By Mark Dawes, Staff Reporter
Yvonne Coke is the founder of Hands Across Jamaica for Righteousness. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
SHE HAD long been burdened by the moral and spiritual decadence of much of Jamaican life, then one day, as she explains it, God gave her a vision for the nation. Yvonne Coke felt inadequate to fulfil what she described as the divine mandate that came with the vision. She, nevertheless, acted on the divine directive and became the 'midwife' of
a movement known today as Hands Across Jamaica for Righteousness (HANDS).
HANDS was relaunched in Jamaica on Wednesday April 21, 2004, at King's House and has as its patron, Governor-General Sir Howard Cooke. Billionaire Jamaican, Michael Lee-Chin is a major benefactor. Through HANDS, Mrs. Coke, 51, seeks to make the point that the solution to much of the nation's woes is to be found in its motto, anthem and pledge the first word of each she observes, spells 'MAP'. She argues that when Jamaica attained Independence in 1962, God entered into a covenant with the nation and this covenant is reflected in the MAP especially in the National Anthem which, she notes, is a prayer to God. If the nation honours God by living true to the MAP, then Jamaica can't help but grow in beauty, fellowship and prosperity, and play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race.
FOLLOW THE MAP
In 1995, when HANDS was first launched, Mrs. Coke sought primarily to target locals to follow the MAP. At that time, she wrote, with input from musicians Jon Williams and Ibo Cooper, a song 'Hands Across Jamaica for Righteousness' a music video featuring children of a local primary school was produced and it helped to spread she says, the message God gave her. In 1995 too, a day was devoted to reclaim symbolically, the nation for God, by having Jamaicans form a human chain from Negril Point to Morant Point. In addition, there was a day designated for prayer for national repentance, revival and restoration. All these efforts met with mixed success. But in her mind, they accomplished God's purposes at the time.
She left the island in the mid-1990s to live in the United States where she has turned her attention to mobilising Jamaicans there to help to restore the soul of the nation. A one-time legal secretary, Mrs. Coke, is qualified as a Chartered Professional Secretary (CPS). A former life-underwriter with Life of Jamaica, she was named Rookie of the Year with that company and thereafter secured a regular place on its Million Dollar Round-Table. When she moved to the US, she worked in reservations with Delta Airlines, later as a legal secretary. Now she works fulltime with HANDS as a faith-worker.
Citing 3 John 1:3, she stresses that the nation cannot prosper until its soul prospers. The devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, she maintains, is representative of the devaluation of the nation's soul. Righteousness, she continued, is not about who is right and who is wrong
-- but about who will fix the problems of the nation's soul.
RESTORE THE SOUL OF THE NATION
Her message to Jamaicans in the
diaspora is 'Come home to help restore the soul of the nation. Come back and talk to the youths.' She stresses that Jamaicans who have lived oversees for many years can speak with an authority that would resonate favourably with the present generation who tend to give
credence and respectability to people who speak with the benefit of foreign experience.
"Overseas-based Jamaicans want the crime to be fixed, let them come here and fix it. We have got to work diligently and creatively, and to think generously and honestly, so that, Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity," she said.
To this end, she is promoting National Homecoming Week, slated for October 17-23. It has gone down well with many Jamaicans living in the US, she said. HANDS, a registered non-profit organisation, will be officially launched in the United States this weekend. The Governor-General will be in Atlanta to promote HANDS and to urge Jamaicans to return home during National Homecoming Week. The activities will include a fund-raising concert
featuring Monty Alexander, Huntely Brown, Jon Williams, Karen Smith, Hopeton Lewis and others who
represents some of the créme de la créme of Jamaican musicians.
INSPIRED BY GOD
HANDS, she said, was inspired by a dream and a vision God gave her. In a dream she saw Isaiah 66:7-8 'Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.'
She was then attending Love and Faith Church in St. Andrew and she asked her pastor, Rev. Neville Owens, what the dream meant. He explained, Zion is the church, and that travailing is intercessory prayer. He said to her, you are a woman representing the church. You are an intercessor and you have been carrying a burden for this nation for a long time it is about time you give it birth.
About five minutes later, Mrs. Coke explained, she called her 'Prayer Mother' ( her Prayer Mentor), and told her of the dream. Her Prayer Mother, she explained, repeated all the things, she had just heard from her pastor.
Then days later, she was on an early morning walk and was praying when she saw a vision of a T-shirt with the words of the country's motto, anthem and pledge written thereon. She said God told her then, 'The soul of the nation is in trouble and I want every hand joined for the restoration of its soul.' She explained: "I saw also in the vision, hands being held as a physical symbol of restoration. More than anything, it is God's hands. It is like the Ark of the Covenant. The covenant is the MAP. The hands are a visual of what really is."
GRANT TRUE WISDOM FROM ABOVE
Mrs. Coke, who is the biographer of Fr. Hugh Sherlock (who wrote both the words of the National Anthem and National Pledge), stressed that "The MAP is a standard of how to choose leaders. 'Grant true wisdom from above.' The Bible says, in James 3:17 'But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.' That's what the leader that you choose should look like. If he or she does not come up to that standard you should not accept him/her as an applicant. God, she said, "is calling us to be a beautiful country - not just in our topography, but that our people will radiate the beauty of Jesus Christ. So that our country will become a country known for fellowship, rather than our killings. They we will become prosperous."
Jamaica, she said, "belongs to God, and He is taking it back- We are known for our hedonism, licentiousness, drugs - that will all be erased from the history of this country- God has called this nation to be a nation of prayer, praise and worship. We have built-in a prayer in our Anthem. God has given us a spirit of praise and worship, that's why we have our music. "People will come to this country because this is a country where prayers get answered. When Jamaica takes the MAP seriously, it will change the face of tourism. So will we see great wealth in Jamaica."
Yvonne Coke may be reached at handsacrossjamaica@hotmail.com. The offices for Hands Across Jamaica for Righteousness are located at 14 1/2 Half-Way Tree Road, Kingston.
Send feedback on Mind & Spirit to mark.dawes@gleanerjm.com.
