Week One

Thursday, July 19:

8:30 A.M. Depart from Furman Theatre by private van

2:40 P.M. Leave Atlanta on Air Jamaica #56

5:45 P.M. Arrive Montego Bay

Dinner at The Native

Overnight at the:

Richmond Hill Inn
Union Street
Montego Bay
PH: 876-952-3859

2:40 P.M. leave Atlanta on Air Jamaica #56
5:45 P.M. arrive Montego Bay

I decided to swim in the "pool with a view" and have a Red Stripe beer. Refreshing!

In retrospective, this hotel had the best view of any we stayed in... fantastic view of a city. [jb0108.jpg] Set high on a forested slope [jb0109.jpg] , it was orginially the home of the Dewar family (of scotch fame). Montego Bay... especially at night, was breathtaking. (OK... the view was marred a bit by symbols of fast food America -- by the large McDonalds and KFC signs in the distance.)

We ate dinner at The Native. Tried pineapple gin daquiri, akee & cod, goat curry. Felt ambivalent about tonight's culinary experience.

Friday, July 20: Montego Bay

A.M. Visit to the Caribbean Institute of Technology

Breakfast at the Richmond Hill Inn is nothing to write home about. No coffee! Apparently, they ran out! (How can this happen in a coffee growing country!) Even without the coffee, the experience is salvaged by the lovely ambience and the view. [jb0105.jpg] [jb0106.jpg]

Caribbean Institute of Technology [jb0110.jpg]
(This information is from the document provided us by the institute)

Background

Began February 1999 when 56 students enrolled to begin a 10-month course of full-time study designed to teach them the concepts and skills required for a career in software development. Students were selected from an applicant pool of 150 on the basis of their high school records, results of an aptitude test, and personal interviews. [jb0117.jpg]

CIT is a collaborative effort of:

• University of West Indies, Mona
• Furman University
• Jamaican govt. agency HEART/NTA Trust
• Ministry of Commerce and Technology, Jamaica
• Montego Bay Free Zone
• International Development Consortium (affiliated with the University of Hertsfordshire, London)
• Indusa, LLC (a software company)

Furman's role -- curriculum planning and development (with UWI)

43 students graduated from CIT in Dec. 1999.
81 students graduated from CIT in Nov. 2000.
The majority of them are employed at Indusa (outsourcing), Multivisual from Germany (e-marketing), Overdrive (e-publishing) and Jamaica Call Center (e-commerce).
100 students are enrolled in the class of 2001. [jb0116.jpg]

Rationale

In its 1997 report, "America's New Deficit: The Shortage of Information Technology Workers", the U.S. Department of Commerce projects that more than one million new information technology workers will be needed by the year 2005. A survey by the Information Technology Association of America concluded that there were almost 200,000 unfilled IT jobs in large and mid-sized corporations in the U.S. today. [jb0113.jpg]

"...opportunities to emulate India's successes will present themselves in a variety of developing nations. The partners in the CIT project believe that Jamaica is well-positioned to benefit from such opportunities.
...Jamaica boasts an intelligent, literate, and conscientious workforce and the county has demonstrated its ability to adapt readily to modern industrial technologies. The Jamaica Digiport International (JDI), a subsidiary of Cable and Wireless has established Jamaica as the most sophisticated telecommunications market in the Caribbean, boasting a 100% digital network. The Jamaican secondary school system like that in India, is based on the British model. With 2.5 million citizens, Jamaica is the largest English-speaking country in the Caribbean.
...When an excellent telecommunications infrastructure and a literate and large English-speaking population are combined with its proximity to the U.S. and a shared time zone with the U.S. East Coast, Jamaica offers a promising location for the development of an offshore software industry."

The information above was put in a different light after we met with Michael Koplovsky, Political/Economic Chief of the US Embassy. He indicated that the Jamaican culture is not imbued with a strong work ethic. Jamaica's history includes an over reliance on sugar as a product and slavery as the vehicle to cultivate sugar per the comments by the man at the embassy.

