There's no place like home

TAMARA SCOTT-WILLIAMS

Sunday, October 02, 2011

I am in touch with that fabulous dynamo, Donette Chin Loy, who is on the Grand Jamaica Homecoming Committee -- a group of Jamaicans, Jamaican-Canadians, and people who love Jamaica. They are excited about celebrating the 50th anniversary of our Independence and making an impact in a meaningful way.

I was terribly disappointed and sorry for Jamaica when Donette left here years ago and returned to Canada. Professionally, she left a bit of a void (the powerhouse PR maven that she is) and socially she could always be counted on for unreserved fun and graciousness.

Anyway, I remain consoled by the fact that she stays in constant touch with the island and is working feverishly abroad with co-chair Toni Spooner to create a Canadian awakening and movement that will inspire Jamaicans and friends of Jamaica to 'come home' to the island for an authentic Jamaican experience during our 2012 anniversary year.

The Grand Jamaica Homecoming was originally conceived in 2003 by co-chair Cynthia Reyes, whose notion of "coming home" appealed to her after a visit to Jamaica in 2000. Reyes had spent many years away from the island and felt the powerful pull of the homeland.

"My mother and Jamaica both fed and nourished me and I came back home to Canada strengthened," she said. "I took my daughter to Jamaica for the first time in 2003. She loved it unreservedly and asked why we had not brought her there earlier. It was a bigger question than it sounded. Can a 'memory of home' be about more than one place? Yes. Can home be in two different countries? Yes. But it's really up to the individual. For me, home is never just a house or a piece of geography. Home is a feeling. At the heart of the feeling called home, are people I have loved, dreams I nurtured, and memories of precious experiences I have had."

She recounted a weekend where two Jamaicans -- one living in America, the other in Canada -- sat with her on the verandah of her house in Toronto. They talked about their special feelings for the countries where they now live, and for Jamaica. The talk turned to retirement and to where they'd want to live when they got older.

"I may have to retire in the US, and that would be okay," said one. "But my heart is in Jamaica. If at all possible, that's where I will go."

"It would be Jamaica for me too", said the Canadian resident. "There's no place like home."

And that is the catalyst for celebrations which will serve not only to reconnect Jamaicans in the diaspora with the land of their birth, but it will impact economically, socially and psychologically on Jamaicans in Jamaica.

Grand Jamaica Homecoming has over 20 committee members in Canada and Jamaica lending their expertise to Homecoming plans in the areas of tourism, culture, travel and hospitality, fund-raising, education, communications, marketing, finance and administration, public relations, social media, and outreach.

The Grand Jamaica Homecoming Committee works closely with the Jamaica 50 Secretariat in Jamaica that reports to the minister of youth, sports and culture, the high commissioner of Jamaica in Canada, consul general to Jamaica in Canada, Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, and The University of the West Indies, and will work closely with and support organisations such as Food for the Poor Canada and PACE, along with other like organisations in 'giving forward' in the area of childhood education.

Patron of the Homecoming Raymond Chang, OJ, says: "Jamaica gave us our foundation so we never forget Jamaica and our hearts are always with the place that made us who we are -- notwithstanding the thousands of us who live outside of Jamaica."

And there are thousands -- 231,100 persons of Jamaican origin in Canada -- and the committee insists that "there is a little piece of Jamaica in everyone; it's a country, a culture, a home, a spirit, it's a part of who you are, it's in you".

That diaspora, says Patron Michael Lee Chin, is important because it's the first concentric circle of investors... as they understand the landscape and will not be deterred by the difference between perception and reality.

If all of the Jamaicans gone abroad took part in activities planned for next year — and there are many on the 32-page-long list on their website www.comehomejamaica.com — the movement could be a catalyst for unlimited economic and cultural opportunities. In fact, the website is a great source of information and entertainment, especially the first person "My Jamaica" which features the comments of regular people taking a stroll down memory lane, Jamaica. Hilarious.

Homecoming activities are planned for here in Jamaica as well as in Toronto. The Literature and Arts Committee will be spearheading cultural activities in Toronto that serve to commemorate and celebrate Jamaican culture and heritage in Canada. One of these activities is an exhibition of Jamaican art that will travel from the National Gallery of Jamaica (my favourite project) to Toronto, and in so doing will bring painterly memories of 'home' to Canada.

Stay tuned. 2012 is going to be a great year.

scowicomm@gmail.com

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There's no place like home