Tonianne is still one of the smartest women that I have ever met. I experienced my first Jamaican dish from her. It was then that I learned of Jamaican’s fried dumpling which I still think is a version of Guyana’s oil bakes (Sorry Toni).
Blog reposted - 1st Blogged on December 18th, 2019.
The exciting Journey
The journey to Kingston Jamaica was filled with personal excitement and much hype. My travels commenced on February 5th, 2013 from the Timerhi International Airport, Guyana, South America. One night was spent in Trinidad and a second flight was boarded on the 6th of February, 2013. There was one stop on the beautiful island of St. Marteen and finally, the plane landed in Jamaica.
With Ms. Jamaica snatching the title of Ms. World, Jamaica ratings have risen in the global spectrum. I choose to write about Jamaica to share on my experience and to give some insight on what I have learned about the Island’s history, people and general culture from a Transformation Leader’s perspective.
Jamaica holds a special place in my heart for three reasons:
I feel that of all of the Caribbean countries the culture and people of Jamaica are more aligned with Guyanese.
One of my closest friends is Jamaican and
My first experience in Jamaica has made an indelible make in my head that I will never forget for as long as I am alive.
I first visited Jamaica in 2013. As a requirement for the Doctorate in Transformational Leadership degree that I was pursuing at the time, I had to complete a course named Overture. This was an immersion course since as a transformational leader we were taken to a country or area to experience first hand the work of other Transformational Leaders in the realm of community, business, and church. This trip was profound. I learned about Jamaican history, visited the affluent of uptown and the poor of downtown.
My experience with the Jamaican culture did not start in 2013 however. In the year 2009 to 2010, I spent 1 year in Barbados studying. I can recall praying to encounter the right people and for favor with my studies. It was then that I met my very good friend Tonianne. Tonianne is still one of the smartest women that I have ever met. I experienced my first Jamaican dish from her. It was then that I learned of Jamaican’s fried dumpling which I still think is a version of Guyana’s oil bakes (Sorry Toni). We shared different ways of cooking rice: Guyanese wash, boil and strain our rice to serve with a stew but Jamaicans cook the rice without straining. Needless to say, on my first visit to Jamaica meeting my friend Tonianne in her space, greeting her family and enjoying a girl’s night out was at the top of my to-do list.
In today’s blog, I want to share a few excerpts from the daily journal of my first Jamaican trip.
The aim of sharing this journal is to give you a glance at Jamaica from my emersion experience and share a little on the history, culture, and people of the island.
Day One: February 7th, 2013
The journey to Kingston Jamaica was filled with personal excitement and much hype. My travels commenced on February 5th, 2013 from the Timerhi International Airport, Guyana, South America. One night was spent in Trinidad and a second flight was boarded on the 6th of February, 2013. There was one stop on the beautiful island of St. Marteen and finally, the plane landed in Jamaica.
I was greeted by the sound of reggae and a female voice in the rich Jamaican accent which announced “the time is 16:00hrs”. I glanced at my watch and recognized that Jamaica’s time was one hour behind Guyana, which meant that it was also the same as most parts of the USA. Bewilderment began to envelop me as I cleared customs but as I emerged from the revolving exit door, my discomfort was quickly eroded as I immediately recognized the smiling face of a woman who I had only seen in my university’s gallery, Ms. Yvonne. Standing next to her was a young man who I later found out to be a student who was traveling on the same flight as me. It was then that I concluded that university did an outstanding job of providing an opportunity for all of its students and visiting lecturers from the online session of the course to place a face to the voices that were heard during the online classroom sessions.
Evidence of Yvonne’s servant leadership ability and indomitable character was displayed in her simple acts of serving me and other students. Yvonne’s warmth conversation about her wait and the fact that she was going to drive her car to take us to our rooms was welcoming to my air blocked ears. During the drive home, Yvonne gave us an overview of the mountainous island of Jamaica. We were informed that Jamaica was the land of Port Royal, popularized in the movie “the Pirates of the Caribbean”. The rich history of the Jamaican people dominated the speech of Yvonne. I began to silently understand the benefit of engaging the city of Kingston and I also began to compare what I was hearing with my native land. I silently commended the University for allowing me the opportunity to travel to Jamaica as great expectations for the trip began to foment within me.
The evening of February 7th, 2013 was the time when I met most of my classmates and the course lecturer. Fellowship was held at the residence of Dr. Keane, Director of the host University, Caribbean Graduate School of Theology. During this time, Yvonne continued to show her leadership and coordination skills in the way in which she ferried students from their place of boarding, and still managed to personally deliver food items and snacks to the gathering, all on time.
Before this trip, Jamaica was just another country to me, however, my encounter with the few Jamaicans on the first few days in the country made a lasting impact on my mind. I realized the character and strength of the Jamaican people.
In extrapolating the first-day experience, I also reflected on my Guyanese people and recognized our strengths and weaknesses. From this experience, I recognize that we all should be servant leaders as Yvonne. Servant leaders grow when their gift is recognized and allowed to thrive with words of encouragement and support, and actions of acceptance.
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