Ann-Marie Mesquita-Adams, Contributor
A section of the audience at the diaspora conference in Kingston in March last year. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
THE MEETING began with a prayer by Reverend Sam Vassell:"Dear Lord, teach us true respect for all... Out of many, we want to emerge as one." One person cried out: "Lord, we tired of di talk. Give us grace that we'll see something come out of this conference."
Those prayers sent up to the Lord elicited amens from about 50 people clustered in a room on the second floor at the Jamaican Consulate in New York. Citing lack of transparency and communication from the diaspora leadership, a group of New Yorkers called a meeting in March to carve out a New York position for the biennial Jamaican Diaspora Conference: "Jamaican Diaspora: A Partner- ship for Progress," set to begin in Kingston on Thursday.
Conference attendees should expect a lively two-day event at the Jamaica Conference Centre, downtown Kingston. That's because the New York delegation has been meeting since March to craft their agenda. Since the conference agenda was already set in January, there might be at least two agendas -- one by the business sector and the other by New York delegates.
HIGH EXPECTATIONS
"We are demanding a presence at the conference," said Jose Richardson, president of Sons and Daughters of New York. "We don't want to be lectured to by just private-sector people. We want to get grass-roots people in the mix."
Invites with a draft of the agenda sent out in February by Jamaica's Ambassador to the United States, Professor Gordon Shirley, failed to indicate what the break-out sessions would entail. Harold Mignott, a New Jersey-based representative for the Northeast sector, which includes New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, said the agenda would be tweaked to incorporate a few suggestions discussed at meetings, not just in New York but also in D.C., Miami and other areas.
"They got us wet, and just left us hanging," said Irwine Clare of Caribbean Immigrant Services in New York, referring to the 2004 conference. "We want an action plan to address issues we face both in Jamaica and the U.S."
Janet Madden knew the diaspora would call for action. So in 2005 at a Diaspora Education Sector meeting held at the Half Moon Hotel in Montego Bay, she vowed to bring her pilot project to fruition: to use St. James High School as a model for high school education reform.
About 25 people gathered in a conference room at the hotel and introduced themselves. Montego Bay businessman, Mark Kerr-Jarrett, chair the of school board, principal for St. James High School and others deemed key to the success of the project were there.
"We're bringing the best and the brightest from the diaspora," Madden said. "It's extremely important to engage these Jamaicans from the U.S. They are our ambassadors and stake-holders." Said Mignott: "We're trying to do something tangible. We're not here to make a splash and then disappear. We're taking a scientific approach. If it doesn't work, it's not for lack of trying."
TREAD LIGHTLY
Mignott was confident the education team would accomplish much. Joseph Williams, St. James High School's principal, noticed Mignott's confidence and pledged to tread lightly. William's request was surprisingly simple. He wanted to revive the school band. The band, he said, would lift the students' morale in a school stigmatised with the label: "Worst school in Montego Bay." If only the visitors could help school officials boost students' morale, Williams urged gently, the much harder work on hand - which is to boost students' academic performance - would be a bit easier. The band, he said, would help students see themselves as achievers.
Jim Baker of Caribbean-American mission for Education, Research and Development, pledged US$5,000 to help buybooks and computers. After the meeting ended, only one request was made: "If we do all we promised, will the band be ready to play at the conference June 15 and 16?"
The band, school officials promised, would be ready to play at the conference.
