For the first time, the Jamaica Biennial Conference was oversubscribed as Jamaicans from all corners of the world converged in Montego Bay for meaningful discussions on our country’s present and future. This followed nearly a year of detailed planning by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and the creation of a strong planning committee chaired by the distinguished Earl Jarrett.

I was particularly struck by Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness’s call to participants to join him in helping us to boost our productivity. Almost every day we read about high-achieving Jamaicans at the top of their careers, leading multinational companies, exceeding all expectations. Meanwhile, back home, we continue to lead the Caribbean as one of the least productive nations.

He noted, “We are the fastest people in the world. So we need the cultural revolution in the way in which we do business so that we can match the speed on the track with the speed of doing business.”

He appealed to our Diaspora family to steer a cultural change: “We are fighting a battle here of culture, and we are going to need your help in guiding the conversations about the changes that are needed at every level of society to become a more efficient player on the global stage.”

I believe that a celebration of responsible parenthood will help to support this. We continually hear about responsible parents, single or married, who have guided their children to successful adulthood. In General Colin Powell’s book, My American Journey, he described his upbringing by his loving, yet strict, Jamaican parents. Strong values will inspire us to achieve higher productivity.

The prime minister also called for greater investment in Jamaica by members of our Diaspora. We are hearing that there is growing interest in Jamaican real estate, particularly in the Corporate and resort areas, so this would be a sound investment.

The Diaspora Conference ended with participants assisting in 22 outreach activities. We can always depend on our Diaspora family to dig deep to help their fellow Jamaicans. They boost our economy with their sizeable remittances as they continue to take care of their family members in Jamaica. We hope their locally based able-bodied counterparts will use their example of diligence and loyalty to realise Prime Minister Holness’s dream of a productive and prosperous Jamaica.

Alpha Awards Music Degrees

Eight young musicians graduated with associate degrees in music performance from the Alpha School of Music recently. The two-year programme developed to train musicians for the commercial music and entertainment industry is the only tertiary programme in Jamaica that focuses on ensemble performance. It also offers two pre-qualifying years of instruction for students who do not have the requisite knowledge to enter the associate degree programme.

In congratulating the graduates, guest speaker Wayne Mitchell shared, “Education does not diminish you; it empowers you. It gives your inspiration structure, it gives your passion direction. It allows what is inside to be shared more effectively. People often think that studying music somehow takes away the magic. I believe the opposite. The more I understood music is the more I appreciated it. The more I learned is the more I learned that there was still more to discover.”

Valedictorian Joel Wallace, in his speech to classmates, faculty, and special guests, said the extensive performance opportunities had an impact that transcended music. “I believe experience is the biggest teacher. Whether its playing at end of semester or mid-semester concerts, various hotels and restaurants under the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), corporate events, playing in New York, Wickie Wackie Music Fest, and most recently the GWM showroom launch, Alpha has no shortage of opportunities. We adapted. We grew stronger.”

There are grading performances organised by Director Gay Magnus at the beautiful Alpha Music School, attended by an appreciative audience. I have wonderful memories of the legendary Sister Ignatius Davis encouraging and applauding her boys who she treated as her own. The evergreen Sparrow Martin still helps to mentor students.

After over 100 years of existence, this cradle of Jamaican music — the Alpha Music School — continues to shine. For information on admission, please click here https://alphamusicja.com/admissions/.

Life-saving donation to Victoria Jubilee

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in collaboration with Food For The Poor Jamaica donated 13 cardiotocography (CTG) machines and one state-of-the-art ultrasound machine to the Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH) last Monday. This will increase the hospital’s capacity to monitor mothers and babies before and during childbirth and improve the early detection of pregnancy-related complications. Krystal Lee, state minister in the Ministry of Health and Wellness; master of ceremonies Lilian McDonald, infection prevention and control nurse; and VJH Senior Medical Officer Dr Garth McDonald expressed heartfelt thanks for the equipment.

Speaker of the House Juliet Holness (right) in conversation with CCRP General Manager Angela Patterson at the Jamaica Diaspora Conference.

This marks a total of over $100 million in medical equipment donated by the Church, represented by Elder Ahmad S Corbitt, Caribbean area president, and Elder Paul Sutherland. Last year, the Church donated Olympus GI endoscopy and Storz urology laparoscopy systems to the Mandeville Regional Hospital in Manchester. These have significantly enhanced the hospital’s urology services by enabling fewer invasive procedures, more precise diagnostics, and advanced urological surgeries.

We appreciate the coordination of Marsha Burrell Rose, marketing and missions manager, Food For the Poor Jamaica and the enthusiastic support of recently appointed Executive Director Denise Jefferson.

Juici’s ‘Tiny Libraries’

While we complain about literacy issues, custos of Clarendon and Juici Patties Jamaica (JPJ) Director Edith Chin decided to do something about it. Last month, she launched the Let’s Read! Tiny Community Library initiative with the first of 10 “tiny libraries” for her parish at the Effortville Community Centre.

Sheri-Gaye Johnson, JPJ public relations officer, said, “This is a collaboration between the office of the custos, the caring justices of the peace, community centres and community leaders, and the wider community with major sponsorship support from Juici Patties.”

She continued, “We also want to highlight the talented members of the Juici team who are building and installing these structures.” She said the initiative was sparked by the recognition of the literacy gap that continues to exist within many communities and the need for more creative and accessible ways to encourage reading and improve literacy.

This concept was inspired by community book-sharing libraries that were seen across different parts of the world and then adapted to the Jamaican context. She said community centres were intentionally chosen because they are spaces where the people are already gathering.

“The wider vision,” she explained, “is to really encourage stronger community engagement, greater use of these community centres, and more sharing of resources, knowledge, ideas, and best practices between communities.”

Each library includes a carefully curated core collection of books for different age groups and different interests. It is hoped that this will spark competitions, discussions, and literacy collaboration between communities.

Clarendon’s justices of the peace will help to support stewardship, accountability, and encouragement for the libraries, while community members are encouraged to help care for the spaces to borrow books responsibly, donate books, and support literacy within their communities.

Eyes on Football and Track

It is too early to say which of the favourites will be in the final four of the FIFA World Cup. The Brazil flag still remains the most popular in Jamaica, but we are seeing more of Spain, Germany, France, and England. It is hardly likely that our neighbours, Haiti and Curacao, will make it to the next round, but Curacao’s brilliant goalkeeper may yet surprise their opponents.

Our National Championships have been overshadowed by the World Cup, but we were able to switch between channels to see excellent performances by Shericka Jackson, Oblique Seville, and Under-20 Gary Card, who now has the third leading time for the 100 metres distance.

Jean Lowrie-Chin is an author and executive chair of PROComm, PRODEV, and CCRP. Send comments to lowriechin@aim.com.