Early this morning I went downtown with Zahra Burton of 18 Degrees North to meet some of our community journalists. This is part of the project I have been talking about to train community members from across Jamaica in investigative journalism. It is organized by Global Reporters for the Caribbean and in partnership with USAID’s COMET II and National Integrity Action. At the end of the three-month period, which is upon us, we will have produced 10 stories that have underlying them an attempt to hold authorities to account, shine a light on an issue that doesn’t normally get attention and provide a voice to those who may not have one.

We were going on air on POWER 106 with hosts Damion Mitchell and Althea McKenzie to discuss one of 10 stories we will be publishing in the next few weeks.

In this case, a mother, Lushana Bennett, tragically lost her 11-year-old daughter, Donye Coore, to an asthma attack. The family (her step-brother carried her on his shoulders) attempted to get her to the hospital in time, but she perished upon arriving there. The family feels, and doctors corroborate, that if the roads were in better condition, young Donye would have have survived. She was just 11 and she had just completed her GSAT exams.

Done was from the community of Mount Industry, a small district of about 2,000 people high in the hills above Kingston. The road to their community can not even be called a road, more of a rocky foot path. As a result, it is not accessible by car. People have to walk about 2.5 miles to get a taxi and farmers must carry their goods on their heads. When it rains, children cannot go to school and the elderly have a hard time getting health care.

In other words, this community for decades has been denied basic services such as health care, which are guaranteed by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So one may ask, why do they live there? As the community journalist, Suzette Walters put it, “Because we own the land! We pay taxes and we vote.”  Indeed, voter turnout is relatively high in this district, according to Elections Jamaica. It also goes back to the days when the slaves were freed, one expert in the subject told me. They wanted to flee as far from the plantations as possible, so they fled to the hills.

In any case, this girl should not have died. But her mother was brave and strong on the radio show. She was later joined by former MP for the area Damion Crawford, current MP Juliet Holness and Action Medical Officer of Health for the South East Regional Health Authority Debbie Carrington.

The interview was lively, informative and hopefully will result in some action. Mrs. Holness explained in a call to me after the interview that she has been trying to address the situation for awhile now. However, it is complicated by overlapping government agencies, a lack of funding and other competing demands.

Overall, this is what journalism is all about and what we hoped this program would result in: accountability and action.

I am currently working with National Integrity Action on a journalism training program. Here’s a little bit more about them from my friend Emma Lewis. She writes about them today in her blog for the Jamaica Gleaner. Check it out here.

This is an excellent piece in the New Yorker on who is probably Jamaica’s most underrated observer- Stuart Hall, the cultural theorist. Observer is not a sufficient term, however. Hall carved out a niche for himself as a cultural studies professor and academic and orator. I read some Hall for a paper I presented a couple of years ago and was struck mostly by his sensitivity- academics often cast only a cold, objective eye on what they are observing. In any case, I cannot do sufficient justice to his biography or accomplishments- the piece is worth a read.

Some good news, if there can be any, coming out of the U.S. related to the lottery scam, which I wrote about a few months ago for the Guardian.

The mastermind behind one of the most lucrative scamming rings has pleaded guilty in a deal with federal prosecutors in North Dakota. Lavrick Willocks could face up to 40 years in prison and will be required to pay restitution.

Yesterday we attended a performance of the Jamaica Military Band. It is a free performance at Hope Gardens every third Sunday of the month. The field was filled with families and elderly people from the Golden Age Retirement Home, who sat in chairs at the front. The actual Military Band, clad in their full costumes, performed first, then after a break, another military band took the stage. This one had the crowd dancing and singing, as they put their spin on some reggae classics. It seems everyone had a great time, especially the children who ran back and forth up the hills.

Not sure what this even means, but CNN has declared Jamaica to be the third coolest nationality in the world. I wonder how they define cool. If it is confidence, you can’t deny that Jamaica ranks up there, in fact, I would put them at number one. If it culture, same thing, but this is all subjective I guess. Not so cool? The high murder rate and “widespread” homophobia, according to the list’s author.

Who beat Jamaica? Brazilians and Singaporeans. Check out the list here .

An extensive history of the rich and famous’ antics in Jamaica in Tatler. Check it out here.

As I spoke about yesterday, I am currently in the midst of a project funded by USAID. And there are many other examples of USAID’s presence, in Kingston, around the island and in tiny towns in remote locations. I’ve been wondering how President Trump’s view on international aid and development would manifest in places like Jamaica. Will he cancel funding altogether? What about the Peace Corps?

This New York Times article sheds some light on the issue, and it is not promising. We don’t have any indication from the President in terms of policy or direction. Speculation is all there is right now.

I am currently in the end stages of a community journalism training program. We have trained roughly 30 people in how to be an investigative journalist. Everything from interviewing, to researching to writing and editing. It has been an exhausting but rewarding experience and at the end of it, we will have 10 investigative pieces published in the media. It seems this type of program is exactly what journalism needs here, when we see headlines like this:

Granted, this story appears in the Jamaica Star, but I still wonder how the editor let it get through the door. It meets none of the basic criteria for a legitimate news story, although the reporter apparently did do an interview with the source. I guess it is more entertainment, although it seems to be slightly exploitative. In any case, check out the story here if you wish.

A good feature on Chronixx in the New York Times today. I must disagree with this one quote, however, can’t see this ever happening:

“There may soon be a time when the general public completely forgets that reggae music comes from Jamaica,” said the British reggae journalist Reshma B.