Trifter

Poverty is blanketed by paradise tourists that visit the Jamaican beaches of all-inclusive resorts are deaf, dumb, and blind to the truth. Tall barbed wire fences separate serenity and luxury from murder, drugs, shacks and half- finished houses. Despite their dire situation the people of Jamaica are some of the most high-spirited, fun people I’ve ever been around. A people who are extremely proud of who they are, and where they come from. They are very loose and stress free, using their car horns to say “hi” instead of “get out of the way.”

    Whether it is the words of Bob Marley running through their veins, or the great weather and blue skies calming there nerves, the natives of Jamaica seem blind to the state that their country is in. Jamaica has a 11.5 %unemployment rate which is very high. The jobs the natives occupy for the most part are roadside shack stands selling all different items: Homemade food, produce they grew themselves, handmade crafts and even collecting money to cliff dive.

    Traveling through the parish of Hanover, our bus driver gave us a brief history of Jamaica and a quick incite into the politics of the 41,181 sq mile island. The main homestead of the average person is a very small poorly built shack. As we drove, I witnessed a very disturbing sight. In the mountains that tower over the shacks, there were huge mansion that could easily fit 100 shacks inside. The bus driver said they were the abandoned houses of foreign factory owners that left the country when the factories closed. About ten miles down the road we passed one of those factories. Then another and another. “Hearing about all those people losing their jobs left a bad feeling in my stomach. Those jobs were helping Jamaica become a better place, they left without considering the effect it would have on the country.” He said that most of the companies left because they didn’t agree with the new government.  Those left a bad feeling in my stomach because I knew some of those companies were American.

As I was taking a dune buggy tour through the mountains of Hanover, I really got to appreciate how beautiful Jamaica is: Rolling hills covered with undeveloped land, Crystal clear water, perfect beaches. Part of the tour was going through a small town with a population of about 100. Out tour guide told us to drive slow because the children of the town liked to come up to the vehicles to touch the drivers. As we drove through the village I felt like a solider liberating a worn torn city recently occupied by a ruthless enemy.  The small town consisted of shacks and a old Winnebago that occupied a small general store.  I began to realize that the enemy wasn’t In that village, it wasn’t in the rundown towns and the bum beach villages.  The enemy was foreign. As we drove through the village, about ten children came up to our vehicles wanting to touch our hands. One little boy with makeshift shoes that he turned into sandals, and a pair of yellow sunglasses that he put on upside down came up to my vehicle. He grabbed onto my finger with a immovable grip that reminded me of a newborn. I had an empty water bottle in the cup holder. The boy pointed at the bottle as if it was a gift from god. I gave him the water bottle, he then took his sunglasses off and gave them to me.  He had nothing to give but he found something, a little boy that had almost nothing. That describes what Jamaicans are all about. 
For all the countries in the world that need help, Jamaica would be the last to admit it. They are just too proud of their country. During my time, in Jamaica, I heard no tales of distress, no pleas for substance. I heard no one implore for food or money, and not one person had a sign asking for a job. People turned to assertive salesmanship, but not aggresive or intrusive, just people selling goods to provide food for their family.  Jamaicans would be the last to admit that they need help, but the first to deserve it.

I went to Jamaica to have a relaxing vacation; I left with a experience that will last a life time. I got to know a country’s culture and people that are vastly misunderstood. Jamaica is known for Bob Marley and sunny beaches. What people don’t know is that the people are as beautiful and diverse as the landscape on which they live. Misfortunes and tragedies that would send people in the United States into a crazed frenzy of negativity, seems to not phase these people, they keep going and living. Their positive attitude keeps their spirits high through bad situations. Any problem, big or small, can be solved. But as I learned in Jamaica there is never a problem just a small situation.