We are unwanted 😡

 We Jamaicans tend to hold ourselves in high esteem and based the performance of many of our nationals at home and abroad, we have some reason to feel so.

For on an individual basis, so many Jamaicans tend to be world beaters!

This is s especially so in sports, music, the arts, etc although when it comes to, operating collectively, especially in sports, we tend to bomb out.

I am not at this time thinking about sports though but our reputation as a country.

A paradox is that despite our terrible reputation at home and abroad because of crime, we remain among the most desirable vacation destinations in the Caribbean

 But that’s for another debate.

The latest statistic which gave me a jolt recently, was when at I heard on Radio  Jamaica (RJR) that in the Caribbean, our passport is one of the least desirable. It’s something, I have never really mulled on, although I travel a lot.

This is demonstrated by the extent to which countries are prepared to refuse to take a chance on us, by allowing us into their countries without visas!

According the report, Barbadians, can travel to over 160 countries without needing a visa and Bahamians are next on the high list with over 150 countries not asking them to get visas.  However, Jamaicans can only travel to 90 countries without a visa. (The entire list and ranking are online).

Even other Caribbean countries don’t particularly like those of us trying to travel to their countries with a Jamaican passport, despite us holding something marked a Caricom passport.

I remember the last time I went to Trinidad, how they scrutinized my documents from top to bottom.  I was just attempting to get home next day after leaving Guyana!  This while other Caricom nationals just ‘zoopsed’ through. 

At that time, I had to catch a connection through Trinidad .

 I was just overnighting there to catch my connection!

As I have been mainly been travelling to Africa recently, my esteem was lifted a bit by the fact that quite a few countries on the Continent, welcome us without visas.

These include Botswana, Zambia, Ghana , Kenya, South Africa.

 I must admit though, I was shocked when no such privilege was extended to us by Ethiopia!

 Shocked, because so many Jamaicans hold Ethiopia in such high regard, with some of our nationals even considering their former King a high prophet.

Besides, quite a few Jamaicans have made that country their home.

Could it be because of the actions of the Jamaicans there why they put in the visa restriction?

On the other hand, more Jamaicans have made Ghana their home and they haven’t slapped any visa restrictions on us!

(According to my research, 1000 Jamaicans live in Ethiopia and around 4000 in Ghana).

Our government needs to tell us why we are the personae non gratae in the Caribbean and why they are not negotiating bilateral agreements for us to travel more easily?

Visas are quite expensive documents and considering how we open up our country to the rest of the world, isn’t it time we get a break?

I forgot, politicians travel on diplomatic passports so don’t have the hassle of getting visas.

Anyway, our passports are probably blacklisted because the world knows our governments are so notoriously corrupt with no one ever being held accountable for anything, so they don’t want people who consider corruption the norm, to visit them!

So, I guess we will continue to be the pariah of the Caribbean.

 

 

 

 

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 [jw1]

I cannot tell a lie😁

I would love to say I caught this fish (a barracuda) but as you get older, it is hard to lie as you easily forget the lies you told!

So no, while I was in the boat, I never even caught a fly. This is borne out by the fact that when we pulled in the line to return home, my bait had not even been nibbled.

Two hours trolling and not even one bite😡

Fact is, 4 barracudas were caught today, 2 by my brother Bernie, one by my niece and one by the fisherman, Mustafa, who took us out.

Bernie, Mustafa and the unfortunate Joan 

My cousin Coretta buck up pon a fish🤣

Let me clarify the catch though. 

Bernie was so overjoyed when he caught an 8 pound barracuda, that when his rod was re-baited, he handed it to Coretta and immediately, she got a hit. 

Within 3 seconds!

So they are arguing over who the expert fisher person was!

I swear someone obeahed me, for very rarely do I return without anything while being in the same boat as they are.

Because of his luck today,  I told Bernie to buy the lottery. And he not only did but has promised to give me half. 

So, if you hear I am in Africa and might not return for a year or two, it's because his luck extended to the lottery today.

So oono please pray.😁

Exploring Africa!

I had the opportunity to visit the Motherland twice in 2023, but found it intriguing when quite a few of my fellow countrymen/women, asked incredulously  "how yu go a Africa so often?"

Had I visited Europe or North America twice in a year, it wouldn’t have seemed so strange to anyone.😥.

Snow-capped Kilimanjaro in Tanzania,
as seen from Kenya.

You see, we Jamaicans were brainwashed for decades (even after independence😡!) into believing that the European and North American  continents are the epiphany of civilization, whereas Africa is a dark undeveloped place that no one should visit.

Serious ting.

It may appear strange, but many Jamaicans even think of Africa as a country and not a continent made up of 54 diverse and independent nations!

This is because we have been fed so much negative crap about Africa as a whole, that most have not had the interest to research the facts for themselves.

