Thursday, June 18, 2015
Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade State Minister Arnaldo Brown (right), confers with the Jamaica Promotions Corporation’s (JAMPRO) Film Commissioner , Carole Beckford, during Monday’s (June 15) Cultural and Creative Industries Session of the 6th Biennial Jamaica Diaspora Conference, being held from June 13 to 18, at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James, under the theme: ‘Jamaica and the Diaspora: Linking for Growth and Prosperity’.
THE Sixth Biennial Diaspora Conference ends today in Jamaica but, as they leave, many of its members will take with them the hopes and aspirations of their compatriots who dream of a better island home.
The diaspora has been vital to the survival of the Caribbean countries, particularly since the onset of the ongoing global economic recession. Remittances from overseas nationals represent the largest inflow of foreign exchange for some of the smallest and most vulnerable Caribbean states.
The contribution of the diaspora goes beyond remittances to include being a source of employment, investment, tourism, market for exports, and their nationals are active goodwill ambassadors. Nearly every school, church, hospital, and charitable organisation benefits from donations in cash and kind. When the nationals return home they usually bring valuable skills and habits developed in a more modern society.
Many families are dependent on remittances, which function as a type of informal social security system, especially for children and senior citizens. The diaspora is the ever-reliable shock absorber in times of trouble, including rebuilding after a natural disaster such as a hurricane. In crises, Caribbean people overseas often increase their regular subvention by drawing down on their savings.
Jamaica’s returning nationals are immortalised, if in a mocking way, in the words of the Jamaican folk song about “The Colon Man”. The song pokes fun at the man who has returned from Colon in Panama with the trappings of wealth but no social improvement. It refers to his watch with brass chain being useless, because if you ask him the time he looks up to the sun because he cannot tell the time from his watch!
The remittances of the overseas Jamaicans became important during the construction of the Panama Canal and later with the farm work programme in the United States. The late Prime Minister Michael Manley attempted to launch a bond to be subscribed to by overseas Jamaicans and former Prime Minister P J Patterson established a returning residents unit in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Next the building societies and the commercial banks began to collect deposits from overseas Jamaicans. But the really important development has been the establishment of the two-yearly Diaspora Conference. This has our full support, although to date it has only generated ideas, many of which, when implemented, will redound to the benefit of all Jamaicans.
As our nationals return to their adopted homes, the question we ask them to ponder is could more have been done to advance the cause? In this regard, the Leader of the Opposition Mr Andrew Holness is correct that more could be done to include the diaspora in the life and affairs of Jamaica.
The Reggae Boyz provide an excellent example of what can be accomplished by a full integration of Jamaicans at home and abroad.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/What-would-we-be-without-our-Jamaican-Diaspora_19151683
