"And all I offer here is the distilled poetry of my existence..." Claude McKay,
Poet Laureate of Jamaica, 1890-1848
I have been a reporter since 1998, covering mainly business and politics. I have also capitalized on the many skills journalism requires to become an all-around communications specialist. In addition to being a professional curious person and communicator, I have a bad case of the travel bug and can't seem to stay put. Finally, I have put my skills to work as a volunteer in the community wherever I have lived. Now, follow me as I combine these compartments of my life in Kingston, Jamaica, where I am a writer, reporter, journalist and lecturer.
Last week, I wrote about the Jamaica Diaspora Conference 2013. Today, the Jamaica Gleaner has a follow-up story on one of the outcomes of the conference and about one of the activities Cuso International is engaged in here in Jamaica. This project is aimed at connecting members of the Jamaican community who now live abroad with young entrepreneurs in inner-city communities. One young woman has already scored a scholarship and others, who are doing bee-keeping, computer-programming and music production are also attracting attention. Read more about this project here.
Some pics and a video from this morning’s hills run. We ran up for about 25 minutes. At the top, the view of Bull Bay is spectacular. There are few people, some unfinished houses and some bee houses (I don’t know what they are called?). There is also a road in progress that we followed and came upon a spectacular view of the community of 8 mile and Sugar Loaf Mountain. On our way down, we encountered an old Rasta hacking away at some bushes. He told us he was looking for a root that you can make tea with when you mix with serassee and milk. Enjoy your day!
This week, a remarkable young man named Javed Jaghai is taking the Jamaican government to court. Specifically, he is challenging the country’s buggery law, which makes some sex acts (including bestiality) a crime. In the run-up to her 2011 election, Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller promised to hold a conscience vote on this archaic law (it is from 1864!). Mr. Jaghai’s challenge also indirectly targets the country’s Charter of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms Act of 2011. Here is an excerpt from J-FLAG’s position statement on the challenge:
Sections 76, 77 & 79 of the Offences Against the Persons Act of 1864, collectively referred to as ‘the buggery law’, criminalize “the abominable crime of buggery” (defined as anal sex with any person or animal) and “gross indecency” (intimacy) between men. We submit that these catch-all definitions are inappropriate since they criminalize the sexual relationships of consenting adults in private and possibly violate the constitutional right to privacy of the home.
Some of the concern about repealing the buggery law stem from the fact that people feel that any changes will weaken the laws against assaulting children. So J-FLAG is calling instead for a “reading-down of the buggery law to de-criminalize the acts of consenting adults in private, NOT the repeal of the law itself.” Hopefully this will assuage lawmakers’ fears.
Homophobic noise is always loud in Jamaica, moreso lately with this court challenge. In fact, yesterday an anti-gay protest was held in Heroes’ Circle in downtown Jamaica, organized by church leaders. (I have been hard on the Jamaica Gleaner for its coverage of anything related to gay/homosexual issues, but today’s story is relatively well-balanced. For all the angles they could have chosen, they fairly sought out an alternative point of view that called on the protesting church leaders to focus on matters of more import, such as the high murder rate or the country’s dire financial situation. Even the Observer’s story, who I have been way more critical of, was not so bad. The opinions expressed in the story, however, are a little more difficult to take, especially coming from a 13–year-old girl, but everyone is entitled to these opinions, of course.)
There is no doubt that being a member (whether perceived as being a member or not, self-identified or not) of the LGBTQ community is difficult in Jamaica. A 2004 Human Rights Watch report paints a disturbing picture (with a focus on HIV/AIDS), and the Jamaica Forum for Lesbians, All-sexuals and Gays has recorded 198 incidents of harassment, violence and targeted attacks since 2011.
But J-FLAG and other allies continue to fight for basic human rights. (Check out their wonderful Youtube outreach campaign here.) This is courageous and important work. There is nothing more fundamental than ensuring citizens of all nations have equal access to universally guaranteed human rights. (I feel obligated to acknowledge, but not endorse, another point of view that I have heard since moving here: the homophobic agenda is a reaction to the oppressive colonial influence, which includes the reliance on the Bible’s tenets to live one’s life. I think it is important to acknowledge that this plays a role in shaping the country’s discourse on homophobia.)
