When I started my studies at UWI, Mona a close friend’s mother asked me why on earth would I choose to study Geography and Sociology; what would I do after graduation? I was very confident then and told her that that was what I enjoyed studying and that I would find a job that enabled me to use that knowledge that I would gain.

After graduation I taught Geography and English at a local secondary school for a year. Although I taught Geography, I realized that teaching it was a different matter altogether that I was not cut out for.

My next job was in the Planning Department of the newly-established Urban Development Corporation (UDC). Joining the UDC was a relatively easy transition as I had worked at the Town Planning Department during my summer vacations and liked the challenge. As the staff grew and I gained experience, I headed the Research Section. I was joined by Dorothy Beek (then Naylor) and Richard Lalor when they also graduated from THE Geography Department. Eleanor Jones, whom I had known from childhood, also briefly joined the section on her return to Jamaica from the US. Other UWI graduates joined the Town Planning Department around this same time – notably Marcia Hutchinson (now Edwards) and we were able to join forces on several projects of interest to the TPD and the UDC. Our closest collaboration was in Montego Bay for which TPD was preparing a physical plan and the UDC was getting ready to undertake several developments, starting with Catherine Hall. Our earlier practice in undertaking field work, working with others and conducting spatial analyses was put to work.

While I was with UDC, I took a study break and did a Masters in City and Regional Planning at The University of California, Berkeley. I specialized in housing and community development. A few years after my return to Jamaica, I left for the US again – this time to join the staff of the World Bank in Washington DC as a Young Professional and then an Urban Planner in the Urban Development Department. In this position I continued to rely on my “field work” and mapping and diagramming skills that were grounded in my early studies in the Geography Department at UWI. The majority of the projects that I worked on involved the provision of housing and/or infrastructure over large tracts of land. I regularly used map coordinates to select samples for assessing and summarizing the stage of development of housing lots. While at the World Bank I was able to see quite a bit of the world as I spent about one-half of my time on visits of 2 to 6 weeks with clients reviewing the status and needs of the sector or the status of projects under preparation or implementation. The countries I visited included the Philippines, Indonesia, the Gambia, Liberia, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Jordan, Turkey, Yemen, Iran, Egypt and Uganda.

While I was at the World Bank, I did an MBA in Finance and Investments at the George Washington University. Thereafter my focus shifted to Project Management and Process Improvement and Diagramming – skills that were developed on diagramming started at UWI. After approximately 20 years with the World Bank I left to undertake independent consulting. I worked in this capacity for the United Nations Center for Human Settlement (UNCHS), The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), United Nations Development Project (UNDP), the Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank (WB) in Jamaica, Barbados, Guyana, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Malawi and Southern Sudan. I was also fortunate to work with Allan Jones and Lionel Nurse in Barbados and Mike Morrissey in Jamaica during this time.

In sum, the Geography Department made a “Geographer” of me as not only did it give me a sound foundation in conducting field work, mapping and diagramming to analyze and explain the world around me, but it also gave me a travel bug that complemented my modified persona and a family of geographers who have continued to be a part of my life.

Faye Lumsden