Pit Toilets Still A Way Of Life For Many Students

In this day and age, 2013, 140 children at St. Mary's Primary School in St. Elizabeth have to endure substandard conditions at school since no proper bathroom facilities exist except for pit toilets! Certainly, this condition cannot be the only case in Jamaica where the students do not have proper bathroom facilities. In response, the government indicates that they will fund 50% of the project to build bathrooms at the school. Using a pit toilet is not only a scary situation for many students but it is dangerous. As a child from England, I remember my first experience of horror when my mother informed me that I would have to use the pit toilet located on the property of her elderly relatives in Skibo, Portland. As noted in one of the responses to an article on the subject: "I recalled at my primary school in 1971 a student fell in the pit latrine and the fire brigade had to come to take this unfortunate child from the mess...............That was a very dark day in our capital town school ....................". Furthermore, using pit toilets do not promote proper hygiene which should be a part of the school's curriculum. How could such diplorable conditions continue for so long with no corrective actions to address the matter? Some of the other responses to the post may best address this question?

"I have made contact with the Principal...he tells, me that the MP is Richard Parchment...and that the MP has been working tirelessly for a year to get these latrines replaced...it did not take a year for the PNP to buy $60 million worth of new SUV’s for the incoming MP’s etc...Now this area has been PNP since creation...and I have doubts about Parchment working “tirelessly”. Once upon a time I was of the view that I should contribute to causes such as this...sorry no more...their parents voted for change...I am not responsible for easing their suffering...that’s what govt. MUST do...where I live you get what you vote for...these people need to grow up and stop following Political Party till them Dead."

"Are you telling me that in 2013 A PRIMARY SCHOOL (Govt. Sch) is in this condition? The NERVE of the Govt. to say they will finance 50% of the project. It is THEIR duty that this school has bathrooms with clean running water..........."

"...............Pit toilets are not a priority for elected officials.............."

Immigration Reform Bill - Racial Opposition

One would expect for any Immigration Reform Bill to be written with the intentions of encouraging all immigrants regardless of color, class, creed, religious belief, etc. to become lawful residents of the United States by going those the proper legal channels. So, who would expect for the recently announced immigration bill to present such racial bias towards people from primarily Black majority rule countries within Africa and also the Caribbean islands? No mention is made in the bill of the visas which are considered "diversity" visas that allow residents of African and the Caribbean to go through a lottery system so as to have a chance of entering the United States. So, this bill does not take into consideration that similar to the European and Latin American residents, people from Africa and the Caribbean also need an equal chance of gaining legal entry into the United States. These natives of Africa and the Caribbean also have the same expectations to succeed in the U.S. by entering higher education insitutions so that they can achieve successful careers and take care of their families just like anyone else. So, it is hoped that good judgement will prevail so that lawmakers will learn that the millions of African and Caribbean immigrants currently residing in the United States are law abiding, hard working, tax paying voters. While these immigrants may not be as large as the Latino community, they always turn out in great numbers to vote and have often impacted many elections. So, politicians in Washington D.C. need to give more attention to these group of people.

When Your Best Is Not Good Enough

The following was a post on FaceBook that summed up how may feel:-

"This whole issue with the Minister of National Security feeling helpless and calling for divine intervention is something else and has rubbed me the wrong way. But…..You know I have to say, I am happy he was honest when he said "his best efforts" did not reap the desired results. I wish the many others who are tired, idea-barren, unskilled, visionless people we have in parliament would do the same. First step to growth and renewal is to admit when your efforts are not enough. Everyone in PNP jumped up that he did his best! How do we quantify or qualify “best.” Your best at cooking chicken maybe a well done 5 lbs pot-roasted roster seasoned to perfection and cooked to the bone. My best maybe the same roster placed on the dinner table golden brown but raw inside. Should I then get an award, pat on the back or a pass because that raw chicken that no one can eat is my “best?” We evaluate based on results and successes. We don’t evaluate students based on their own understanding of what is best. You know what I do when a child tells me he did his best but got below the class standard or desired outcomes? I show him other strategies of how to take that “best” to better or fix the devil of laziness in him!!! So we need to be honest and actually take note of his statement. Can he manage the task? Is it too big for him? Does he have the skills needed? What background experience and transferable skills does he possess to lead the ministry? It is full time politicians stop being cabinet ministers and allow skilled professionals to lead. The people of Jamaica are getting exactly what they want – Sis P to run the place like how a mother runs her house. A mother protects her child no matter what. I see them protecting everybody who do wrong – you can’t talk about them or else people vex with you! They are public figures so they are who we must talk about and leave your neighbor’s private affairs alone! I wish however that we would run the country like how successful business operates – return on investment!! If you have an employee and you are not getting the ROI then he has to go. Why do you think we have so many tired lazy teachers in school? (that is for a next time). We need to do better as leaders! Oh, I forget! We don’t need to do better. We can always prostitute the names of Usain Bolt, Bob Marley, jerk chicken, coconut water, white sand beach ad borrow IMP money!"

