The Bobo camp in Nine Miles, Bull Bay, is nestled atop a lush hillside known as Zion Hill in East St Andrew. Home to about 100 members of the Bobo Shanti, one of Jamaica's 31 Rastafarian orders, the communal space is spread out across a vast expanse of land.

Rastafarian Priest Shimron embraces the secluded, simple lifestyle of the Bobo camp, and most of the other 'bredrin' reject Western ideology and have very little dealings with the outside world. But even the most ardent Rasta has to get with the times, or risk being left behind in the age of technology.

Priest Shimron inside the camp's meeting room and media centre, which boasts a laptop, printer and speakers.

When SunDay visited the camp last week, Priest Prince directed us to a wooden structure, no bigger than 10ftX20ft. The façade was painted black, green, red and gold. We removed our shoes before entering the sacred space, where council members of the Ethiopia Africa Black International Congress Church of Salvation meet to organise the operations of the camp.

"We are a government within a government. we are a people of our own self-reliance," explained Priest Morant, one of the councillors gathered in the room. The well-ventilated space was spotless, from its shiny red wood floors to the well-organised desk around which Priest Shimron sat typing on a laptop.
A closer look revealed that a printer and two small portable speakers were attached. The space also functions as the camp's
media centre.

Further downhill, a group of about 10 brethren sat around a television, watching the World Cup match between Germany and Costa Rica. "Them white bwoy yah cyan run," said one man as he kneaded some ganja in his left palm. The men were relaxed and obviously excited by the match, but they refused to be photographed. "Is not everything that gwaan up here people must know 'bout," he said. "People might seh how dem a Rasta an' a watch dem Babylon thing deh?"

The compound of the camp, whch is situated on Zion Hill in Nine Miles. (Photos: Roland Henry)

But Rastafarian scholars justify the use of "Babylon things", claiming that "television, computer, money and the internet are vital tools" to perpetuate learning - a key element of the Rastafarian penchant for "reasoning".

"The West was constructed on the power of the East," said Dr Jahlani Niaah, Cultural Studies lecturer at the University of the West Indies. He added that astrology and other complex sciences were first employed by the Egyptians long before Europeans capitalised on systems of formal learning.

Though the Rastafarian movement came from humble beginnings, he thinks the believer's spiritual journey is an ever-evolving one.

A sign on the wooden gate declares the Bobo camp a 'black sovereign nation'.

"The movement comes from marginal circumstances, but that does not mean it must stay there. People have somehow in their imagination restricted Rasta to this meagre and marginal existence when His Majesty (Emperor Haile Selassie) has proven himself to be the quintessential example," he said.

Niaah believes that members of the faith have successfully found a balance between the spiritual and the material worlds.
"Everything is progressing as it ought to," he said, adding that he knows a bredrin who lives in a hut with a solar panel on the roof, which powers his laptop.

Cultural Studies PhD candidate Donald 'Iman Black' Davis agreed with Niaah, pointing out that the use of technology within the Rastafari community is not a breakaway from spirituality, but a recognition that material wealth may help to perpetuate some of the teachings and values of the movement.

"A lot of people think that Rastaman should not handle money because [currency] is something we usually 'bun-out'". However, Davis says money is merely a mechanism that allows the Rastaman to meet his responsibilities like "taking care of his women and children".

He told SunDay that the modern movement, through the use of technology, allows for greater freedom when it comes to occupations. In the past, Rastas tended to reject mainstream jobs and the status quo or a regular 'nine to five', and embrace self-reliant practices like farming, broom-making and the performing arts.

Davis said these careers are now being phased out with the advent of technology since "intellectuality has always been an important part
of Rasta".

This aspect of the culture, he says, is downplayed by "mainstream society's one-dimensional view" of who the Rastafari really are.

"We are just simply expanding our genius into other spheres," he said. These spheres now include fashion designing, artiste management and human resource consultancy.

Radio talk show host and controversial Rastafarian activist Muta Baruka believes that people of the "one-dimensional view" are trying to "put Rasta in a box". Like Niaah and Davis, he sees the faith as an ever-evolving movement. "Rasta is all about empowerment. is a way of life - is not just a simple religion."

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