What Cruise Ships Tell The Tourists About Jamaica

 True Story: I was going on a trip with a group of friends and one of her friends brought another friend I had never met before. When this new friend found out I was from Jamaica

she was so excited and started to tell me about her cruise to the Caribbean. She told me her cruise was one of the most exciting trips she ever did and she proceeded to describe every single detail of her trip. The most interesting part was when she talked about her visit to Jamaica. She said the Cruise Ship issued out the following warnings:

1. Guests should never leave the group and venture on their own!

2. All guests should keep their tour bus windows closed at all times!

3. Guests should not interact with Jamaicans without the tour guide! By the time she told me the rest of the warnings issued, I began to wonder if she was talking about a trip to an African safari to see some lions tigers bears monkeys and other ferocious animals. Surely she cant still be talking about a trip to Jamaica ? Not to Montego Bay, the friendly city on my beloved island Jamaica ? And why shouldn’t they interact with the people? Are they some savages? Are they animals?

First let me say, Montego Bay has become very crime ridden and I do see why it is important to caution the guests. But the irony of the situation is that the government of Jamaica, the management of these Cruise ships and all-inclusive hotels have created a situation where Jamaicans are forced to desperately rush after tourists to try to “hustle” and sell them their wares. Because thats what we’re seen as. No more than savages. No more than animals. Fast forward to this Brain Drain issue currently being discussed in the news. Since some of the teachers have decided to migrate in search of better wages for their talent, it is implied that surely, the only people left are the savages with no education. We are talking about people who have graduated from UWI, UTECH, NCU, Sam Sharpe Teachers College, Mico Teachers College, Moneague College, GC Foster College, Montego Bay Community College who are sitting ar home with no jobs and no means to migrate. Surely their brains must not be worth more than the animals.

How can you get a job if you don’t have working experience?

How can you get a job if you don’t have experience? In this picture, I got an internship in a lab. How did I get this internship? I started volunteering at the hospital. While volunteering I talked to everyone. One day I met a lady from Russia who was my age. She worked in the lab and I asked her, How can I get a job there? Would you believe that she told me she was leaving and she would introduce me to her manager and ask her if I could take her duties! I spoke to the manager and the manager told me that since I was still attending school and did not have all the qualifications, she would give me an internship and when I finish my program, I could reapply! So I just want to recap. How did I get this position? I VOLUNTEERED. Something you should think about if you are trying to get into your favorite institution. Something else I want to point out, if I had a personal dislike for people from Russia, maybe I would not have spoken to her and she would not have opened a door of opportunity for me. Do you see how the world works?

Memories: Working In The UK And Paying Off College Debts From UWI

Working at WHSmith's in London, UK and being able to save money towards tuition fees owed at the University of the West Indies. The greatest feeling in the world is to have some money in your pocket that you earned. My dear younger family and friends, every honest job is a good job. You don't have to turn to scamming to achieve your goals. You can have anything you want in your life if you work towards it, never give up and keep believing in yourself. Most importantly, have faith in God no matter what people will tell you. God sees your hard work and he knows your heart and he will reward your hard work at the right time.

Christmas Memories Of Montego Bay

I remember Christmas 🎄 about the time I was in high school, getting so excited to put on my best outfit 👗 and then taking a taxi to go to Sam Sharpe square downtown Montego Bay 🏬 🏝 so I can walk around and see what everybody else is wearing! That was the most exciting thing in the world for me to do! I would walk the entire St James Street go into every single store including Salmon Photo Studio 📸 your so that I can look at other people’s pictures and faas in people business and see who was taking picture with who! Who get married 🤵🏾‍♂️👰🏾‍♀️💍who have baby 👶🏽Then walking to Fontana Pharmacy ( which sold prescription drugs and boutique items) to look at things I couldn’t afford and wish I was an adult with a job so I could buy some of these things. Then walk along bottom road by the beach 🏖 🌊 and Pier One, Craft Market, walk past Pelican Grill 🍱🍹🥗and wonder when I would have money to order a glass of water from that restaurant! And throughout the whole day I would see everybody that I knew in Montego Bay wearing their best clothes too. 😄😄😄By evening time when it started to get dark I would hurry up and take a taxi 🚕 home so I wouldn’t get in trouble. Then I would lay in my room and think about all the food 🥩 🍗 🍚 🍰 I was going to eat Christmas day and wonder what gifts 🎁 I was going to get for Christmas 🎅🏾🎄😄😄😄… Wow! So many great memories! I may have to do a Part 2 to this blog…What are your favorite memories of Montego Bay during Christmas? Feel free to comment below!