The folks at the CIT complained to us about the constant electricity brown-outs and black-outs. Cable and Wireless they referred to as "careless and worthless". They told us that they looked forward to an improvement in electricity provision when The Southern Company takes over. (The Southern Company recently purchased the country’s electricity company.)

CIT has opened two satellite training centers in other parts of Jamaica and plans to open more in the future.

The professor from Madras, India, Sangeetha Parthasarathy (she goes by simply Sangeetha -- pronounced San-gee-ta) was very impressive and informative. She shared her challenges in adapting to the Jamaican culture including having to ask people to respect her personal space. We also met Mr. Legister who is a former CIT student who was asked to stay on to teach, to help the faculty and students. [jb0111.jpg]

CIT students are high school grads who did well in school but for a variety of reasons may not want to or are unable to go to the university. When CIT opened they were taught computer languages & web skills. Now they are concentrating on java-related web skills. [jb0112.jpg]

Indusa Executives are Carroll Rushing, Chairman; Jim Ram, President; Jo Ram, Chief Operating Officer. Jim and Jo are brother & sister from Atlanta. They are American-educated. They described some of the challenges of living and working in Montego Bay, including expensive food (since much is imported).

Jo shared the difficulties of being single in a country and culture that is not your own. [jb0119.jpg]

We ate lunch at the CIT canteen and had a delicious dinner at the Pork Pit.

While we were enjoying our desert (ice cream cones) we sat and had an interesting conversation with our guide, Shawn, about his desire to improve his life. He would like to go to the US because he doesn’t feel he can "get ahead" economically in his own country. He has 3 kids. He believes that life in the US would be easier. Here's a photo of Shawn. [jb0125.jpg]

Friday, July 20: Montego Bay

P.M. The Greenwood Great House [jb0120.jpg]

Saturday, July 21:

En route to Ocho Ríos

Stopped at Falmouth and Discovery Bay

We stopped in Falmouth which is about 23 miles east of Montego Bay. My guide book says that this town gives one a good idea what a Jamaican town looked like in the early 50s. A bit ramshackle but with some historical interest. We spent some time at St. Peter's Anglican church that was built in 1795 on land given by Edward Barrett. [jb0202.jpg] There was an adjacent graveyard. [jb0205.jpg] The movie "Papillon" (with Steve McQueen) was filmed in this area.

There was a very aggressive seller of bracelets outside of the church gates. I bought bracelets for my step-daughter Molly and her friends.

On the road to Ochos Ríos we spotted this sign... "undertakers love careless overtakers." Robin Visel volunteers to jot down all of the amusing signs during our journey.

We also stopped at Discovery Bay. There were monuments commemorating the belief that Christopher Columbus first landed here in 1494.

Ocho Ríos

In 1657, British troops chased of Spanish soldiers who had launched a raid from Cuba. The battle was near Dunn’s River Falls and seeing the falls, the Spanish called the district "los chorreos". That battle was so named. But the British and Jamaicans were not so good at pronouncing Spanish names... so over time "los chorreos" was corrupted into "ocho ríos" (Spanish for "eight rivers").

We ate lunch at Bibibips. [jb0206.jpg] A Mento band was performing. Mento is an early form of reggae music that was brought to the island by African slaves who played it to forget their anguish. There was a wonderful ocean breeze to cool us. And hamburgers and Red Stripe beer to soothe our hunger and thirst. [jb0207.jpg]

Dunn's River Falls

Holding hands, a group of us climbed the falls. It was a fun, thrilling experience which the more level-headed members of our group resisted. Lots of hand-holding and pulling. It reminded me of one of those "touchy-feely" exercises whose goal is to increase the trust level of a group. [jb0222.jpg] It was an opportunity to meet lots of newlywed couples. (This is the main tourist attraction in the area. Most non-Jamaicans we met were from cruise ships.)

Very bumpy van ride home -- and at excessive speed for my tastes. There was an truck carrying fuel behind us... yikes. Another amusing billboard was noted. This one said "Coffee is an aphrodisiac".

