Obeah

 Have I been living under a rock?

I had been under the impression that the more educated and enlightened people become, the less they are influenced by things such as obeah, guard rings and even some conspiracy theories. 

Clearly however I have been totally wrong.

For belatedly, as I follow American News, it is obvious that belief in dimwitted conspiracy theories are on the rise. 

In Jamaica, there are far more stories now about obeah related matters. 

You know, I have never gotten the impression that Obeah men/women were particularly wealthy, but I guess they must be very smart at hiding their fortunes. 

Or is it they are waiting patiently for their time to come?

I smile as I recall how many decades ago, as I was taking a taxi from the airport into Port of Prince, the capital city of Haiti, when during the journey, the driver enquired if I wished to visit a voodoo priest. I asked him why I should, and his immediate reply was. " So you can get rich."  When I asked him how come he wasn't rich, he explained patiently that his time hadn't yet come. 😂

Anyway, this resurgence of Obeah in Jamaica is no laughing matter and in fact it is really concerning.

Look at this news carried by Radio Jamaica on the 26th April 2022, under the banner headline;.

Medical staff at CRH halt work after being threatened by armed thugs

The story began; "Doctors and nurses at Cornwall Regional Hospital in St. James have stopped working after armed thugs this morning entered the institution and threatened them while trying to secure the release of a male patient who is said to be a don. Radio Jamaica News was informed that the gunmen demanded that the man be released into their custody but the medical staff resisted after stating that the patient was too ill and needed treatment. The men reportedly drew guns and threatened the hospital staff."

The report further stated; "Assistant Commissioner Clifford Chambers, head of the Area One Police, confirmed that there was a confrontation between doctors and persons who took the sick man for medical treatment. The information so far, which we're trying to confirm - let me make it clear - is that the persons who took that male there to be treated are of the view that is condition was not medical in the main but that he needs to go to a "obeah man" who can better help him," the policeman revealed. 

 

He said reports indicate that the doctors insisted the man needed proper medical treatment and this led to the confrontation. "

This incident follows closely on a report that a young school boy was killed over a "guard ring" last month and the exposure of the church run by Kevin Smith, where human sacrifices and obeah practices were taking place. 

Clearly therefore, instead of many young people realizing that obeah cannot affect them negatively or positively, they seem to be going in the opposite direction.

I wonder what they would have done if they got an anonymous letter in the post, containing a single brand-new razor blade with a long strand of hair wrapped around it, as I did some years ago? (Incidentally, as the razor blade was brand new, I put it into my own razor and shaved my legs😁)

Seriously though, I really don't know what next to expect in my beleaguered country.

 Obeah - YouTube

Corruption killing Jamaica

“Mi nuh come fi count cow, mi come fi drink milk.”

That is a popular proverb in Jamaica and I swear it’s the motto of most of our politicians.

While the majority will not admit that it is their motto though, I once heard a politician who was a deacon in a church, saying it quite unabashedly!

He clearly realized that we Jamaicans do not really take public corruption seriously, as we refuse to connect the dots.

Our poor country has suffered immensely and unnecessarily as a result of our tolerance of political corruption though.

Sadly, the corruption in Jamaica has become so entrenched that this story published in the Gleaner of December 5^th, 2021 entitled “US$100-million gap, Financial review uncovers missing funds CAP paid to Jamalco” barely elicited a collective yawn.

 That is not millions, but billions!

This latest revelation has made the other recent scandals at Petrojam, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Airports Authority and on and on, seem almost insignifican. But when they are all added up, we begin to see the extent to which this country is being ravaged by the few politically attached, who are rarely ever brought to justice.

For the benefit of the uninformed, CAP a publicly-owned a bauxite producer and alumina refinery which is flush with money. And when you consider the terrible unmitigated damage that the bauxite mining industry has done to our environment over the years, this revelation is even more devastating.

What is sad is that while the majority seem happy to accept the theft/misappropriation of the country’s resources, (the refrain often is “di other side do it to”) they fail to understand how this endemic corruption is causing the violent crime about which everyone is bawling.

Let me put it simply.  

I am old enough to remember the days when violent crime was the exception not the rule, as every community had organized activities for the youth. This was facilitated in community centres which were properly equipped with cricket fields, football fields and all sorts of other sporting/domestic science activities, to keep young people fully engaged while they learnt competitiveness and even new skills after school.

Due to the perennial ‘lack of funds’ since the 90’s however, these facilities were scrapped so it’s the gangs and the guns that the young people now have available to keep them occupied and socialized in the wrong areas.

Don’t believe me. Just go into the archives and read the myriad of reports that have been done on how to reduce violent crime and you will see the most common recommendation is; social intervention at the community level, not States of Emergency.   

Even if we must use States of Emergency occasionally to deal with special situations, do we have adequately trained and renumerated police for this to be successful?

Absolutely not.

Our police force is notoriously corrupt and ineffective. Could it be because we are only able to recruit mostly from the bottom of the barrel because of the poor renumeration and working conditions?

I certainly think this is the major problem.

Yes, there is a direct connection between our resources constantly being stolen and misappropriated, whether through central government, local government or the myriad of uncontrolled government boards, many of which exist simply as feeding trees for the political elites and their henchmen.