Anyway, I plead guilty to belonging to the class of travelers who have avoided Africa for far too long!

I actually reached the south-western tip of the continent😊

So, for decades when traveling to faraway lands for pleasure, had chosen some exalted city in Europe, never a country in Africa!

 I was bitten by the travel bug from I was 14 years old, thanks to my parents. For it was at that age that they took me to places as diverse as Cuba (then highly developed and not yet communist), a few small eastern Caribbean islands, Montreal and New York.

So, it was from then that I decided that I wanted to see the natural beauty of the world, interact with every animal I could find, and relive history, but bypass cities and man-made edifices.

Playing with a 40-year-old seal in South Africa

But Africa was never in my plans, because of the negative press with which I had been bombarded for decades.

It was only when my Canadian friends who went to work in Kenya, invited me to stay with them after telling me how wonderful it was there, that I decided to explore.😡.

So, Kenya was the first country in Africa that I visited and it was a wonderful experience.

It was also then I  discovered what a fool I had been all along!

Quite frankly though, I was a bit surprised at how developed Nairobi was, because of the negative images that had been implanted in my brain for decades.(brainwashing is real and has proven to be super-effective for decades!)

Well, that's all behind me now, for it will be Africa every time when going on long-haul trips, for there is so much to see and do and so little time. 

On safari in Kenya with my hosts and friends.

Nairobi is very developed

The reality of Kenya certainly belied the propaganda that I had heard all my life. 

What impressed me immediately too, was how highly they respect their own currency, for that's the only cash they accept.

 Better, yet, they are so technologically advanced, that almost everyone pays with their phone. 

So whether you are buying an orange on the street or a car, just pay with the swipe of your phone.

Since that eye-opening trip, it's been Africa all the way for me.

Hanging out in a lobby in Botswana

My second trip to the Motherland took me to parts of Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Robben Island (where Mandela was imprisoned for decades), and Cape Town in South Africa.

With Wendy and family.

This was all thanks to my Jamaican friend Wendy, who lives in Lusaka. She has lived and worked in Africa for more than seven years and knows areas of the Continent extremely well. 

I learned so much just visiting museums on this trip!

She was therefore able to guide me on how to travel, where to go, where to stay etc.

 It was a wonderful trek and I am eternally grateful as I was able to travel to places and experience things I had only heard of, but never thought I could do in this lifetime.

A Mandela memorial on Robben Island

Up to now, I still can't believe I saw and did the things which had only been distant dreams for decades. 

Fact is, the education I received on these brief trips have been more valuable and memorable than I have accumulated in many years.

Sections of Cape Town, South Africa

More recently, I had the opportunity to visit Ghana and even got my new name, KORLEKi.

I felt so at home in Ghana for the foods, flora, city scenes, lifestyle, fauna and even the huge gap between the rich and poor, seemed so much like ours at home.

But boy is their culture deep.

Joan, my views: A cultural powerhouse (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)

I now understand why Rita Marley made that county her home for some 20 years!

I understand that the properties above are part of the Marley portfolio I Ghana.

Ghanaians are also super-welcoming but interestingly, while I had been under the impression that most of the slaves that were transported to Jamaica had Ghanaian roots, on my visit there, I learnt that only 23% did. 

Joan, my views: Religion and slavery (joan-myviews.blogspot.com)

Although i  had long ago been told by my grandmother that our actual roots were in Sierra Leone with the Mandingo tribe, I still felt at home in Ghana and honored to be inducted into the Krobo tribe.😊

These school children reminded me so much of our own💓 

I also discovered that many Ghanaians are outstanding linguists, speaking French, and German due to their close association with Brussels where thousands live and work. 

Most also speak English very well as it is compulsory in school and they all speak many tribal languages as well.

The magnificent Mosi-oa-Tunya which spans sections of Zambia and Zimbabwe, is named among the top 7 natural  wonders of the world.

Because I am crazy about animals, I think the country I need to return to soon is Botswana, although I still have another 48 independent nations in the homeland to sample!

You can easily do both land and river safaris in Botswana 

So much to do, so little time.

Oh well, it was the insightful Lao-tzu who said "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step," so I should be grateful that I got the opportunity to take that single step a few years ago.

Now its on to the rest of the journey.

The exploiters contender

 The story of Africa has been one of brutality, racism and exploitation. This by rich countries which have vied over the centuries, to steal the wealth of this resource rich continent.

Not much has changed over the centuries except maybe the modus operandi of the vipers and an increase in the number of those who may wish to join the rape.

The most recent entrant into the band of potential pillagers is of course China.

They have not come with the violence of the previous exploiters though, but with apparent kindness.

I only hope African leaders have learnt from the experience of  others though and most recently, the Sri Lankan experience with China. 

