Staying at Jakes

Treasure Beach-- Something told me to look under the bed.  Why?  I didn't store any bags or shoes there.   But I try to obey the quiet voices when I hear them.  Well my hearing was fine but I wasn't sure about my sight.  I wasn't wearing my eyeglasses which I need for distance and thought I saw a statue under the bed.  So I found my eyeglasses and was back on one knee looking under the bed only to see that a dog was sleeping there.  Completely quiet and still was Blackie, one of the resort's dog. 

Wow.  I’ve heard about letting sleeping dogs lie -- but under my bed?  She opened her eyes and looked at me.  No fear, no trepidation.  She looked at me as if to ask do you have a problem?  I couldn’t help but laugh.  Since it was now very clear I was the visitor and she was at home. 

Common Mango

It was a shame before God but I think he'll forgive me.  Yesterday I had to go to the national office of the Catholic church in Kingston.  A simple errand to pick up a few birth certificates for family members so the visit wasn't going to take long.  But as soon as I drove onto the grounds I saw a mango tree filled with ripe mangoes.  Without hesitating, I parked the car and asked the security guard if I could pick them when I finished with the office call.  I returned in five minutes only to see him with a stick under the tree picking mangoes for me.  I got 23 mangoes by the time we picked up every ripe fruit in sight.

Unfortunately, a lot of mangoes and fruits go to waste in Jamaica.  I have passed countless trees filled with cherries and mangoes ready to be eaten but they’re not. People sometimes give the fruits to others but mostly they just ignore them. They fall on the ground and waste away.  A popular saying here in reference to people who need something but can’t get it or those who don't need anything but waste what they have is:  “waant it waant it cyan geh ee and geh ee geh ee no waant it.”

But perhaps the biggest reason these mangoes were still on the tree was that they’re “common mangoes.”  Just as the name says they’re all over the place.  Most folks don’t treasure them because they don’t have much flesh and have a lot of hair so it’s a hassle to eat them.  But having lived abroad without mangoes for so many years I’m hardly picky.   I’ll eat any variety of the fruit.

Fortunately, the mangoes I ate last night were surprisingly sweet.  The perks of taking fruits off holy grounds.

-- Connie Aitcheson

Backyard Vegetables

Kingston-- This morning I cut some callaloo and picked pak choi from our backyard. Pretty cool. Living in New York City most of my life I was beginning to think squeezing up the best vegetables at the farmer’s market was the same as actually growing the thing.

I gotta give it to Jamaicans but they take real pride in growing fruits and vegetables in their backyard.  Jamaica is an agrarian society and while the country still imports a lot of vegetables and fruits (American apples) most everyone has a couple of fruit trees or a vegetable patch somewhere on their land. People are quick to tell you which variety of mangoes is in their yard (Julie, East Indian or Bombay) and who gave them the seed to plant their ackee or breadfruit tree.  You can see trees everywhere on the island.

Running in the Rain at the UTech Classic

Kingston-- Ten minutes into the UTech Track & Field Classic at the National Stadium in Kingston last night, the drama began. Olympic and World Champion gold medalists, Shelly-Ann Fraser and Usain Bolt, wouldn’t get the chance to dazzle the crowd by anchoring their 4x100 meter relays to victory. In both their races, which were the first two of the meet, there was a fumble in passing the baton between the first and second runners. For Fraser, her teammate at least picked up the baton and forced her to finish in last place but Bolt could just hold his hands to his head when he saw that his team, Racers Track Club was disqualified.

Journeys Across Jamaica

Finally, it rained yesterday. I mean really rained. As in close to three hours and not the 10-minute kiss that’s normal in the Caribbean. Yeeaaahhhh. There’s certainly a lot of danger in having too much rain but when there’s none you really treasure what you have. For about seven months Jamaica has been experiencing a serious drought. Parts of the island have received sprinkling of rain but nothing to quench the thirst of the people, animals and earth.The national papers and a news program have published stories of communities praying for rain; members of the clergy saying the drought is a result of the country’s sinful ways; people stealing water from school tanks over the weekend when the schools are closed; schools closed because there’s no water and government officials pleading with the citizens to be careful in clearing land by fire because there’s no water to stop a potential blaze. 

Easter in Jamaica

Kingston-- Praise and worship started at 6 a.m on Easter Sunday. Except it wasn’t at a church but at The Little Theater in Kingston. The National Dance Theater Company [NDTC] of Jamaica was holding it’s annual Easter performance. By 5:50 a.m. my mother, a family friend and I were seated in the auditorium. Over 300 people dressed mostly in white, packed the space. I said to our friend who bought us tickets for the performance is a big sin ting dis, upstairs and downstairs full only to have him reply, yes man is like backra [boss man] house, it have upstairs and downstairs.