New Leadership Needed

What the UK 🇬🇧 and Jamaica 🇯🇲 needs is a young leader with fresh ideas to lead the country and apply modern principles that will solve the problems of these modern times we are living in. You cannot operate a government in the year 2022 using a system that has not being changed since the year 1600. It MUST FAIL. What is needed is a young leader bold enough to revamp the entire system and start new. Which young leader will be bold enough to stand up to the British Parliament? Which young leader will be bold enough to stand up to the Jamaican government which is based on the British Parliament system? Yes respect must be given to the politicians who genuinely devoted their lives to fighting for better standards of living for the people they represent. But at some point ( before death), they need to gracefully hand the baton over to younger leadership and step back and allow a younger person to lead. They can be there for support and consultations if necessary but it’s time for a change. And can we talk about the diversity in the British Parliament? How are they going to lead a country which has become so diverse in the ethnicities of the people who live there now in the year 2022, when the leadership is not diverse. There will be no new ideas. Just building on a crumbling foundation. Doing the same thing for 400 years and expecting new results. Every good leadership model should always prepare the younger generation with the expectancy that they will be equipped with the skills required when it’s their time to lead. But when you have a system with the leaders hanging on to the political seat until death with no plans of training the youth to take over, the system MUST FAIL!!! Ok enough of my ranting mi gone again before the Facebook police come 🏃🏾‍♀️💨💨💨👮🏾‍♂️ 👮🏾 🚨

The legendary Cornaldi “Goldfinger/Goalie McGhie

The legendary Cornaldi ”Goldfinger/Goalie McGhie”. May your soul Rest In Peace. Cornaldi McGhie was a popular Montego Bay businessman. He loved his job as a JUTA bus tour driver. He built his business from his many repeat customers who enjoyed his tours when they visited Jamaica. He was a very patriotic Jamaican and believed he had a personal responsibility to educate tourists about Jamaica’s history, and to take them to the communities to meet the real people of Jamaica and give them the real Jamaican experience. He was much loved by many small business owners especially in Montego Bay because he was one of few drivers would take tourists to their businesses and not only the popular Jamaican attractions, and in this way he contributed to the local economy. He was very skilled in Jamaican culture especially music and sports and participated in community events. He also contracted with many schools in Montego Bay like Herbert Morrison Technical High School and Cornwall College to bring the students to sporting events like the Dacosts Cup matches, Boys and Girls Champs, Netball and Cricket Matches as well as transporting the school band to performances all over the island like the JCDC festival competitions. Cornaldi McGhie was very well-known and loved by his community and his legacy lives on in Montego Bay.

A Generation Of Vipers

I have been hearing this term, “a generation of vipers” used to describe the young people in Jamaica. We definitely have to take ownership of the way these young people have turned out. I am curious, if they are vipers, are we calling ourselves vipers too? How did they get to this stage? Who raised them to be like this? Did they raise themselves? Did they drop from the sky? Did they crawl out from under a rock? How did we all arrive at this place? Is your child a viper? Is your neighbor’s child a viper? At what age do they become vipers? At some point we have to take ownership of the behavior of our young people and do something about it. So that maybe, we can learn from the mistakes and correct them before the generation following them become even worse. But what can we do?