Preserving our oral history
published: Friday | September 3, 2004

THE EDITOR, Sir:

I WORKED with an organisation called the Jamaica Memory Bank in the early '80s. This was a group headed by Dr. Olive Lewin, whose sole aim was the preservation of the oral history of Jamaica. This was done through taped and then transcribed interviews with older members of our society.

From these interviews, important facets of our history were recorded; things that might have well disappeared had they died without their knowledge and wisdom being made available for succeeding generations. In this regard, I am more than a bit concerned when I read the obituaries daily, and see Jamaicans in their seventies, eighties, and nineties dying, and I am not sure that their knowledge, experiences, and memories are recorded.

I do hope that the Memory Bank is still in existence and active. Even though my children were not born in Jamaica, I do want them to know my history and the history of my country.

An old African saying; "an old man dies, a book is lost".

I am, etc.,

ALDWYN HOGG

Nassau, Bahamas

aldwyn_hogg@hotmail.com