Caribbean American Women’s Fall from Prominence

Caribbean people, as with most immigrants, come to the United States to succeed so that they will not only achieve a better life for themselves but for their families in the United States and abroad. The expectations must certainly have been the case for two ladies, Beverly Hall and Jennifer Carroll. Both Caribbean American women rose to prominence in their government careers since they were elevated to two of the highest positions that anyone could only dream of attaining. To an average American, the perception of these women may simply be that of two Black women who managed to rise up the ladder of success. However, to a typical Caribbean immigrant, the women’s rise to success demonstrated a sense of pride and encouragement that attaining an influential position of leadership in the United States is undoubtedly possible. However, their sudden fall from grace indicates how easy it may be in the United States for even the most successful person to be brought down from a life of power, fame, and ego to a life of shame due to their wrong moral judgment. Beverly Hall was born in Jamaica, and immigrated to the United States during the 1970s. After attending college, she progressed from a classroom teacher in New York to principal and subsequently became the District Superintendent in Queens, NY. Her future seemed bright as she later rose to the position of superintendent of Newark Public Schools. In 1999, Hall took over the reign as superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools. During her tenure of a failing school district, Atlanta schools demonstrated significant gains in student achievement over ten years. According to Severson of the New York Times (2011), scholarship money delivered to Atlanta students jumped from $9 million to $129 million. Graduation rates rose from 39% to 66%. This high increase in funding enabled the building of new schools or the renovation of others. So, Dr. Hall was seen as a savior to the people of Atlanta. As a result of these great improvements, Hall was named the National Superintendent of the Year in 2009, an honor bestowed on her by the American Association of School Superintendents. She was lauded all over the nation as an example of excellence, and she became a media darling as she was interviewed on stations such as NPR about her educational philosophy and leadership style. However, everyone would learn later that, under Dr. Hall’s watch, there was conspiracy among educators to guide students during standardized testing and also grades were altered so that there would be opportunities to receive cash bonuses. While not directly charged with cheating, the subpoena indicates that Dr. Hall, as the leader of the district who demanded high achievement, must have been aware of the clear and widespread fraudulent occurrences but did nothing to address the matter. She was indicted by a grand jury for the cheating scandal. Jennifer Carroll was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, and moved to the United States at an early age. She was not only the first Black female Republican woman to be elected to the Florida Legislature but she held many Florida committee leadership positions before she became the first Black woman to be elected to the position of Lt. Governor of Florida. In fact, Carroll was the first Black person to be elected to such a high position in the state of Florida since Reconstruction. After retiring from the Navy, her first bout of controversy began while undertaking the position of the National Commission of Presidential Scholars. She resigned from the position when a CBS news investigation uncovered that her degree was in question since it was obtained from an unaccredited, defunct university. Another controversial issue was that in 2011, the Florida Times-Union reported that Carroll fraudulently provided false documents so that her minority-owned firm would secure a Jacksonville grant. In 2012, a fired former staff member of the Lieutenant Governor’s office made allegations against Carroll that included a sex scandal, lies, and an illegal audio taping incident. Finally 2013, Carroll resigned on the orders of Governor Rick Scott from the office of Lieutenant Governor when a Federal probe uncovered her involvement with racketeering. Her public relations firm was associated with an organization that not only ran illegal slot machine-style casinos but was also was under the pretense that they were contributing to veteran’s issues. Caribbean people are ambitious, so they will continue to work to achieve influential positions. However, it is important to take Hall and Carroll’s experiences into consideration to avoid being caught in embarrassing and criminal situations. In attaining a position of authority, too often people become accustomed to a lifestyle where they believe that there will be no consequences for their actions since they now have so much money. In addition to the issues noted above, hiring a driver for over $100,000 as Dr. Hall did and the excessive air travel of Ms. Carroll are other examples of such irresponsible actions. In spite of the financial changes in life, it is always important to maintain one’s humility by remembering where one is coming from and the people who contributed to get one to where he/she is today. The home, cars, and other worldly materials may be easily afforded now with the additional income, but it can be quickly lost.