Respondents felt that male (88%) and female (83.7%) homosexuality and bisexuality (83.5%) were immoral. Most respondents disagreed with amending both the buggery law (76.7%) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms to protect the rights of those who are part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community (65%). However, 21.3% said they would support an amendment allowing for consensual sex between adults in private.
In any case, I wish Mr. Jaghai luck this week. Although he will not need luck, just his powerful intellect and all the time, research and experience he brings to the table.
Today John, Rhonda, Carol and I joined TrainFit Club and a whole bunch of other personal trainers and their clients for a hike up in the Red Light District. Also known as Irish Town, I heard today that it was called the Red Light District for the reason you would think: soldiers from the nearby Jamaica Defence Force used to visit this area for particular services provided by women. Also, it is called Irish Town because Irishmen called coopers used to manufacture barrels for the coffee up there. It is gorgeous, cool and green up there. We walked for about 6K, going down steep terrain first, then up a path strewn with ripened mangoes. We then finished the hike with some jerk chicken and contests. It was a great day, although at the end of the hike, Rhonda and I encountered a young boy crying. He was just devastated and tired and afraid he couldn’t finish the hike. So I took his backpack and Rhonda and I walked with him and cheered him on. The bag was heavy and threw off my balance, so I fell hard on a steep hill, landing right on my tailbone. It is quite painful now but I can walk normally. Hopefully it will be ok tomorrow. Enjoy your Sunday!
Miley Cyrus makes music. She sings. As someone who loves pop music and does not discriminate against anyone who has a catchy tune, I still can’t wrap my head around this reality. For some reason, with Miley, I just can’t. Her voice is alarmingly unpleasant to me. But she has a new song out that I could neither avoid hearing nor watching. It disturbed me immediately and this wonderful piece on Jezebel articulates why it doesn’t sit well for me. Some serious thoughts on a Friday and enjoy the first day of summer!
Today was the second day of shooting for my project with Global Reporters for the Caribbean. We first had a riveting interview with Mrs. Diahann Gordon-Harrison, who heads the Office of the Children’s Advocate. She had some interesting and pointed words about the justice system when it comes to juveniles. We then went to get some B-roll shots (this is footage, or pictures, that are used to complete telling the story.) We went to Fort Augusta Adult Correctional Center, Metcalfe Remand Center and the madness that is Half-Way Tree. Now it is time to “log” the footage in the editing studio.
I am not the first to do international development work, nor will I be the last. In fact, I suspect this is a burgeoning industry, one of relatively wealthy, privileged, well-meaning individuals who venture off to an unknown country with their skills and abilities and education. And while there is nothing new going on about my experience in general, it is, of course, all new and exciting to me. There is so much rich and novel about moving, living and working somewhere, especially to a country that is so different from one’s own. And as a journalist, I naturally want to document it all and relate the experiences of how different things are from back home. Apparently, there is an entire subculture of people like me, blogging away about our time abroad. So where else but from the Internet would emerge a blog satirizing all of our musings about living somewhere different and doing development work?
Today, I will direct you to both this web site and an essay that provide two very different perspectives that help to shed light on what this whole development/aid worker stuff is all about. One is this brilliant (if slightly cranky and devoid of any idealism) blog Stuff Expat Aid Workers Like. A whole lot of it rings true for me, in a self-conscious, meta kind of way.
The other is this brilliant essay by someone I have just been made aware of (Thanks @MegFrauts!). It is an essay by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak called “Can the Subaltern Speak?. I have just started it, but apparently it is a very important piece in terms of understanding the implications of post-colonial development. Here is the link.
