Hilary Robertson-Hickling

Since the beginning of this semester, the Institute of Caribbean Studies at University of the West Indies (UWI) has been hosting a series of talks given by people who lived in 'foreign' in the United Kingdom for extended periods.

The talks have been given by people from a variety of backgrounds and they have explored the bittersweet sojourn of living in foreign. The organiser, Cecil Gutzmore, who hailed from Portland in Jamaica spent more than four decades in the U.K. involved in activism, research and teaching and has provided an important platform for the exploration of the ongoing issue of migration.

What is particularly exciting is the role played by persons who have returned from overseas with many different kinds of resources to share in the development of Jamaica. John Small, for example, shared his experience including that of organising associations on behalf of returnees. In my opinion our interest in that half of the population which lives abroad is too focused on the remittances which are now a significant element of our economy.

Therefore, I am happy for the establishment of the Diaspora Foundation and Institute to develop a holistic mutually beneficial relationship between Jamaica and its diaspora. I am extremely disturbed to see how 'bad mind and grudge-fulness' have made us envy and prey upon those who braved the winters and the pain and problems in order to retire in comfort back home. We have to do better in this country.

Shocked by history

My presentation at the series explored the difficulties experienced by the Black British population in the development of a professional and entrepreneurial class. My focus was on medical practitioners of whom there were very few. Low expectations in the educational system, few role models and the structure of an institutionally racist society impact negatively on all but the most resilient.

I was shocked to see the number of young black men in secure mental hospitals like Broadmoor and the prisons where my husband, a very experienced psychiatrist, was devastated when he had to undertake assessments of these young men for the forensic system. I also learned that at age 13, thousands of black boys are excluded, which means expelled from school.

Misdiagnosis

The African-Caribbean person is, therefore, vulnerable to misunder-standing, misdiagnosis and culturally inappropriate care from the professionals in the National Health Service. I was stunned in a discussion with a teenaged third generation Black British girl to learn that she had never met a black doctor. We have been fortunate in this region to have access to doctors trained at UWI or in Cuba, as well as overseas, who can manage our health here. If we could only get serious about what we are doing, our health professionals could service the diaspora, as well as other persons.

Despite the negative experiences, the resilience of the presenters who spoke on behalf of thousands of others is inspiring. These stories need to be told and filmed and shared because we are still migrating and learning the lessons of exile and estrangement, opportunity and failure. Some say that the citizens of our Caribbean were the first to be globalised. Maybe we should be teaching other people in the world how to overcome adversity.

Hilary Robertson-Hickling is a lecturer in the Department of Management Studies at the University of the West Indies.