Open the gates to our Jamaican DNA… from Syria
Dear Editor,
Millions of Syrian citizens, including well-educated professionals, are now in a desperate state — homeless, shelterless, refugees frantically seeking a new life for themselves and their families. Their country has self-destructed and has fallen into an atrocious state due to the rise of terrorism. Human life means nothing, and even historic monuments, 4,000 years old, have been blown to smithereens.
Greece, Italy, Germany, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and many other countries have taken in great numbers of these Syrian refugees among others — but many are finding it difficult to cope.
Meanwhile, Jamaica, whose proud motto is “Out of Many, One People” is far removed from the humanitarian crisis. In a sense, these Syrian people — like people from some parts of West Africa, the British Isles, India and China — share our Jamaican DNA.
More than 100 years ago, after Jamaica staged a successful world fair, several people from Syria and Lebanon immigrated to Jamaica with the intention of making this their home. At that time, the cultural differences between the two countries was no doubt even greater than the cultural difference now.
Over time these Jamaicans of Syrian descent have contributed to just about every sphere of Jamaican life.
A sampling of famous Jamaicans of Syrian/Lebanese descent includes:
In law – Chief Justice Edward Zacca
In beauty – Lisa Hanna, a former Miss World
In politics – Lisa Hanna again, but also former Prime Minster Edward Seaga, Richard Azan, and several others
In aviation – Maria Zaidie, Air Jamaica’s first woman pilot
In the private sector – Chris Zacca was head of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, recently replaced by William Mahfood. Metry Seaga is current head of the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association
In the security industry – John Azar of KingAlarm
In charity – Ferdinand Mahfood of Food for the Poor
In toursim – the extended Issa family, from Abe Issa of Myrtle Bank Hotel right up to Chris Issa of Spanish Court Hotel
In retail – Gassan Azan of MegaMart, and several others
In the arts – actor Munair Zacca
In athletics – Usain Bolt (OK, maybe Usain is not a good example)
In light of this, maybe it would be a good idea for Jamaica to welcome a new wave of Syrian immigrants to contribute to our nation-building.
Many of these people share not only Jamaican DNA but also the same last names as several of our Jamaican citizens. To offer some of them hope in their time of desperate need would be like helping members of our own family.
But given the great contribution that their distant and close relatives have made to Jamaica’s progress, apart from being a great humanitarian gesture, it could also be a decision of great self-interest.
Richard Browne
St Andrew