Oh yes, we are sometimes appeased by announcements of steps to be taken to minimize corruption, but don’t hold your collective breaths. For Jamaica does not suffer from a lack of laws and regulations but from the absence of enforcement.

So, while it is required that public bodies all present audited returns annually, some are even decades in arrears. In the meantime, the horses have long bolted with our resources and there are never any consequences, while the people perish.

And we will continue to perish and be held hostage by violent criminals, until we the populace, connect the dots between the massive corruption in government and violent crime and rise up, determined to bring it to an end.

 https://youtu.be/OWfyPuF80cQ

Finding family

It is quite simple to find your family these days, as all it requires is a DNA swab!
However I am getting a lot of pleasure finding mine the good old fashioned way, ie. word of mouth and direct connections.

Some of my cousins residing in Seattle

What is interesting, is that for decades I was under the impression that I had a very small family and even envied my ex-husband at times, as his family was so large and together. It is only over the last decade that I have discovered that I too have quite a big family, from my father's side too. 

Big sister Flo

Interestingly, that is where the deficiency always was, I thought, for I only met my paternal grandfather once and that occasion was terrifying to me. As I recall, he wore dark glasses and had a long white beard and at about four years old, I had never seen anyone else with these attributes, so I was  deathly scared of him.

He died shortly after that frightening encounter, so that could be the reason why over all these decades, I showed no interest in his side of the family. That is, until my brother who lives in Canada informed me that our paternal grandfather was one of fourteen siblings, scattered all over the world including Cuba.

I was especially thrilled to hear I had relatives in Cuba, for that neighboring island is to me, one of the most beautiful places on earth (natural beauty but spoilt in part by terrible government) and I had already visited it three times, without realizing the family connections.

 So in 2014, off I went to the island just 90 miles away from my home in  Jamaica, to meet those relatives and was thrilled to meet 17 cousins living there. 

The matriarch had quite a bit of information about our family, informing me that,at the turn of the 20th century, two sisters travelled from Jamaica to Cuba to take advantage of job opportunities in the neighboring island. However, one sister later moved on to the United States (USA) but her mom remained on the island, hence my 17 cousins from three generations.

Posing with Judy and Cheryl

On another occasion, while visiting my cousin Sheila who also resides between Canada and Jamaica, I had the pleasure of meeting two cousins who live in Seattle, USA and were searching for their Jamaican roots. 

Well my latest trek was partly to see them in Seattle and meet the rest of their family, as I was in nearby Vancouver , Canada and was going across to stay with a long-time Jamaican friend who lives there and has not been in the best of health.

My instincts were on target, for the sisters Judy and Cheryl welcomed me with open arms and gave me the opportunity to meet so many more wonderful relatives, including their step-mother Mrs. Braxton, their big  sister Flo, her grandson Jacob and brothers Jerry and Trevor. Interestingly, that side of the family is intermarried with Japanese, Aleut Indian from Alaska and Jews.

We all had such a pleasant lunch together at a Jamaican restaurant which was not short of photos of our well known celebrities including the one above of the fastest man in the world, standing on a globe. I had seen many posters of Bolt all over, but the one of him posing on top of a globe which is most appropriate, was new to me.


Before the luncheon, we had visited UMOJA FEST 2019, an annual event which celebrates the almost 140 years that the Black community of Seattle has called the Central District their home.

 Naturally, Jamaica featured big there too,  as a stall operated by Lorna, a Rastafari from  the parish St. Thomas, was prominent there, offering Jamaican food which was  bubbling when we arrived.

A political booth at the festival

I was thrilled to see politics playing a part there too!

I had long heard of the TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL who claim to be original Jews,  so was curious to learn more about them. They also had a stall at the fair and some members were there, decked out in their uniforms.

They quote extensively from Deuteronomy and their message is totally crazy, as set out in pamphlet entitled; "The truth about slavery."  

It declared in part that "Ham, the youngest son of Noah, born probably 96 years before the flood, he became the progenitor of the dark races NOT THE NEGROES, but of the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Libyans and Canaanites." Africans " (Ham  is the father of all African nations NOT HE NEGROES!!!)

They further added to my confusion with the claim "AFRICANS SOLD THE NEGROES FOR GUNS."!!!

Buffalo soldiers

They totally lost me although I found their uniforms very attractive.

Also in the parade was a band representing the Buffalo soldiers. 

The crowing glory of my time with cousins Judy, Cheryl and Jerry was when they took me to the fabulous concert at Jazz Alley, downtown Seattle, featuring award winning saxophonist Kirk Whalum whose band traveled the world  for seven years, while backing the late, great Whitney Houston .

I was totally enthralled by the performance, though it was interspersed with the Christian messages, as Mr. Whalum is a  minister of religion I understand.  But I did  not find his message offensive, as I usually do!

With the great Kirk Whalum

In fact his rendition of some well known gospel songs was really thrilling.

He also interspersed his performance with social commentary, calling on the audience to go out and vote to get rid of the millstone around the neck of the American nation.

 I was honored to meet him after the concert and get a gift of a copy of his CD, from Jerry. 

The pianist John

That was when I learnt that his pianist John, who sings like the late Marvin Gaye, has Jamaican roots, in St. Catherine to be exact, through his father.

 He tells me he has a family reunion there every other year.

It was an absolutely wonderful day with my relatives in Seattle who I have to keep in touch with for years to come.