Speak

I stumbled across a blog the other day, from a couple who are working with MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) in Haiti. It wouldn't have been anything more than an interesting blog, except for the fact that I actually met this couple when they came as guest speakers for a class that I took in the semester prior to this one.

Now I realize that I borrow a lot of texts and ideas in my own blog (perhaps I really have been brainwashed by the process of essay writing and always finding secondary sources), but you'll have to forgive me because I'm going to do it again. This was writen by the couple, of a man who also accompanied them in the guest lecture that I saw:

"Our favorite person to talk to Haiti is a man named Ari. He was (and still is) a pro-democracy activist that MCC helped hide during the devastating military coup from 1991 to 1994. Today, he works to connect North Americans with Haiti and Haitian culture. He is one of those people who exudes wisdom with each word he speaks. In Creole, they would say, he has anpil bet nan tet li, or many animals in is head. During one eye-opening conversation, he said his big wish for Haiti would be to have all North Americans to visit Haiti, but only to sit, and listen, and then leave. That is, many of the problems of the developing world could be solved if we in North America (and Europe) would simply listen to the strong voices of people living in these “poor” countries and share that voice with our family, friends, and neighbors."
(http://blogs.mcc.org/serviceworkers/joshmary/)

Jamaicans are expressive, loud, assertive people. To take classes here was completely unlike Canada, where professors practically have to beg their students to speak. Jamaicans speak. And for me, I was often frustrated by my comparative silence. There is no denying the fact that I can be pretty quiet. I don't think its necessarily timidity, but it's something. I guess I just prefer to listen than be heard.

I will be the first to admit that there are times when I could, and should speak up more than I do. And of course, I think this is where some of my aforementioned frustrations lie. But at the same time, I think Ari's ideas, and my own experience having spent a semester in a place which was utterly foreign to me, have some merit. I have had a whole heap of insight and wisdom imparted on me, I am realizing, simply because I am pretty good at letting people speak. The key now, as I prepare to leave, is to acknowledge the fact that what I have taken from this place, and from its people, does not end with me.

On the other hand, I have met plenty of people who can speak, and speak, and speak and never really say anything. And in this way, I have learned that the world could do with a few more listeners.

So yes, I am feeling reflective today. Yesterday, I said goodbye to two very wonderful people, after spending an amazing week reconnecting with my mom and sister. They flew into Kingston last Friday, where we spent a brief but lovely evening in my Jamaican hometown, before setting off for Lucea, to an unbelievably beautiful resort which would practically convince me that I was no longer in Jamaica. I am so thankful for the time at that crazy resort, and it was certainly hard to say send off two people whom I felt I had just said hello to.

But as I returned to a room on the same hall that I lived all semester, I realized that my time here had pretty well come full circle. After another, admittedly tearful, goodbye (thankfully, a few less tears this time) from an aiport terminal (this time my mom and sister were the ones leaving, not me), I was back to an empty campus, in a strange room, with a stomach full of nerves, wondering what the heck the next few months would look like.

Only this time, I am only a few hours away from another familiar face, and for this, I am thankful. I leave tomorrow for Mexico (Swine Flu and all) to meet Cameron, and after a few weeks, Bethany too!

As the name of my blog suggests, these are Jamaican updates, and should in theory, end now. I would like to update this along our trek through Central America, but no guarantees.

So incase this is my last post, thanks so much for following it- for all the prayers, e-mails and encouragement. They were so, SO appreciated. I'm home July 29. Let's connect then.

As always, lots of love.