8pm dinner on the patio at Richmond

Sunday, July 22: Mandeville

A.M. Depart Montego Bay for Mandeville

Bumpy & curvy ride to Black River. Stopped for bammy bread. It's a round cake of pounded cassava that is usually fried. Not my cup of tea, so to speak.

Toured the Black River on a boat. It is the longest river in Jamaica. Saw lots of mangrove trees, several crocodiles [jb0217.jpg] , egrets [jb0213.jpg] , & green herons. Can you find the bird among the mangroves in this photo? [jb0216.jpg] People from Queens, NY were on the boat with us. Our guide did a fine job explaining about the vegetation and wildlife. He even made a crab go to sleep... by rubbing its belly. [jb0215.jpg] Continued bumpy ride to Mandeville. We stopped on the way for some delicious coconut meat and juice. [jb0220.jpg]

Overnight at:

The Mandeville Hotel

4 Hotel Lane

PH: 876-962-2490

FAX: 876-962-0700

Monday, July 23: Mandeville

A.M. Visit to Northern Caribbean University as the guest of President Norbert Thompson

P.M. Free time (or, program additions)

Some facts about NCU [jb0302.jpg] It's a combination of American & British systems. The SDA headquarters is in the U.S. and since Jamaica is a British commonwealth, there is the British influence. It is funded by Union of Seventh Day Adventists in the West Indies. [jb0303.jpg]

Instead of meeting with the President, we met with the Provost -- Althea McMillen. [sta0712.jpg] She was energetic, informative and charming. During our meeting several university personnel holding cameras suddenly appeared. Wow! What P.R.!

SDA -- largest protestant denomination in Jamaica.

Heather Rodriguez, Library Director, gave us a tour of the library. [jb0301.jpg] She is originally from New York, has been there 5 years (and recently married a Jamaican). The library (or resource center) has 35,000 volumes, and had 350 print periodicals. Since acquiring the full-text online product, Wilson Omnifile, they have cancelled half of their journals. They now have 175 print periodicals. Here is Heather, on the right, sharing information. [sta0720.jpg] One of the library's biggest challenges is the lack of timely delivery of periodicals. They are first received at an SDA university in Michigan and then sent to Jamaica. Other challenges include maintaining an acceptable environment for books and technology. Heat and humidity do great damage. The library is not air-conditioned.

Visited Appleton Rum Distillery. [jb0315.jpg] Started our tour with rum punch and a video describing the history of the distillery. We were led on a tour which described each step of the distilling process. This included a mule crushing sugar cane. [jb0307.jpg] Several in the group took their turns. [jb0312.jpg] [jb0313.jpg] [jb0314.jpg] Here is Maurice doing his Dr. Doolittle impersonation. [jb0309.jpg] We saw tanks of fermented sugar/molasses, tasted crushed sugar cane, molasses & sugar, then had the potential to taste 17 different rums. (Tasting four was enough for me!)

Had dinner with the group at Bloomfield Great House. This beautiful home, formerly the part of a coffee plantation had been turned into a restaurant. The group sat outside on the veranda and enjoyed a gorgeous view of Mandeville. [jb0316.jpg] Enjoyed a delicious salad and lobster thermidor.

Tuesday, July 24:

A.M. Departure for Kingston

P.M. TBA

Overnight at:

The Four Seasons Hotel
18 Ruthven Road
Kingston
PH: 876-926-8805

We visited the Town Square, County Courthouse & People's Museum of Craft & Technology located in Old Kings House Complex. Makeba Trot gave us an interesting tour. [jb0320.jpg] She was very articulate. I noticed a piece of jewelry she was wearing indicating that she might be a Rastafarian. This was confirmed upon asking her. Met the Assistant Director of Education, Dwayne Little. He was helping to teach a group of youngsters about Jamaican history. [jb0318.jpg]

We arrived in Kingston at the Hotel Four Seasons. After several room changes in search of a room with decent air conditioning, we wound up in a lovely room with colorful tile floors, large tiled bathroom, and a working air conditioner. The best room yet!

