Coming Home To Jamaica !!!!
Attached is a story written by a single female Jamaican Returnee, who currently lives in Kingston Jamaica.
She wanted to share her story with readers, mainly because she believes there is a positive place in Jamaica for Returnees who are determined to re-connect with the island soil. I really do agree with her and I am always excited when I meet a person who says, “I came home, because it’s home and I want to give back or make a difference” This country is so incredibly beautiful and many things simply, just do not work. It is my belief however that nobody understands Jamaica like Jamaicans, and while I understand why many people migrate, it’s nice when some younger people come home.
The writer currently runs her own successful small business and recognizes that Jamaica is not Canada, but will always be home sweet home. She is now loving life ” back a yard.”
I was born on the beautiful Island of Jamaica and lived here for 12 years before I was taken away to Canada. During the 70s there was a mass migration and my mother, my two brothers and I migrated north to the land of cold.
I lived in Canada for 26 years but came home to Jamaica for most holidays. I wanted to return after finishing University but I was always concerned about whether I could make a living or not in my profession. Jamaica, I realized was not a cheap place to live and salaries were not comparable to Canada.
I had a good life (good job, friends, condo, etc) in Canada but Canada didn’t capture my soul like Jamaica does. In fact, I think many immigrants live there physically but their souls are still in their home countries. I missed Jamaica, the community that I grew up in, and all the families and people that I knew. No matter how I tried I couldn’t get a sense of community in Canada and I was jealous of my Jewish friends who had that type of community.
I decided about 6 years ago that I had to find a way to come back home, come hell or high water. I felt that if I stayed in Canada my life would just get lonelier and lonelier as the years went by.
I have now been back 4 ½ years and I have no major complaints. At first I was angry, because I had to start over from scratch to build a business, and I had already gone through that in Canada.
Building my business in Jamaica was much easier than building one in Canada. It is much easier to network here, and I found when I went to one person to let them know what I was doing, that person would point me in the direction of others who would be interested in my business. It didn’t hurt to have a well known family and a boyfriend who knows “everyone and his wife.”
In Jamaica what you know is important but who you know affords you opportunity. Lady Luck also smiled on me and provided an opportunity for me to stay permanently. Had the office that I am currently renting not been available I may very well have ended up back in Canada.
Life here isn’t always a bed of roses, here on the island, as I am still frequently frustrated by inefficient service especially with government agencies. I have had the experience of clerks making mistakes while filing my taxes, then spending two hours in the income tax office correcting them only to find out 6 months later the person you were dealing with didn’t do anything, and you now have to repeat the process.
Buying property has also proved interesting. The vendor of the land that my boyfriend and I are purchasing is an unscrupulous character and he has done a few things that, in my eyes, make the real estate industry look inept and lacking teeth when it comes to enforcing things. I am sure that building a house now will be very interesting. Things that take a day or two in Canada may take weeks or months here and a lot of the time is wasted fixing mistakes that people make.
All in all though, I am very happy to be back. I have what I had in Canada (friends, family, a busy practice, a place to call home) and much more. I cherish the community of people that surround me and the diversity of the people. I believe that the good people of Jamaica are great – warm, friendly, inviting and generous, much more than I can say for the average Torontonian.
The weather of course is a bonus. It is nice to know that after all the rain it will still be warm and that we will never be frozen over.
Even though life is good for me, I am fully aware that it is not so for everyone. Our crime rate is high and the levels of unemployment and illiteracy are high as well. We have many socioeconomic problems. In spite of all this I would take living here over Toronto any day. Jamaica is IRIE!
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Comments
Hi, this might be an unusaul question, but is there any way i can contact the lady (via email) who wrote this article?
I am Jamaican and I presently live in the United States with my husband. I came up as an international student from Jamaica, 10 years ago and i’ve been here ever since. However, I took a break from school, went back, started a business but returned to the US to complete my education..and ever since then, have always wanted to go back and pick up where i left off. My entire family still lives and operates their own businesses in Jamaica and my husband and I are looking to Move there in the next year or so.
And although i feel like i “live” in Jamaica more than i live here( probably because i go back several times a year and still have all my friends there and still have a full life there), i am more reluctant than my husband to move, simply and only because i want to make sure we have a good plan, so we can settle back in comfortably. The writer of this article struck something in me, a very positive vibe and i would love to contact her for some pointers/advice if she will allow. I would love to connect with people like her, who have gone through the same thing.
Thanks for sharing!
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