Help me applaud these six Jamaicans
When I shared the notes on Hubert Bartholomew with Peter Mais he exclaimed, “No, this is not just a man — this is a subdivision!” The nonagenarian’s journey has taken him from farm worker to the establishment of his own law firm. Bartholomew was one of six nation-builders named as Living Legacy honorees by the Caribbean Community of Retired Persons (CCRP) last week. The other five were Frankie Campbell, co-founder of Fab 5; Jukie and Edith Chin, owners of Juici Patties; Stephney Ferguson, innovative librarian and educator; and Linnette Vassell, gender specialist and activist. I dedicate this column to these extraordinary Jamaicans, quoting excerpts from their citations.
Hubert Bartholomew
“As a young man, before migrating to the United States, he worked as a mechanic, tailor, mason, and bricklayer. In the US, in addition to picking apples and pears, he worked as a bus driver, tractor driver, and a tobacco inspector. In 1952 he moved to London, where he engaged in a variety of jobs, including working as a bricklayer, telephone operator, interior decorator, and vacuum cleaner salesman.
“However, it was in 1960 that he began his quest to become a lawyer. After achieving his goal, he was employed at the Jamaican High Commission in London as an assistant legal attaché. He then returned to Jamaica in 1974 to join the staff of the Ministry of Housing as a legal officer. In 1978 he was promoted to Crown Counsel and transferred to the Attorney General’s Department. Bartholomew was promoted to assistant attorney general in 1980 and to acting resident magistrate in the same year. He was appointed resident magistrate in 1983, where he served until he retired. Following his retirement, he established his own law firm H G Bartholomew and Company, where he is currently senior partner.”
Bartholomew and his wife Buelah have been passionate supporters of various charities, including Special Olympics Jamaica.
Frankie Campbell
“For over 45 years the Fab 5 band has entertained Jamaicans, the Caribbean people, and indeed the world, with vintage music, which like fine wine, just gets better with age… Everyone knows of Campbell as the musical maestro, but there is another facet of his personality which is not as well known. This is his contribution to the Jamaican society, demonstrated in his assistance to numerous charities… He has spent much time, effort, and finances to keep the Festival Song Contest vibrant and relevant, as well as giving of his expertise to the Jamaica Federation of Musicians Union. As an acknowledged authority on the history of Jamaican music, he has recently conducted a number of lectures on behalf of The University of the West Indies to visiting groups who are studying Jamaican music and culture.”
Jukie & Edith Chin
They received jointly the J Lester Spaulding Award for Business, named in honour of the late founding board director of CCRP: “Juici Patties had a humble beginning in Chin’s mother’s kitchen, where the then teenager started making patties and selling them in the family’s grocery store located in Rocky Point, Clarendon.
“In 1980 Chin opened his first official Juici Patties restaurant in May Pen… expanding to 63 restaurants across Jamaica today… Juici’s frozen patties are currently exported to the Caribbean and are also manufactured in England and Canada… Juici Patties, in association with its franchise partners, employs over 1,800 persons in Jamaica and provides a reliable market for local farmers… Jukie’s and Edith’s strong commitment to community welfare… is demonstrated in various philanthropic activities [including] sponsorship of educational and sporting events… providing a soup feeding programme for the elderly, accommodating visits by Juici’s employees to the island’s infirmaries… and the Youth Leadership and Volunteer Programme, now in its 15th year.”
Stephney Ferguson
“In a career which has spanned over four decades, Ferguson has served with distinction as senior librarian at the Jamaica Library Service (1963-1971); first professional librarian at the College of Arts, Science and Technology (now University of Technology, Jamaica) (1971-1980); national librarian at the National Library of Jamaica (1980-1991); head of the Department of Library and Information Studies, The University of the West Indies (1992-1997) and campus librarian and later university librarian at the Mona Campus library (1997-2004).
“Ferguson… was instrumental in transforming the former West Indian Reference Library into the National Library of Jamaica, which is now the collective memory of the nation. At The University of the West Indies, she restructured the graduate programme and developed a new joint bachelor’s degree for school libraries in conjunction with the Department of Education. She also designed an innovative course called ‘Issues and Trends in Library and Information Studies’… she was elected as president of the Commonwealth Library Association and the Association of Caribbean Universities Research and Institutional Libraries, the latter naming an award, The Stephney Ferguson Library Programs for Special Information Needs, in her honour.”
Linnette Vassell
Vassell is renowned as a passionate advocate of women’s rights for equality and leadership roles in the Jamaican society and in the Caribbean region. She is the first coordinator of the Committee of Women for Progress, an activist organisation formed in 1976, pioneering the successful struggle for maternity leave with pay, which was [legislated] in December 1979. She is a founding member and a current director of the Women’s Resource and Outreach Centre; a director of the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA); and an assistant lecturer for undergraduate and graduate studies at the Institute for Gender and Development Studies at The UWI… Included in the many positions Vassell has held at various times in her illustrious career is community development and gender specialist at the Ministry of Water, Land, Environment and Climate Change. She was also the designer/coordinator of the Training Programme and has authored many publications.”
TRANSPORTATION TRAGEDIES
An incident of road rage last week led to the tragic deaths of taxi and Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) drivers, both in their thirties. For an entire day, JUTC drivers in fear of their lives after what appeared to be a reprisal killing, stayed off the roads in the Corporate Area, leading to thousands of commuters being stranded and the closure of schools.
How did we come to this and, more importantly, how do we address this violent behaviour?
There is an old saying, “If you don’t know love, you can’t show love.” We have to start with our children. The strides taken to address early childhood education by the Early Childhood Commission, led by Professor Maureen Samms-Vaughn and now by Trisha Williams-Singh, and “Butch” Hendrickson’s National Baking Foundation are remarkable. However, this must be matched by Government’s insistence on parental responsibility. A professional woman I know was confronted by police at her workplace in London because she had missed a health check-up for her eight-year-old daughter. We have to get serious if we want a safer Jamaica.
lowriechin@aim.com
www.lowrie-chin.blogspot.com