Amina Blackwood MeeksTHE PRESENT social, political and economic situation is a storyteller's dream. A few nights ago I was helping a friend who had been away for six weeks catch up with what she had missed. Well maybe women just love to talk that's why they make such wonderful storytellers, but we talked all the way to Portmore and back, in the slow Friday evening back-to-Portmore traffic, and then some. And I was exhausted. Not from the talking. From the content of the stories. You try it. Recall everything which made your head spin the last six weeks. Like my friend, you might find yourself at the end of each story saying, "Bizarre", as a translation for "Jack Mandora, me nu choose now/none".
And then came the confirmation, this is the once upon time which we are creating for our children. Right up there with wonder tales, creation myths and the others, now come "tales of the bizarre, from Jamaica". Our stories represent our collective journeys and aspirations, our dreams, sacrifices and accomplishments, the continuity in thought which allows the generation born BC - Before Computer- to find common cause with the generation born AD- After Dat. They are our inheritance as represented in history, in science, and the various branches of learning. They are the safety deposit boxes in which we have secured ancient wit and wisdom, the values on which the human family may continue to grow. If only we would open the boxes and ensure that our children are also aware that there (are) different kinds of stories to the ones which are now laid bare to them as "reality".
Since 1988, the third weekend of November has been reserved for storytellers worldwide to celebrate the positive aspects of humanity as recorded in their stories, myths and legends. This year, Jack Mandora, the Storytelling Association of Jamaica, will be a part of those celebrations for the second time as it mounts the Second National Storytelling Festival at the Maima Seville Heritage Park in Runaway Bay all on Saturday, November 18 with a closing Matinee concert at the Ward Theatre on Sunday, November 19. Through the festival panel discussion at Seville, "Ananse - Trickster or Revolutionary" there will be an opportunity for us to examine that which we have written into the national story over recent times and how we may write stories again that we will be proud to share with others.
What are the stories of how the poor survive and triumph? Where are the stories of courageous police men and women who tackle corruption in the force without fear or favour, without having to lose their identity as they flee into a witness protection programme? Where are the stories of the living men and women whose lives are daily tributes to the contributions of our National Heroes to the fact that we are? Where in our society do we make space to celebrate those men and women who have never had a penny in a bank anywhere and have never stolen from their neighbours?
If we learn to write by being exposed to good writing, then perhaps we also learn to tell stories by being exposed to good stories. If we value the tradition of storytelling as an art form, as entertainment, as a tool for imparting human skills then we need to make space for it. Make space in our personal lives to share stories with each other, young and old alike. Make space on radio and television to tell stories and to talk about stories not just as a "feature" which fills a few minutes or is measured in the number of advertising dollars which it attracts, but as an agent for nation-building.
We need to commit ourselves to exploring the ways in which stories and storytelling advance the process of formal education so that the story becomes the means not just an accessory to learning. Community development workers must also be willing to explore the value of the tradition and the art form in the development of the human resource base which makes community development possible.
This is what Jack Mandora, is about. It is one small step but one which according to Owen "Blacka" Ellis is as important as "Green banana an callaloo" on a Sunday Morning, an rice an peas with coconut milk on a Sunday Evening."
At the launching of the Association in 1998, then Education Officer in the Ministry of Education, Mrs. Elaine Foster-Allen underscored the need to ensure that the tradition has a future when she declared that "Stories hold for us metaphors and icons we need in our lives especially when we are unclear about where we are going."
To ensure that future it is critical that we demonstrate to our children and ourselves the important elements of a good story. Stories which contain the elements of compassion, cohesive communities, men and women taking responsibility for their deeds, people demanding in organised and united voices honesty and integrity from those who aspire to be their leaders, a whole nation refusing to hold any lifelong allegiance to partisan interests and policies above the good of the collective.
These are the stories which will be told again and again, from generation to generation until they too become "traditional", immediate tales of once upon a time. These are the stories which according to Ms. Foster Allen, "teach us how to behave, how to control our lives, how to interact with others, how to make sense of our experiences in a framework that holds some consistency, some truth, something predictable and safe."
And that's a good story. If only we would write it now.
Amina Blackwood Meeks is a communications specialist.