Enjoyed sandwiches & beer in "The Naked Lady Bar" at the hotel (so-called because of the wallpaper). I was feeling a bit under-the-weather and took a 2-hour nap. For dinner, the group went to Akbar, an Indian restaurant. It was an excellent meal.

I washed clothes and hung them inside the room. Our maid kindly hung them on the clothesline outside so they would dry.

Wednesday, July 25: Kingston

A.M. Visit to the United States Embassy

P.M. City tour

We visited Devon House. [jb0322.jpg] Visited the Bob Marley Museum. They have a very restrictive policy regarding the taking of photos -- which is limited to outside of the museum. Visitors are allowed only one photo. Here is the one I chose to take. [jb0323.jpg] We watched an interesting video about the impact of Bob Marley's life. Especially poignant was the scene where he is holding the hand of Michael Manley (of the People's National Party) and Edward Seaga (of the Jamaican Labor Party) and then forces them to join hands (kind of a forced reconciliation). Extremists in these two political parties have inspired gangsterism and violence since Jamaica gained independence in 1962. Ganja was growing in garden. On display were some of Marley's clothes. We saw his bedroom, kitchen, wall plastered with news articles. He seemed to live very simply. As a Rastafarian, he ate no meat, drank no alcohol but smoked ganja (marijuana).

Thursday, July 26: Kingston

A.M. Visit to The University of the West Indies

The UWI is an independent institution, serving fourteen countries of the Commonwealth Caribbean. It started as a single campus at Mona, Jamaica in 1948 (as the University College of the West Indies), affiliated to the University of London. It achieved full university status in 1962, one year after the St. Augustine Campus in Trinidad was established, and one year before the Cave Hill Campus was opened.

The group met with UWI officials while I went to the library. [jb0325.jpg]

I met with Sam Banderas, Deputy Library Director, West Indies, Mona. [jb0401.jpg] Sam is originally from Sri Lanka. He explained that The University of West Indies is composed of campuses on the islands of Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados. He gave me a tour of the library. Here is the reference desk. [jb0402.jpg] Since electricity is sometimes interrupted, the online system goes down. The card catalog is a useful backup when this happens. [jb0403.jpg] The Circulation Desk has a special line (or queue) for faculty! [jb0404.jpg]

Sam shared the following library challenges:

Online System -- is VTLS. Getting the acquisitions module up and running properly has been quite a task. The two other campuses do not have an online system; however, there are plans to jointly purchase another system (so that the three campuses can use the same system).

Space Problem -- he referred to the boxes of computer equipment right outside his office. There is not sufficient storage for these. The library needs more space. (A perennial problem for most libraries everywhere!)

Recruitment challenges? No difficulty except for a systems librarian. Librarians are able to go on sabbatical (one full year) every seven years.

I re-joined the group in time for the poetry reading by Mervyn Morris. [jb0405.jpg] He was a delight to hear. UWI has produced several Nobel laureates including Derek Wolcott. The campus had some interesting art. Here's a mural that was especially attractive. [jb0406.jpg]

Our driver, Cory, took us on a tour of Kingston. We spent a couple of hours at the Jamaica National Gallery of Art. Also, we visited an area that had recently experienced gang violence. So much poverty. Shacks for houses... very sad.

P.M. Dinner at the home of David Francis, FU '05

What a contrast to the poor areas of Kingston! David's family's house was beautiful, built on the side of a hill, with a high security gate and a big dog. It provided a fantastic view of the ocean. There are steel grated internal doors so that bedrooms can be locked off from the rest of the house.

We were treated to a delicious dinner in their backyard/swimming pool area. Mrs. Francis is the head of catering for the Prime Minister. Her husband is in the insurance business. Their daughter attends UWI, I believe. We also met the Tate family. Both Mrs. Francis and Mrs. Tate expressed concern over their sons' safety in Jamaica. They want them to stay in the US. (Several of us met the Tates again at Furman when they came to visit August 13th.)