The Adventure of Arriving At Miami International Airport From a High Profiled Country

Going through Immigration and Customs at Miami International Airport after arriving from any European and other low profiled international counties is effortless for travelers. However, arriving from international high profiled countries such as Jamaica is an adventure in itself. As one waits to enter the slot to provide the Immigration Officer with his/her passport, one of the first annoying question to the traveler arriving from Jamaica is “Do you have any ackee?” The first thought that may come to mind would be, “Is this Immigration officer for real??!!” “Don’t they know by now that this is Miami - not Alaska, so ackee trees may be found in the backyard of many Jamaican houses or a can of ackee may be purchased at any of the local supermarkets!” Nevertheless, the next irritating question is “Are you bringing any white rum?” To that a general thought is, “Why? Are you looking to get a free bottle?” “Clamp!” the loud stamp is made into the passport, and it is returned to travelers so that they will go on to experience the next aggravation as they make their way to the customs area to claim their luggage. The rules for luggage is also different since the luggage of travelers arriving from high profiled countries encounters additional scrutiny, so the bags take a much longer time to be dumped onto the carousel. Prior to claiming bags on the carousel, some are opened and physically checked while others are sniffed out by the customs dogs. After obtaining the luggage, worries for some high profiled country travelers are still not over. After giving the declaration card to the Customs Officer, the same facetious question will be asked, “Where are you coming from?” A thought before responding would be, “If you take the time to read the Custom Declaration card, you would see the country of departure.“ Next questions, “Are you bringing any ackee”? “Are you bringing any rum?” At this point, one just plays along and goes through the repetitive nonsense. In fact, passengers from countries such as Jamaica should not even bother to leave the box blank to indicate that he/she is not carrying any food items since the Customs Officer will still beckon for the passenger to follow the line where the luggage needs to go through the luggage screening machine so that the contents may be scrutinized one more time. If the passenger is unlucky and singled out, a Customs Officer will even do a physical search of the luggage, take the passenger’s computer to a unknown area, and return with the computer without the courtesy of explaining why or what was done with the computer. Seasoned travelers from these high profiled countries are very cautious as they know too well the detailed scrutiny they will have to face upon arrival at Miami International Airport and quite possibly other major airports in the United States. Meanwhile passengers travelling from low profiled countries must be having a blast bringing in whatever illegal possessions they can since they know that there is not a chance in hell that Customs and Immigration will ever single them out for any type of inspections since they are blessed to have that “all American look”.

Dead Beat Dads International

There are deadbeat mothers out there. However, deadbeat dads are more prevalent and are not restricted only to United States citizens but many male immigrants seem to have forgotten that they fathered children in their native countries. So, children in these foreign countries have been growing up without communicating with their fathers after these men migrate to the United States. Further, the deadbeat dads make no effort to communicate with the mother so that they will not be pressured into supporting their children. One child said to her mother after the many unsuccessful attempts to contact her father, “Mummy, why are you bothering yourself to call him.” At the tender age of 9 years, this innocent child already knows that her deadbeat father will never come through in providing assistance to help with her food, clothes, school fees, books, and basic living expenses. She already knows that her mother will have to continue to make sacrifices to ensure her well-being. To make matters worse, many of these men start new families while living in the United States and demonstrate no difficulties in supporting this new family. Ironically, if the abandoned children become successful, these deadbeat dads suddenly appear out of the wood work to claim their children’s successes as if they contributed to the achievements. Unfortunately, there is no international law to make these deadbeat dads pay for neglecting their children financially, physically, and mentally. But, what goes around comes around.

Neglecting Medical Care of Sick Children

Music entertainer Shaggy, patrons, and staff at the hospital are smiling in a photo with a sick child who will benefit greatly from the machine purchased with funds from the Shaggy and Friends Charity performance. At the Bustamante Children’s Hospital, photo ops are common with smiling children, nurses, and patrons demonstrating an environment of happiness. Yet, on a normal day when the photographers and limelight are nowhere to be seen, the night staff wakes up sick children in the wee hours of the morning at 4:00 AM for their bath so that the staff will not have to delay their departure promptly at 6:00 AM at the end of their shift. Those children whose parents are regularly at the children’s hospital do not have to worry since they will not be awoken for a bath as their parents are expected to do this job on their visit. After their early bath, children whose parents cannot visit them regularly must take care not to wet or mess up themselves or else they will have to remain in their soiled attire since no health staff will make any effort to change them regardless of their loud, monotonous crying. There was a case where a little girl cried out one night. “I’m so cold……can I have a blanket?” A visiting parent who heard the child and saw her shivering made a plea to one of the nurses for a blanket. That parent had decided to spend all night at the hospital with her child since throughout her son’s hospital stay, she had witnessed the neglect of innocent, sick children. “We do not provide blankets to patients”, the nurse responded abruptly and coldly. The parent made further pleas but to no avail. So, she sought for and found a blanket on a cart which she used to cover the freezing sick child. Upon realizing what the parent did, the nurse quickly retrieved the blanket off the child’s body insisting that the parent was violating the policy of the hospital. So, the caring parent removed the child’s sheet from the mattress and used it instead to cover the child. The Bustamante Children’s Hospital has improved over the years. Yet, these incidents along with placing doctors and other medical practitioners from Cuba to care for sick children but are unable to clearly communicate with the parents demonstrate that the public hospital has a very long way to go. The only English word one mother could understand in response to her question to a Cuban doctor was the word, "baby" so he was unable to respond to the mother's concerns. Undivided attention is expected for all sick children regardless of whether their parents can only afford to use the services of a public hospital and all nursing staff should be empathetic to each situation.

