Professor Rupert Lewis and wife Professor Maureen Warner-Lewis.
VELIA ESPEUT, wife of Peter Espeut, Sociologist, is also a Trinidadian married to a Jamaican. She said they met in Trinidad through a mutual friend in 1988/89. They spent a lot of time on the telephone nurturing the long distance relationship. Because of their religious background (they are both Roman Catholic), she said they prayed a lot on the phone. Mrs. Espeut had never been to Jamaica prior to meeting Mr. Espeut, but she knew of a number of Jamaicans in Trinidad.
"I didn't think I'd leave Trinidad at all," she said. But, she moved here on the basis that she felt safe with him and his job seemed to lean towards Jamaica's development and that of the wider Caribbean.
"I've been here for the last ten years, knock on wood," she said, "and I have had no cases of crime." She commented on the difference in attitudes of Jamaicans and Trinidadians which she said makes it hard for them to adjust especially in another class of the society. "If you come from a particular part of Trinidad, you have to go into that mode or you cannot survive." Trinidadians who settle here tend to do so in their own leagues, but are pressured into the lavish living of the upper crust, she explained. She explained that not many (Trinidadians) are coping here. "Jamaica has something that pulls you and the Jamaicans don't even notice it."
Mrs. Espeut said "the average person would say Trinidad is a better place to live because there is a level of civility. There's a lot more tolerance."
So why not settle with your spouse in Trinidad?
"Jamaican men on the whole are patriotic, they are no going to leave their country just so", she said. But, Jamaicans are more likely to be nationalistic because they do not have the 'regional mix' in terms of family connections.
Jamaica's appeal
Lecturer at the UWI, Ray Davidson came to Jamaica in 1974 to do post-graduate work and stayed on because he got a job on the Mona Campus. He said he went to the US, but returned to Jamaica. Mr. Davidson is originally from St. Vincent but said he stayed in Jamaica because he "found Jamaica to be more interesting than St. Vincent or California," but he "stayed mainly because of the career opportunity." Many other Caribbean nationals have found career opportunities in Jamaica and have subsequently made it their home. Mr. Davidson met his wife at Mona, she is Jamaican. But that, he said, was not a big reason for staying. "We could have moved to the US if we wanted to," he told Outlook. Additionally, his children were born here and he maintains that he is "still finding what I have been doing in Jamaica interesting; it is emotionally and intellectually fulfilling." If Mr. Davidson wants to return to St. Vincent, it wouldn't pose a great problem; "I have kept my Vincentian citizenship. I have been offered opportunities there but I haven't taken them up," he added.
So Outlook asked him why he stays with the economic decline and the violence in Jamaica. He said, "I don't think these problems are any worse than anywhere else. I don't think Jamaica is more expensive that anywhere else. Besides, there are things here that make up for those shortcomings. There is the culture, the range of activities and the friends you make but most of all what I do here."
To stay or not to stay
Trinidadian Trisha Green, is a journalist engaged to a Jamaican. She works in Jamaica, and intends to marry him soon. They met in Trinidad where he was studying Engineering and she, Linguistics at St. Augustine. She said, "Engineering is only in Trinidad so Jamaican men often meet us, 'brainwash' us and bring us back." She said she came out of curiosity, plus after seeing him for three years it was kind of hard to separate. She said he told her "tales" of Jamaica and how big and beautiful it was. He made it sound like paradise but the first time she came here she was, "traumatised".
She returned to Trinidad, but said the long distance relationship was not working out and he was not going to leave Jamaica so she came back.
She said attitudes here are different and Jamaicans are aggressive. She also believes "Jamaicans really work hard". "Every month in Trinidad, there's a holiday, and if there's none we make one."
She will not stay here
"I ain't living in Jamaica, I done make up my mind about dat, Jamaica is too violent, so if he is not leaving, I'll leave without him."
Whereas many people tend to describe Jamaicans as aggressive, Professor Warner-Lewis said they are 'very proactive'. She noted that there is a history of rootedness and struggle in Jamaica and added that 'Jamaicans gets nothing easy' which makes them resilient and hardy. She said however, that their patience is running out.
