Costa Rican ambassador to Jamaica finds her roots

Long before coming to Jamaica for the first time last December, teacher, former congresswoman and now, recently assigned Costa Rican ambassador to Jamaica Joycelyn Sawyers Royal knew more about the nuances of the country, its culture and people than some Jamaicans born and raised here.

“I knew everything about Jamaica – our parents taught us, we learnt at school and the books we read were all from Jamaica. We knew about Brother Anancy, we knew all the stories, songs, and foods,” she says, her memories of growing up on the Caribbean coast of her central American homeland bringing a smile to her face.

Sitting in her living room, flipping though photo albums and scrapbooks, the ease with which she shares anecdotes and her experiences, painstakingly translating phrases from Spanish to English shows clearly that she is, as most teachers are, a rare gem motivated by love.

She is extremely accomplished; after inspiring a revolution of sorts in education in Costa Rica when she opened and nurtured her own school, la Escuela San Marcos, she was awarded one of her country’s highest honours, the Mauro Fernandez Acuna, for dedicating her life and career to education. In essence that award propelled her into public life on the national level. After accepting the award, she ran successfully for a seat in the Costa Rican parliament, where she was the first black woman to become one of five national representatives at the highest level of the congress.

Today, she represents her country in the place she was taught to think of as ‘home’, where her forebears strove desperately to return, after working the railways and banana plantations of Limon in Costa Rica.

In the twilight years of the 19th century and the first few decades of the twentieth, large contingents of Jamaican migrants moved to Costa Rica as labourers, initially to work on the railway line. Most settled in Limon, a province rich in natural resources and ethnic diversity, but severely impoverished, with inadequate health and education services, little industry and few employment opportunities.

As Jamaicans who migrate often do, the community of workers carried with them their traditions, culture, and language, transforming whole sections of the region into their own, creating their own schools and churches.

The details of Royal’s life reflect this.

“I am Anglican”, she tells All Woman. Being Anglican in a predominantly Catholic country is part of the legacy of her grandparents, who, firm in their faith, brought religion to several generations of Costa Rican-born Jamaicans.

Royal’s grandfather, Westmoreland-born George Theophilus Sawyers, was one of those who left Jamaica in search of a better life. ‘Bloom where you are planted’ was his philosophy for life, and in Costa Rica, the Calabar Missionary College-educated man set to work making roots in his new home, first buying land to build his house, later establishing a church and school to serve the community.

It is out of that tradition of service and community, built on the foundation of solid Jamaican values that Joycelyn Sawyers Royal emerged. From a family of teachers and preachers, it is little wonder that teaching is her first passion, and, in a sense, her life’s work.

In Limon, whose residents were then often overlooked by the Costa Rican central government, the Jamaican community had established its own school system, based on the island’s parish church system that existed on the island. But with changes in the way education is approached, these schools proved inadequate, and were eventually replaced by a government-run public school system.

That didn’t sit well with Joyce Sawyers Royal. In the government system, she says, black, poor and marginalised children often fell through the cracks, undermining all attempts to change the fate of the province’s people. And so, with little money and just the support of friends and family, she started her own school, la Escuela San Marcos, which would teach not just academic subjects, but also lessons vital to the overall development of Limonense children.

“In parochial schools, on Fridays you would always have religion, you were taught a lot of self-discipline, to have respect, and other core values that have been lost in the government system. But at my school, we didn’t put emphasis on religion, religion, religion, the emphasis was on shaping people’s lives. Even if a person didn’t belong to a religion – that wasn’t important – what was important was their life as a person,” she says.

At San Marcos, minority children learnt from teachers who looked and sounded like them, lessons about their history and heritage, that were largely ignored by the dominant Eurocentric curriculum of the government. For years, Royal worked tirelessly to build her school, and today she is proud to boast that it has over 800 students of all ages – from kindergarten to secondary – most of whom are expected to go on to some form of tertiary level training.

