Social Impact with Emma » education : A Jamaica Gleaner Blog

On the Anniversary of a Genocide: What Is Your Idea of Hell?

April 7th, 2019

In Bob Marley’s reflective song “Time Will Tell,” there are the lines: Time alone – oh, time will tell: Think you’re in heaven, but you’re living in hell. Marley was referring to the people he called “baldheads” – those politicians and businessmen (“big men”), whom he considered greedy, corrupt and self-satisfied in their mansions on […]

Fish And Bread! The Little Ones Learn Road Safety with Royal Optimists

November 15th, 2018

Road safety is very much on our minds this week. Just as the Road Traffic Act passed in the Lower House of the Jamaican Parliament, there has been a sudden and horrifying increase in fatal accidents on our roads. In a well-known danger zone – the insane racetrack that is the North Coast Highway near […]

Comparing Ourselves to Others: The Singapore Syndrome

November 9th, 2018

We Jamaicans have a bit of an obsession with Singapore, don’t we? Our romance with this small, densely populated country – some 18,000 miles away, with a population twice that of Jamaica – still lingers. Some of the passion may have waned, as romances tend to do, in the past few years. But what sparked […]

Building Skills for Integrity With WROC: Respect for Life and What it Brings

September 15th, 2018

“Let our own light shine.” Nikeisha Sewell Lewis, Executive Director of the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) always inspires confidence and a sense of belief – in self, but especially, belief in others. In this case, it is the over 60 young people WROC has worked with over the past six months under the […]

Bird Notes, Part 1: Jamaica

April 12th, 2018

As some people may know, I am rather addicted to birds – of the wild variety, that is. I am a member of BirdLife Jamaica, the local branch of a global entity called BirdLife International. It changed its name from Gosse Bird Club in 1998. The history of ornithology (that is, the study of birds) […]

The Problem with “Bad Mind”

March 11th, 2018

I have a problem with “bad mind.” How can I translate this broad (but at the same time specific) term to non-Jamaicans reading this post? It’s not exactly jealousy, nor is it envy. It’s not the queen in the “fiery green gown” of Jimi Hendrix’ song, although a dash of the green stuff may be […]

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