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A letter to the diaspora
Barbara Gloudon
Friday, May 18, 2007
DEAR COUSIN A FOREIGN:
These days, the letter columns of our daily newspapers are overwhelmed with correspondence from the diaspora. It seems that members of the Jamaican family living overseas - and that means almost every corner of the globe - have become greatly preoccupied with what is happening here.
From all the continents the opinions come - on the failings of the government, the lapses in all systems - education, health, justice, name it. Everybody writes to take note of our descent into crime and violence. Nobody makes any reference to how those same issues are affecting the countries where they're now domiciled.
On the face of it, poor JA is the only place where parents have cause to be concerned about their children's future or where the gun casts a deadly shadow over the landscape or where the cost of daily survival goes Up, but not Down. I guess you don't wish to add to our burdens by telling us about your challenges, but you know. it might help sometimes to admit that the whole world is in a state of turmoil and we're not unique - nor are you.
We cannot excuse the mess we get ourselves into Down Here. How on earth did we end up in a situation where the reporting of senseless violence is the major preoccupation of today's media? The story of who shot whom is told with such frequency that it has become almost like a script learnt by rote. We know exactly how each report will begin and how it ends. What we are not hearing is where the guns and the bullets come from. The only thing we know is that we don't make them.
Uncle Roxie, who went to war but never fired a gun, said the other day that the only gun he really knew was a plant called "duppy pop gun" which made a pop-pop sound when bits of it were pulled apart. Well, that done and gone long time. Is the real McCoy we have to deal with these days and don't ask if it hasn't exhausted us.
Everybody, it seems, has advice on what we should do. Many of the family from where you are, write to say if only one could get our people educated and give them all jobs and opportunities for more earnings, then the crime will abate. The guns will go away. Cousin, I wrestle with that. If only it were that simple then not only us, but every other country in the world would have no crime. If everybody could be made educated and wealthy, there'd be no need to steal or kill. So why isn't it happening Up There, where you have such an abundance, or so we're led to believe?
Many of you write to say how distressed you are at the reports that our young people are becoming semi-illiterate failures. Although it is not popular to say so, Cousin, I have problems with that blanket condemnation. I do not doubt that there are students who have been given a bum deal, as you call it in your lingo, but this should not be taken to mean that every Jamaican student is some kind of half-idiot product of a failed system.
We have some of those, but we have also produced some fine students right here. Many of them go on to excel right where you are as well as here, contrary to what you may have heard. They couldn't have done it without a good foundation. There's much more to be done and many people determined to do it. How could I deny that we have a lot to do, many more miles to travel, to attain the ultimate reward which we all seek for our children - and ourselves. So, I beg you, tek time wid wi, the next time yuh write.
PLEASE DON'T GET THE IMPRESSION that I'm dissing you or your letters here. Your generosity is appreciated. The old school is grateful for every donation which you make to the development fund. Through the generosity of yourself and others, they've been able to add some new classrooms to lessen the overcrowding and also increased the number of computers in the library. Thanks for your promise to help them go even further.
Aunt Cissie asks me to thank you for the dollars you send each month. It goes a long way towards her medical bills. We have to be persuading her, however, that it is no point wanting to migrate to live with you (whether you invite her or not). She is convinced that Jamaica is the only place where one is charged hospital bills and has to pay for medication. She says she hears that Up There you get all of that for free.
She's not interested in the things said via the television about Medicare and all that about health insurance. That has nothing to do with you and her. As to what's happening here is just bad mind and crumoochin why we don't have everything free, she says.
I hope you don't get the idea that I'm trying to give the impression that we're all here singing with Bob Marley, Every little thing is gonna be all right. We not so fool to dat, according to Uncle Thomas. How could I defend a story like this? In a certain rural community, pipes were needed for the extension of the water system. No sooner were they delivered than they disappeared - just so. Rumours spread as to who took them and why.
Then, after kass-kass had reached its peak, the member of parliament led the community on a search. The pipes were found. The water scheme is back on track. Has anyone been arrested and charged? If the pipes disappeared, someone had to have moved them and since they weren't theirs, then the law should speak to that, don't it? Apparently it didn't, not yet at least. You see now why everybody has no respect for us?
WITH ALL THAT, please think kindly of us. Send positive thoughts as we move into the Election Zone. Whoever is to win will win, and who to lose will lose, then life will go on. Pray that we do not take the campaign to such a low that not only you but others outside the family will regard us yet again as leggo beasts. They've said it before. They could say it again.
I fully agree when you say that it is full time we grew up and showed that we're worthy of being participants in democracy. Add to that Uncle Harry's advice that we should know that the rest of the world is not holding its breath for us to sort out our business. These are not the days, said he, when other people regarded our electoral business as their electoral business. His text to all Jamaica: "Grow up. Get a life." Next time, he says, he'll send it in a letter to the editor, just as soon as he gets the hang of this thing called email. Tell him Aunt Cassie is ahead of him in the technology. She says to tell him to hurry and visit so she can show him that she has two cellphones for herself, like everyone else Down Here.
Aunt Cassie plans to be buried with them. For one, they're top of the line and she says she has no intention of wasting them on her worthless relatives here. For the other, she wants to call back, she says, to see if we've learnt anything from the past.