After winning the Mauro Fernandez Acuna, Sawyers-Royal turned her eyes to government, where she left her mark as a true nation builder. In her time as a congresswoman, she helped to get a number of laws that improved the lot of black people ideologically and in practice passed, and made a valiant attempt to have the constitution specifically recognise the ethnic diversity of Costa Rica.

One law, of which she is particularly proud, is the ‘Founding Fathers Law’, which took four years to be passed. The legislation she sought was to get the portrait of Alex Curling-Delisser, son of a Jamaican migrant who was the first black representative in the Costa Rican parliament, added to the Costa Rican hall of fame and officially recognised as a founding father of the new nation. This is an honour similar to the status of National Hero conferred here in Jamaica. Other triumphs included the introduction of Diversity Day, and Tolerance Week in Costa Rica, both initiatives geared at recognising and celebrating the multicultural character of the country, while teaching youngsters how to live in peace with all people.

It’s a model Jamaica would certainly benefit from reviewing, although the new ambassador was quick to point out that notwithstanding crime, Jamaicans seem to be fairly tolerant of differences in race and religion. There are more examples from our central American neighbour that Jamaica could stand to gain from. Costa Rica, for instance is very proud of its human rights record and of its stable well-functioning democracy, and the current president, also a Limonese, is keen to further strengthen relations between the two countries, especially since Jamaica and Jamaicans were very instrumental in building that nation.

“When I came here, the president said that he wanted me to find the common ground, to build back the bridges. He said very clearly to me, “try and recover ‘la memoria collectiva’, to bring back that Jamaican connection, to see if we could even introduce once more direct flights to Limon from Kingston, that sort of thing,” she says.

And that is her mission.

But Royal doesn’t seem to think it will be an impossible task. Jamaicans in Costa Rica did a fairly good job of preserving their Jamaican heritage, from helping to restore Liberty Hall, the building Marcus Garvey erected on one of his three trips to that country, to cooking and growing traditional foods, to keeping old folk songs and traditions.

She gives an example: “All our children, for instance learned to dance quadrille. So when I had the opportunity to go to Port Antonio and see the children there dancing it was wonderful. I like the quadrille done here, it is more authentic, more real. Later, I had the opportunity to see ‘Miss Annie’ (the National Pantomime), and that was when it all fell into place. For me, Miss Annie is part of the history, it has that sociological value, the proverbs, the philosophy you grow up on, it comes out every minute. I could follow it easily and I certainly enjoyed it very much,” she says.

In many ways, she explained, she fits right at home here in Jamaica.

“There are only a few things here that I still am getting accustomed to. It is so expensive to live here! It is ridiculous how expensive everything is – especially the cost of education, how can they charge so much!” she complains, sounding suspiciously like a British returning resident.

But the perks of living in Jamaica at times make the costs worthwhile, and just being able to drink sorrel and eat ackee and saltfish, both delicacies in Costa Rica, whenever she wants, are some of the tastier benefits. Another favourite is the occasional trip to the Milk River Bath in Clarendon, where Royal is still intrigued by the natural biodiversity.

“Here, there are cactus – plants which we know to only grow in the desert – growing right beside the sea, not far from the beautiful green mountains. Jamaica is truly beautiful,” she gasps.

And so, Royal has ‘come home’ to a foreign country, although she says, she has loved Jamaica all her life.

“The only way you can love a place is if you are taught to love it. When I was growing up, we were taught to love Jamaica, but now, they teach young children how to love Costa Rica. They teach you to identify yourself as a Costa Rican. They say, ‘ok, that was you father’s land…this is your land now’ but even when I first got here I knew there was something of me that has always been here. Even the anthem…Jamaica, Land We Love, speaks to me as if it were my own.”

With her Jamaican roots, Royal is determined to represent both her countries and people well, abiding by her grandfather’s eloquent philosophy, no doubt she will bloom here, where she has been planted.

Ambassador Jocelyn Sawyers-Royal shares anecdotes about her childhood and Jamaican connection.