This week, Jamaicans from around the world are gathering up in Montego Bay for the Jamaica Diaspora Conference 2013. Roughly three million Jamaicans live around the world, representing a strong diaspora population. The majority are clustered in Canada, the U.S., the Cayman Islands and the U.K. This population accounts for $2 billion worth of remittances to Jamaica every year. (Visit jamaicadiasporaconnect.com for more information).
Seeing an opportunity to further capitalize on this, the government, private sector, civil society groups and the University of West Indies are looking to strengthen ties between Jamaicans abroad and their homeland. This is the 5th Annual such conference and many Cuso volunteers are attending the conference. It opened Sunday evening, with the Prime Minister in attendance. Here is what she told the audience:
“There is room and space for everyone to participate, and this Conference is a clarion call to all Jamaicans, at home and abroad, to engage in Jamaica’s drive for growth. I hope you will grasp the opportunities, which will be presented at this Conference for investments in business and social projects…We must not lose sight of the need to keep regenerating our Diaspora movement with new ideas and the boundless energies of our youth. We must increase our outreach to the youth of our Diaspora, and in so doing, build upon inspiring projects like the Diaspora Youth Connect, that is making a difference in inner-city communities like August Town, Trench Town, Mountain View, Tivoli Gardens, and Flanker,” she said.
The conference is focusing on several areas, including business development, the always popular topic of how to leverage “Brand Jamaica” and engaging future leaders. The theme of the conference is “A Nation on a Mission: Jamaica-Diaspora Partnership for Development.”
While many people are in attendance (apparently hotel occupancy up in MoBay is over 90 per cent), I have heard some people say that such a conference is useless and that the diaspora does not do enough to support its homeland. There was also a story in yesterday’s Gleaner in which a government opposition Member of Parliament called the conference a waste and merely a chance for people to vacation and enjoy a drink. Indeed, a member of the Canadian diaspora said past conferences have failed to mobilize any activity. From the Gleaner story:
Phillip Mascoll, an executive member of the Jamaican Diaspora Canada Foundation, said the absence of structure has prevented Jamaica from tapping resources in the diaspora.
“The first conference ever said ‘Harnessing the Potential’. Have we harnessed it? Not in any way at all. We simply have not got organised,” Mascoll said.
Certainly, it will amount to more than that, but it remains to be seen just how much more. And hopefully my colleagues are enjoying themselves and not working too hard!
Jamaica is an unpredictable place. This includes the transportation, both formal and informal. I mostly take the coasters and route taxis and have come to learn that what you would reasonably expect to be a regular, uneventful ride over a short distance is often never the case.
This morning, I was finishing up a run and caught a taxi up at the University of West Indies. The ride started out normally enough, except when we took a deep detour through August Town (a garrison community down the hill from the University) to drop off a woman and her son. That was fine.
Then, with the gospel tunes blaring, the driver picked up another woman and we made our way to Half Way Tree, on a different route than the route taxis usually take. On the way, we encountered three hefty cows meandering along the main road leading up to the campus. They looked like they had somewhere to be, the three of them. The driver slowed down and started heckling these cows. Now, heckling people out the window of a moving car is normal here. Everyone feels free to comment loudly on what they observe others doing, whether they know the person or not. But I have never seen anyone heckle an animal. The driver actually slowed down and waved at the cows out the window. He started going on and on about how these cows are in the road, how they are in the way, taking up too much room, going too slow and that their owner was irresponsible. His tirade lasted about three minutes. I had to laugh out loud. My two companions in the car, however, did not react, nor did the cows. They just kept on going to to where they had to be.
We then made a stop at the gas station where the driver drove around the pumps a few times before decided which one he liked. He filled up with $200J of gas ($2.00US) and went on a five-minute rant about how the last pump operator tried to rip him off and how the gas was “biffle buffle” (I have never heard that and don’t know what it means). We finally left the gas station, I finally made it home. A ride that should be about five minutes turned into almost half an hour. It is never boring here!
Today I won second place in my age group for the final 5K race in this series. It was not a personal best time but I still scored second place. Enjoy your Sunday!
