Social Impact with Emma » Kingston : A Jamaica Gleaner Blog

Here is Something Life-Saving You Can Do: Give Blood!

May 31st, 2020

We are thinking a lot about health, about life and death, these days in the time of COVID-19. But, as the German writer Goethe said, Blut ist ein ganz besondrer Saft. [Blood is a very special juice]. It is remarkable in many ways. Jamaicans are, in general, very squeamish about giving blood. Many are afraid […]

COVID-19 and Our Most Vulnerable – Part 2

May 22nd, 2020

“A population that is left behind.” In the first part I wrote about our most vulnerable citizens, whose immune systems are compromised during this pandemic. People living with HIV/AIDS have more to deal with than physical illness. It’s about how other people regard them, and treat them. Unfortunately, this is also true of all our […]

COVID-19 and Our Most Vulnerable – Part 1

May 15th, 2020

The ongoing pandemic, and our response to it, continues to raise many questions, and fewer answers than I would like. With the slight “loosening” of social restrictions and the pending opening of our borders, how are those who already face so many everyday challenges faring? And one wonders, how do they face up to the […]

COVID-19 And Cleaning Up the Pollution

March 27th, 2020

Why can’t it be like this all the time? These thoughts have been going through my mind (and others have expressed it) as Mayor of Kingston Delroy Williams posted photos of the thorough sanitizing of busy traffic areas and markets in the city. The Mayor did point out that some cleaning is done monthly – […]

Get Safe Online – and Learn Some Life Skills

March 8th, 2020

The Broadcasting Commission is doing a grand job with public education. I do love their television ads, which are vibrant, well targeted and have a big dose of Jamaican energy and humor. Their “What If?” commercial (here’s the hip-hop version) is very well crafted, targeting youth with their warnings about the use or misuse of […]

Development Dramas and Urban Issues

February 9th, 2020

Issues surrounding housing and land in Jamaica seem to go round and round, spinning in ever-decreasing circles, while those affected seek “solutions” that are rarely arrived at. Here are a few examples… In Port Royal, the Government postponed plans late last year to relocate the long-standing (or sitting) squatter community in the town. Now, Member […]

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