They also need to pay close attention to the extreme racism Africans and other blacks are often subjected to in China! (During the pandemic, it was widely reported that several African ambassadors had to write to China’s foreign minister, calling for the “cessation of forceful testing, quarantine and other inhuman treatments meted out to Africans” and Uganda even expelled some Chinese from their country in retaliation!)

Interestingly, Zambia only recently discovered huge emerald reserves. 

That’s why I find this you tube discussion I just got, so interesting: https://youtu.be/EvW18HDsFyw.

It sure stirred up bad vibes!

Hopefully the Zambians have a similar wise warning proverb like ours in Jamaica which is :’tek sleep mark death’.

Jottings

 As I sit in the airport waiting on flight to Livingstone, Zambia, I have been thinking about some things I learnt in Cape Town.

This beautiful building is a mere pizza place

This city is full of fabulously designed buildings built by backbreaking slave labor but because history is written by the victors, most of the Black people give the colonial/slave masters credit for them.

I got angry with a tour guide who kept thanking the British, so at a stop, had to pull him aside and read him the riot act.

His commentary changed after that but mental slavery will probably take centuries to be eliminated.😡

And did you know that when Rhodesia got independence and became Zimbabwe, whites born there could move to South Africa, be granted citizenship immediately and given access to all the privileges whites automatically get here?

I didn’t!

Even now, this country has so far to go. For example, no matter how rich a black person becomes, to get a child into what had been a private white school, they must go on a long waiting list while white children are immediately accepted. (Education is supposedly free up to high school but there are private schools which offer better facilities).

And although the white population has shrunk from 20% to 8%, they still control commerce. With unemployment among blacks at 18% the exploitation of workers is sickening as those who have a job must accept anything to hold on to it.

 Working and living conditions are still in the pits for blacks.

On a more pleasant topic, our Usain Bolt is so loved that a taxi service to compete with 

Uber was established using his name. While Uber is popular with tourists, Bolt is popular with locals.

And my personal favorite, the late great Peter Tosh was given special credit at the slave lodge, for his militant songs decrying oppression. 😊

I was a bit miffed when South African after South African kept telling me that Jamaica is in America though, until someone explained that it means we are in the Americas just like how the island of Mauritius which is in the Indian Ocean, is considered Africa.

A bit upset still but understand the complications of geography better😊.

I was quite surprised to see so many mixed race people, having read Trevor Noah’s “Born a Crime.” 

As interracial sex was a crime, in public his mom had to pretend to be his nanny not to get arrested!

His Swiss father was never in any peril though,  I suppose because sexual exploitation of black women by white men was part of their perks under apartheid.

Many people are upset because the South Africa today supports Russia in the Ukraine affair. We must remember though that the USA ‘empowered apartheid‘. When  the UN called for sanctions against the apartheid regime in 1962, the US resisted until the late 80’s😡

Memories are not short!

On a lighter note; 

South Africa is the only country in Africa with nuclear power and I was intrigued to discover that you can buy your electric service at the corner shop where you buy bread. 

All you need is a pre-paid meter and the shop transfers power supply from its meter to yours. And it costs no more, as the shops are agents of the power company. 

Neat eeh?

To get to Zambia we took Airlink, one of the 3 South African owned domestic carriers. We had to fly through Johannesburg and would you believe that although it was only an hour and half we got breakfast?

The beautiful box in which breakfast was served on Air Link

We could fly for hours in the USA and even internationally to Jamaica and those darn airlines would not even give you a bottle of water!

My wandering thoughts😏

It’s a beautiful day

 The weather in Cape Town is extremely unpredictable and yesterday was rainy, cold and dreary. Then there was the drama and trauma of my cousin losing everything. https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2023/03/high-drama-in-cape-town.html?m=1. 

Today was the very opposite.

Wonderful all day.

I played with a wonderful seal named Pappy who is 46 years old, fed ostriches, watched monógamos African penguins in their nesting area hoot in delight as they procreated while others sat on their eggs or built nests in the sand. 

These penguins are smaller than the ones we normally see, but just as delightful. And they only live in South Africa and Namibia. 

Incidentally, when they are happy, they make loud braying noise like donkeys.

 Then we went to Table Top national park and the Cape of Good Hope. 

At the National park, there are small wild animals but we only saw a couple ostriches and one baboons who was strutting unconcerned along the main road as if he owned the area.😍

Unfortunately no one was able to get a pic in time😥

We had been taught that the Cape of Good Hope is the southernmost tip of the African continent, but it’s not quite true. That is Cape Agulhas where the Atlantic and Indian oceans converge, but we didn’t go there.

 We had a wonderful day all day and the pictures were great and so clear. 

Enjoy 

Long Beach