CONNECTING THE JAMAICAN DIASPORA

Jamaica has a resident population of 2,900,000 inhabitants but reliable estimates say there are as many Jamaicans living outside the country or as some say ‘overseas’, ‘in foreign’ or ‘abroad’.  These 3,000,000 constitute the Jamaican Diaspora, that is persons who though pledging allegiance to their adopted country, acknowledge and identify Jamaica as their ancestral home and who maintain an emotional and/or physical attachment to the island.

Where these Jamaicans are located and the breakdown in numbers:

USA          1,700,000

UK                800,000

Canada       300,000

Other          200,000

The migration and concentration of Jamaicans in these countries did not take place overnight. Jamaicans have never been afraid to travel to other countries in search of employment and a better life especially in times when opportunities at home were limited or non-existent. Historically, the first wave of migration was neither to Britain nor the USA, but to Central and South America and the Caribbean. Beginning in the 1880s, Jamaicans joined work gangs to help build the Panama Canal. At the end of World War 1, Jamaicans who had joined the war and fought for Great Britain, having returned home to find there were no jobs for them, were recruited to work in the canefields and sugar factories in Cuba and later on the banana plantations of Central America notably Costa Rica.

This early phase of Jamaican migration differed from later periods in that it was of a temporary nature, always with the aim of returning home once they had made enough money and it was an almost exclusively male enterprise.

The modern phase of Jamaican migration began at the end of World War 2 and is often symbolically marked by the arrival of the Empire Windrush in the United Kingdom on June 22, 1948 carrying the hopes, dreams and aspirations of the first post-war generation of migrants who were encouraged by the colonial authorities to migrate to help re-build a war ravaged Great Britain. This phase of Jamaican migration which was to be rapidly followed by migration to the US can be said to mark the beginning of the formation of the Jamaican Diaspora.

Unlike the earlier phases, the post-war wave to Britain included both men and women and sometimes even whole families . However, a more common pattern was for the males to go in advance to secure housing and jobs and later on were joined first by the females(mothers) and still later yet by the children. Migration to Britain during this period was not only encouraged by the British authorities but required little or no paperwork because being a British colony, Jamaicans were in fact British and were issued British passports. When Jamaica became an independent nation in 1962 Jamaicans who had migrated to Britain during this Windrush phase would have needed to formally legitimize their status as British citizens but few of them did or were even aware that they needed so to do.

St Mary returning resident Stanley Archer who migrated to Britain in 1953, makes a revealing disclosure when he points out that underage children travelling with their parents were not acknowledged by the authorities and were not even recorded! These are some of the issues and sources that are at the heart of the Windrush crisis of 2018.

In the immediate post-independence years, migration to the UK continued, albeit at a slower pace and by then was being overtaken by migration to the US. As a newly independent country, Jamaica and Jamaicans at home were completely focused on the task of building a nation and finding their identity as a people. While the family ties between those who had migrated and those left behind remained strong and were regularly bolstered by gifts and remittances of cash, it is reasonable to assert that Jamaica did not pay much attention to its people abroad and did not recognize their importance as a group that could potentially benefit the country of their birth.

When did this change? When did the government and private sector companies and organizations begin to recognize the value and potential of the Jamaican Diaspora? It is difficult to put an actual date on this change but several factors were catalysts in this change of attitude:

• the creation of organizations within the diaspora that were established on their own initiative to represent Jamaican interests in those countries and who began to be noticed by the Jamaican government;
• when the government began to seriously count the size, value and significance of the remittances that were consistently coming into the country;
• recognition by business organizations that Jamaicans in the diaspora represented a significant export market for their products

Economic Value of the Diaspora

The World Bank estimates that Diaspora savings amount to US$5.4 billion while CAPRI, the University of the West Indies Think Tank says as a group, the Jamaican community overseas has the potential to invest US$12.8 billion. CAPRI also reports that the contribution of the Diaspora to Jamaica’s GDP is in the region of 30% with the potential for increase of up to another 10 per cent. Remittances currently account for 16% of Jamaica’s GDP or just over US$2 billion. Many persons in communities across Jamaica depend on remittances to pay day to day expenses such as utility bills, rent, school fees and even groceries.

As an overseas market for Jamaican goods and services, the size and geographical distribution of the Diaspora is important for targeting export locations and strategies especially in the areas of non-traditional foods and spices.

In the area of human capital, the Diaspora makes significant contributions to health and education in Jamaica. In healthcare, over 200 missions visit Jamaica each year and provide free services in communities across the country in addition to providing much needed equipment to hospitals and health centres. In education, interest groups, among them some 130 alumni associations make significant contributions to a variety of educational institutions in areas such as scholarships, student welfare and educational supplies and equipment.

ENGAGING THE DIASPORA 

To harness the potential of the Diaspora it is acknowledged by all that both government and the private sector in Jamaica need to implement effective and sustained Diaspora Engagement strategies and initiatives. Columnist David Jessop has been careful to point out that the diaspora community of today is no longer homogeneous and its members have different aspirations, outlooks and politics. In addition, they have become socio-economically divided to an extent that the use of the word ‘Diaspora’ obscures the very different life experiences of the individuals concerned whether they came from Jamaica or were born overseas. Former ambassador to the UK, Derek Heaven who also worked with Jamaican communities in the US points to an important distinction between Jamaicans of the Windrush generation and later migrants who went to the US and Canada. While the former were generally unskilled and had attained a low level of education, migrants to North America were more highly educated and numbered skilled professionals among their ranks.

Yet another factor to take into account in devising engagement strategies is to ascertain what motivation successful individuals in the 2^nd,3^rd and 4^th generations might have when it comes to maintaining or restoring their connection with Jamaica. Three critical questions need to be posed:

• What future relationships do the various parts of today’s segmented diaspora have or want with Jamaica?
• To what extent does what happens in Jamaica still matter to them?
• How practically might those in the 4^th and future generations relate especially if they have inter-married or achieved senior positions in the mainstream communities where they reside?

This website www.jamaicaglobalonline.com is conceived as a means of bridging the communication gap between Jamaica and its worldwide Diaspora and through interactive postings, discussions of common issues in the Diaspora and in Jamaica, it hopes provide a forum from which to gain some insights into answering the questions posed above. How?

By taking the position that it is not ALL or ONLY about Jamaica or Jamaicans at home. It needs to be a 2-way communication process that is as much about Jamaicans in the Diaspora – how they live, work, play and pray in their communities; the challenges they face in earning the money they remit to Jamaica; and who are the ones in their communities that are making waves whether in business, sport, entertainment, politics or community service.

Our mantra is : GLOBAL JAMAICA IS JAMAICA 

Be a part of that 2-way exchange. Post articles, photos, news of events and tell us who and what issues we should be highlighting.