For Courtney
I'm not really feeling cheerful enough to post about the good parts of the Jamaica trip yet, but there was one event that I feel needs immediate recording.
On Sunday, I went into Montego Bay to the Parish Church to celebrate Palm Sunday. My driver on the way there and back was a very nice man in his forties named Courtney, and we had a conversation that was one of the highlights of my trip. On the way back, the conversation was enhanced by the nearly silent presence of his son, a young man of about 13 or thereabouts.
Courtney lived in the US for about 3.5 years before returning to Jamaica--Baltimore for 2 years, and Ft. Lauderdale for 1.5. He's not a bullshitter of tourists--didn't say "Yah mon!" once to me. Here's some of the things he told me:
- The minimum wage in Jamaica is $1 USD/hour (the US dollar is currently worth $67Jamaican dollars).
- The income tax is 25%
- The sales tax is 8%
- For that, they get nothing. I mean, really nothing. Everything goes to supporting the tourist industry.
- The present Prime Minister and her party have been in power for four four-year terms and are starting to run for five.
- There is no limit to the number of times the same person can be Prime Minister, because people vote for the party rather than directly for the person, and the party members elect their head.
Now, what exactly do I mean by "nothing"? Public education is not free--tuition must be paid, and uniform, and materials must be bought for each child. (Even worse, it is not mandatory. The government doesn't really want an educated citizenry.) Good education is even more expensive. Doctor visits (and Jamaica has very good doctors) are free, and so are most drugs, but the public hospitals are so short of supplies that if you need surgery or to have a baby or something, you will do almost anything to get into a private institution. The money the legislature had set aside for a new hospital was taken by the government to build a stadium for the Cricket World Cup. They didn't manage to finish re-habbing the Montego Bay airport or the highway that runs past all the hotels in time for that, though. The highway project was started three years ago--they are adding two lanes to a two-lane road for a distance of about five miles.
Naturally, any Jamaicans who can afford it send their children to the US for education, and most of them do not return. Instead, they send money. The government charges them a huge amount to make such transfers, but Courtney says it's still true that Jamaica's chief product is remittances from people who have left in the brain drain.
This contributes to the stagnant politics, as the people left on the island are those who can most easily be manipulated at election time by party-run festivals, etc. It also contributes to the amazing level of corruption and all kinds of crime. It is literally unsafe for a stranger to go anywhere in Jamaica alone, even on Sunday morning, even if they look Jamaican. It's not too safe if you are Jamaican, either.
With all this, Courtney is not an unhappy man. He and his son were going to a motocross race after they dropped me off, and to a Formula 1 race on Easter Monday, a traditional Jamaican party day. His outlook on life is basically cheerful.
But he says that he wonders why Americans complain about all the hype and negative advertising and things around our elections. He says Jamaica will never change unless some sort of system is put in place that limits the ability of a group of people to stay in power year after year. He thinks the two-term Presidential limit is what saves us from the same sort of stagnation, and he'd love to see any kind of real opposition to the Way Things Are. We may think that all the ruling types are the same, but in Jamaica (and many other places), they really are the same, and the contrast is clear.
Oh, a fun fact--the KFC in Montego Bay is the second busiest in the world. KFC is what you buy in Jamaica instead of pizza on payday.
Anyway, this entry is for Courtney and all the other Jamaicans who don't think that Bob Marley's ghost and "Yah mon," and "Don't worry, be happy," are enough. Make sure your children come home and vote!
On Sunday, I went into Montego Bay to the Parish Church to celebrate Palm Sunday. My driver on the way there and back was a very nice man in his forties named Courtney, and we had a conversation that was one of the highlights of my trip. On the way back, the conversation was enhanced by the nearly silent presence of his son, a young man of about 13 or thereabouts.
Courtney lived in the US for about 3.5 years before returning to Jamaica--Baltimore for 2 years, and Ft. Lauderdale for 1.5. He's not a bullshitter of tourists--didn't say "Yah mon!" once to me. Here's some of the things he told me:
- The minimum wage in Jamaica is $1 USD/hour (the US dollar is currently worth $67Jamaican dollars).
- The income tax is 25%
- The sales tax is 8%
- For that, they get nothing. I mean, really nothing. Everything goes to supporting the tourist industry.
- The present Prime Minister and her party have been in power for four four-year terms and are starting to run for five.
- There is no limit to the number of times the same person can be Prime Minister, because people vote for the party rather than directly for the person, and the party members elect their head.
Now, what exactly do I mean by "nothing"? Public education is not free--tuition must be paid, and uniform, and materials must be bought for each child. (Even worse, it is not mandatory. The government doesn't really want an educated citizenry.) Good education is even more expensive. Doctor visits (and Jamaica has very good doctors) are free, and so are most drugs, but the public hospitals are so short of supplies that if you need surgery or to have a baby or something, you will do almost anything to get into a private institution. The money the legislature had set aside for a new hospital was taken by the government to build a stadium for the Cricket World Cup. They didn't manage to finish re-habbing the Montego Bay airport or the highway that runs past all the hotels in time for that, though. The highway project was started three years ago--they are adding two lanes to a two-lane road for a distance of about five miles.
Naturally, any Jamaicans who can afford it send their children to the US for education, and most of them do not return. Instead, they send money. The government charges them a huge amount to make such transfers, but Courtney says it's still true that Jamaica's chief product is remittances from people who have left in the brain drain.
This contributes to the stagnant politics, as the people left on the island are those who can most easily be manipulated at election time by party-run festivals, etc. It also contributes to the amazing level of corruption and all kinds of crime. It is literally unsafe for a stranger to go anywhere in Jamaica alone, even on Sunday morning, even if they look Jamaican. It's not too safe if you are Jamaican, either.
With all this, Courtney is not an unhappy man. He and his son were going to a motocross race after they dropped me off, and to a Formula 1 race on Easter Monday, a traditional Jamaican party day. His outlook on life is basically cheerful.
But he says that he wonders why Americans complain about all the hype and negative advertising and things around our elections. He says Jamaica will never change unless some sort of system is put in place that limits the ability of a group of people to stay in power year after year. He thinks the two-term Presidential limit is what saves us from the same sort of stagnation, and he'd love to see any kind of real opposition to the Way Things Are. We may think that all the ruling types are the same, but in Jamaica (and many other places), they really are the same, and the contrast is clear.
Oh, a fun fact--the KFC in Montego Bay is the second busiest in the world. KFC is what you buy in Jamaica instead of pizza on payday.
Anyway, this entry is for Courtney and all the other Jamaicans who don't think that Bob Marley's ghost and "Yah mon," and "Don't worry, be happy," are enough. Make sure your children come home and vote!