Dub poet and now writer, Yasus Afari (right), presenting a copy of his book, 'Overstanding Rastafari: Jamaica's Gift to the World', to Patricia Cuff (centre), acting director-general of the Jamaica Library Service, and Wayne Chen, chief executive officer, Super Plus Food Stores, at the Jamaica Library Service's head office, Tom Redcam Avenue, St. Andrew, on Wednesday. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Mel Cooke, Freelance Writer

Nourishment for the brain fused with nourishment for the body on Tuesday morning, as Super Plus Food Stores officially handed over several copies of poet Yasus Afari's book, Overstanding Rastafari: Jamaica's Gift to the World, to the Jamaica Library Service (JLS).

The books were purchased by Super Plus, to be placed by the JLS.

And the servings of literature, delivered at the JLS's Tom Redcam Avenue, St. Andrew, headquarters, will go a long way. Patricia Cuff, acting director-general of the JLS, pointed out that there are over 600 service points across the island, including the mobile service which makes over 500 stops. In addition, the JLS services over 900 schools.

"From the library's perspective it presents valuable information as to themeaning behind what we have, as a people, not understood or overstood, the meaning, the motivation, the direction in which the movement is headed," Cuff said.

"It is indeed a fortuitous moment," she said, adding that she remembered Super Plus' head Wayne Chen from the Portland Parish Library and the JLS's reading competition.

Chen confirmed that "The JLS has played a very significant role in my life." And there was laughter when he said that he remembered the first book he borrowed from the library, one with a picture of cows, which he liked, on the cover. It turned out to be a technical book on dairy farming.

However, he said, "I don't get the impression that young people are reading as much as they used to," noting "there is very little creative reading in the bookshops."

Chen said Super Plus "believes in Jamaican writing", noting that this is the third book that has been supported in this way. "I believe it is a valuable addition to the canon of Jamaican literature," he said.

"The Rastafarian value and ethos system has had a tremendous positive impact," Chen said, affirming that "Super Plus remains committed to local authors."

Han' go, han' come

Professor Carolyn Cooper, the brief handover function's guest speaker, noted the fusion of writing and business, saying "Yasus' book is a prime product for you to stamp with your Super Plus brand." And she said that just as how "han' go, han' come", in these liasions "it is not just a case of the writer going with an empty paki and asking the sponsor to let off."

And there was laughter when Cooper underscored the worth of Overstanding Rastafari with "the quality of the product is indisputable, like a trolley full of Super Plus products."

Yasus Afari said that the St. Andrew Parish Library played an important part in his life, when he was at a crossroads of self-identity. As for the connection with Super Plus, he said he was a customer before it was Super Plus, from the days of L&M.

It was artwork in the May Pen outlet of SuperPlus that led him to artist Omar Passley, whose sketches are in Overstanding Rastafari, and on to Chen to request the sponsorship. However, before he had a chance to make the proposal, Chen did so.

Humbling occasion

"This occasion is a humbling one," Yasus Afari said, adding "since we cannot afford to publish the book and give it away...".

And director of culture in education, Amina Blackwood Meeks, emphasised the timing of the book's publication, in the year of the bicentenary of the transatlantic trade in Africans. As for Jamaicans not reading, she noted "How easily we read about other people. We tiad fe see other people and when we see ourselves we are ugly, ugly in how we are portrayed and ugly in character."

She thanked Yasus Afari for showing that "Rome was not built in one day" in the book-writing process. "It takes time, it takes discipline, it takes courage to interrogate ourselves," Blackwood Meeks said.