grace for people receiving barrels. What type of fish do you catch . All types, all sorts. Are you getting the lobster . Once in a while. Once in a while . I got them yesterday, so im going to be eating them. So youre going to have a feast here this afternoon. Yeah, barbecue. Sophie Fouron do you often buy fish from them . Sometimes we do buy fish. It depends what they have. It depends. Yes. The fish here, there are all sorts of varieties of fish. It depends if they have mahimahi, which is. Well mahimahi, but they have wahoo here, like mahimahi, which is a nice white fish. Its very nice to eat. They have all sorts, like red snapper and different types of fish too. They usually come in to port or on the beaches around 10 oclock, and then they fill the pickup with fish they caught for the day, and its sold. You choose what you want. Some of the varieties that the local people buy are different from what were used to. So thats why you see frozen fish from overseas in the market. Also, the seas are rough. Theres a lot of fish in the ocean, but its depending on the boat size that you have. If you go out there, its very rough, you wont make it. Thats why theres no fishing then. luc rozon you asked me earlier if i felt montserratian. Right. In a way, i do. Your heart is certainly here. It sure is. I can feel it. When i go back home, i feel depressed. I do feel depressed when i go back home, and see the stress. I go back usually in april. I see people running in, running out of stores. manon rozon its stressful back home compared to here. And traffic. Here, we had traffic jam this morning. They cut a tree down. We waited a couple of minutes. Thats it. Or sometimes youll have two cars, they meet, then they talk, and then they go. Thats the traffic jam in montserrat. Sophie Fouron so, you guys, youve been coming here for more than 25 years, so youve seen it all. Ive seen a lot. Maybe not all, but ive seen a lot. O. K. Lets talk about the volcano. Because we cant talk about montserrat without talking about the volcano. Thats true. Lets talk about the ones in 1995 and 1997. We were here in those years. It was pretty rock and roll. Because people lost. Had to leave, they were evacuating. They really did not have time to gather their belongings and leave. They could have done it at first, but they never thought it would do this damage. Based on other volcanoes in the caribbean, like guadeloupe, it blows up, makes a mess and goes back to sleep. This one lasted over 15 years. It was the largest eruption ever. On the island. Yes. The cloud of ash and smoke went up 55,000 feet. manon rozon yeah, and we have to remember too, the smaller eruptions only lasted 10 to 15 minutes. luc rozon i wasnt scared stiff. And the sounds . Its like a truckload of big rocks just tumbling over. Like a tenwheeler with large stones. And cannons. Sophie Fouron youre still here. manon and luc rozon yes. Youre not going anywhere. manon and luc rozon no. luc rozon why . Look around you, sophie. Yeah, i should. Look at this. You see, people buy these plants in pots back home. Thats true. For 12 a pot. Here, they grow as weeds. Look at the beauty, the natural beauty. This has never changed. This was always like this. rose willock our paradise is being able to live on this wonderful little rock as we call it. We have this peace and quiet where you can lose your cellphone or your mobile phone. You call the local Radio Station. You let them know that if anyone has seen your cellphone or whatever item you would have lost, drop it off at the nearest Police Station or to the Radio Station and it happens within minutes. And your purse or wallet will be sent or taken here with all the money in it, intact. So that is the type of paradise that we talk about. Despite all the challenges we have had with the volcano, we have not once had a water shortage. We have the best spring water in the world. We have undergone a very extended period of drought, but as soon as the rains begin, two days after, the place is all green again. And because of the ash from the volcano, which as we know, is a natural fertilizer, Everything Grows at a rapid pace. luc rozon youll see these mountains and the openings. Its absolutely gorgeous. This was always like this. When you guys come back in november, you must be excited, but the people here, are they excited as well . Yes, they are theyre very welcoming. Theyre very welcoming, and its not rare that when i go shopping or go to the bank, they always say welcome back . John is one of your friends here. Yes. Where did you meet him . Actually, we were at the dive shop in little bay, and johns place is very close, maybe 50 feet away. And i see my daughter come out with a plate of food. I say where did you get that food . She says from john i say where . She says from the restaurant, right here and i look at it, and all i see is bush. Theres no sign. Theres no sign no sign at all. I said elise, where did you get it . She says over there but its just bush and im looking, i walk in, and i see tables, chairs, and as youre moving in, you need practically a machete to go indoors. I was going to say theres the machete again. And this is where i met john. Weve been friends ever since. Sophie Fouron hello john luc rozon hi john hey how are you doing . Good, yourself . Good to see you this is nice. Do you do this every day . Oh no. Sundays. Sundays. And you started. 25 years ago, from an icebox and a grill. The grill was right. From an icebox . Yeah. What did you have in the icebox . What can you hold in an icebox . Two beers, two drinks, two cokes, and a ginger ale. rose willock in terms of younger persons trying to return to montserrat, it depends on several factors. One, if theyre coming back to montserrat with a skill that montserrat needs, then they can apply for such a job if its vacant, if its available. For others, it depends on what you do, you can operate out of montserrat. I do that when i do interviews with all the International Media for instance, where the world is a global village. Sophie Fouron you were born here, raised around the caribbean, but youre back now. Yes. How come . Ten years ago, i got divorced and started over, i just wanted a different place, something slower for me and the kids to kind of get ourselves together, recalibrate. And the right opportunity came up, and i came home and worked for the government for about four and a half years. And then i decided to step out on my own and do some work and other things i wanted to do