Americanization of a Developing Country

Social influences from the United States have impacted the way of life in countries such as Jamaica. For instance, American based fast food establishments have become prominent throughout foreign cities as one is bound to see the unmistakable logos as he/she approaches a McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, TGIF, and the list goes on and on. It does not even matter that the cost of meals sold at the foreign franchises is overpriced since even the poor will find a way to purchase that quick meal to show their connection to the United States. Homes have access to cable television services which broadcast programs directly from the U.S. So visitors to the island never miss their favorite program and continue to keep abreast of the happenings in the U.S. On the other hand, the locals are bombarded with the American way of life and are lead to believe that one can only be successful if they possess the advertised clothes, shoes, cars, food, etc. Further, the cable programs that depict violence, drugs, and other crimes have often been blamed for the decline in discipline, moral standards, and the drastic increase in crime rate in Jamaica. To fulfill the appetite for American products, imports from the United States are at an all time high. So, with the misconceived notions that foreign items are better, there is a great desire to possess American products, and this diminishes the desire to produce or manufacture local goods. Further, government programs that could encourage locals to produce and manufacture goods locally are non-existent. This lack of effort to produce locally not only makes the country heavily reliant on products from abroad but the foreign minded mentality promote the blatant employment of foreigners including foreign contractors to work as highly overpaid consultants. Meanwhile, the services of highly qualified graduates from the local universities are overlooked. So, it is no wonder why there is a brain drain of talented individuals who take their intellectual capabilities to, of course, the United States. Countries such as Jamaica will continue to be influenced by life styles in the United States with the locals maintaining the misconceived notion that "everything foreign must be better!"

U.S. Consulate – Visas Approval Inconsistency

As Easter approached, teachers at a primary school in a Caribbean island planned to take a group of children to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. In the group, there were two eight year old cousins. Both cousins are the children of twin sisters and all live at the family home. So, both cousins who have grown up playing together in the same home were looking forward to going to Disney World together and anxiously awaited the day they would go to the United States embassy to obtain their visas. Parents accompanied their children who made up a small group of twenty. The first cousin, a little girl, was the second person in the group to approach an Immigration Officer. She stood in front of the officer with her mom, a hard working woman who leaves for work for her retail job at sunrise and returns home well after sunset. The officer asked her about her employment and she explained what her job entailed. Suddenly, the officer abruptly advised her that the application for her daughter was not approved and she should try again next year. At first, the little girl did not understand the decision that was made. However, when it was later explained by her mother, she cried profusely and her uncontrollable whaling became too much for her mother to bear. However, the event was not yet over since the little girl’s cousin and his mother had to appear before the same Immigration Officer. After learning of her niece’s visa denial, the aunt decided to act indifferent during the interview with the Immigration Officer since she felt her son too would be denied a visa. So, when the Immigration Officer asked her about her occupation, she responded in a nonchalant manner, “Mi no do nothing sir but sell bag juice to children at mi yard.” Then, the immigration officer beckoned her to go to another side of the room where the visa would be processed for her son! Greatly surprised by the decision, she quickly moved to the other side of the room even though she did not have sufficient money for the processing fee. Ironically, her hardworking sister offered to make the payment. This is one example where the issuance and denial of a visa do not seem to be logical. Unfortunately, with the high cost of the visa application fees too many applicants leave the embassy with no visa and lose out on the hundreds of dollars that they scrounged to obtain for the fee.

Biased British Embassy Policies

Jamaica seems to be the only western country where all who want to renew or obtain new passports must go to the British embassy in person at designated days and hours. A check on the procedures for many countries, including those that have British embassies, uncovered that these countries do not appear to be under any strict guidelines from the British Embassy. People from these countries are instructed to simply complete the form and send it along with the required documents to the Washington DC British Embassy. So, one can only wonder why the strict guidelines are imposed for one and not for all.