YOUR COUSIN B.
gloudonb@yahoo.com
Barbara Gloudon
Friday, May 18, 2007
DEAR COUSIN A FOREIGN:
These days, the letter columns of our daily newspapers are overwhelmed with correspondence from the diaspora. It seems that members of the Jamaican family living overseas - and that means almost every corner of the globe - have become greatly preoccupied with what is happening here.
From all the continents the opinions come - on the failings of the government, the lapses in all systems - education, health, justice, name it. Everybody writes to take note of our descent into crime and violence. Nobody makes any reference to how those same issues are affecting the countries where they're now domiciled.
On the face of it, poor JA is the only place where parents have cause to be concerned about their children's future or where the gun casts a deadly shadow over the landscape or where the cost of daily survival goes Up, but not Down. I guess you don't wish to add to our burdens by telling us about your challenges, but you know. it might help sometimes to admit that the whole world is in a state of turmoil and we're not unique - nor are you.
We cannot excuse the mess we get ourselves into Down Here. How on earth did we end up in a situation where the reporting of senseless violence is the major preoccupation of today's media? The story of who shot whom is told with such frequency that it has become almost like a script learnt by rote. We know exactly how each report will begin and how it ends. What we are not hearing is where the guns and the bullets come from. The only thing we know is that we don't make them.
Uncle Roxie, who went to war but never fired a gun, said the other day that the only gun he really knew was a plant called "duppy pop gun" which made a pop-pop sound when bits of it were pulled apart. Well, that done and gone long time. Is the real McCoy we have to deal with these days and don't ask if it hasn't exhausted us.
Everybody, it seems, has advice on what we should do. Many of the family from where you are, write to say if only one could get our people educated and give them all jobs and opportunities for more earnings, then the crime will abate. The guns will go away. Cousin, I wrestle with that. If only it were that simple then not only us, but every other country in the world would have no crime. If everybody could be made educated and wealthy, there'd be no need to steal or kill. So why isn't it happening Up There, where you have such an abundance, or so we're led to believe?
Many of you write to say how distressed you are at the reports that our young people are becoming semi-illiterate failures. Although it is not popular to say so, Cousin, I have problems with that blanket condemnation. I do not doubt that there are students who have been given a bum deal, as you call it in your lingo, but this should not be taken to mean that every Jamaican student is some kind of half-idiot product of a failed system.
We have some of those, but we have also produced some fine students right here. Many of them go on to excel right where you are as well as here, contrary to what you may have heard. They couldn't have done it without a good foundation. There's much more to be done and many people determined to do it. How could I deny that we have a lot to do, many more miles to travel, to attain the ultimate reward which we all seek for our children - and ourselves. So, I beg you, tek time wid wi, the next time yuh write.
PLEASE DON'T GET THE IMPRESSION that I'm dissing you or your letters here. Your generosity is appreciated. The old school is grateful for every donation which you make to the development fund. Through the generosity of yourself and others, they've been able to add some new classrooms to lessen the overcrowding and also increased the number of computers in the library. Thanks for your promise to help them go even further.
Aunt Cissie asks me to thank you for the dollars you send each month. It goes a long way towards her medical bills. We have to be persuading her, however, that it is no point wanting to migrate to live with you (whether you invite her or not). She is convinced that Jamaica is the only place where one is charged hospital bills and has to pay for medication. She says she hears that Up There you get all of that for free.
She's not interested in the things said via the television about Medicare and all that about health insurance. That has nothing to do with you and her. As to what's happening here is just bad mind and crumoochin why we don't have everything free, she says.
I hope you don't get the idea that I'm trying to give the impression that we're all here singing with Bob Marley, Every little thing is gonna be all right. We not so fool to dat, according to Uncle Thomas. How could I defend a story like this? In a certain rural community, pipes were needed for the extension of the water system. No sooner were they delivered than they disappeared - just so. Rumours spread as to who took them and why.
Then, after kass-kass had reached its peak, the member of parliament led the community on a search. The pipes were found. The water scheme is back on track. Has anyone been arrested and charged? If the pipes disappeared, someone had to have moved them and since they weren't theirs, then the law should speak to that, don't it? Apparently it didn't, not yet at least. You see now why everybody has no respect for us?
WITH ALL THAT, please think kindly of us. Send positive thoughts as we move into the Election Zone. Whoever is to win will win, and who to lose will lose, then life will go on. Pray that we do not take the campaign to such a low that not only you but others outside the family will regard us yet again as leggo beasts. They've said it before. They could say it again.
I fully agree when you say that it is full time we grew up and showed that we're worthy of being participants in democracy. Add to that Uncle Harry's advice that we should know that the rest of the world is not holding its breath for us to sort out our business. These are not the days, said he, when other people regarded our electoral business as their electoral business. His text to all Jamaica: "Grow up. Get a life." Next time, he says, he'll send it in a letter to the editor, just as soon as he gets the hang of this thing called email. Tell him Aunt Cassie is ahead of him in the technology. She says to tell him to hurry and visit so she can show him that she has two cellphones for herself, like everyone else Down Here.
Aunt Cassie plans to be buried with them. For one, they're top of the line and she says she has no intention of wasting them on her worthless relatives here. For the other, she wants to call back, she says, to see if we've learnt anything from the past.
YOUR COUSIN B.
gloudonb@yahoo.com
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