Mandeville, Jamaica

In certain aspects, YES… I am definitely privileged. I have the opportunity to acquire higher education through the assistance of York University and had the chance to do my internship in Jamaica because of the YIIP. However, these super fantastic opportunities were not handed over to me on a silver patter nor because of the colour of my skin. I basically had to study over 14 hours per day, including weekends to get to the place that I am in now and I still continuously study many excruciating hours to finish my projects and assignments. It may be so that I might have a greater opportunity of acquiring higher education, more chances to travel to different places and etc; however, the enormous pressure and emotional stress that go along with the personal/professional accomplishments may be too overwhelming at times and may not be so worth it (I understand that it is a personal choice, and I do truly love what I am studying).

I understand for the other interns that went to other countries that have a very low standard of living may have very different perspectives. The concept of “privilege” may differ depending on what you are comparing them with. I don’t want to talk about privilege within the context of ‘capital’ but at an emotional level. I feel as though that if I think about it within the context of wealth, opportunity provided, government assistance (social, health, infrastructure, loans, etc.) and so forth, of course I am privileged for being a Canadian. Privilege comes with being a Canadian (I think we all know that). Throughout the internship I always thought it was disadvantageous (emotionally) for the people to have me in Mandeville because I will leave them after 3.5 months later because it will be emotionally draining for them. I thought I am going to be fine because I am always able to come to the “privileged” country (and of course Toronto is my HOME – before having this amazing personal/emotional experience in Mandeville, I used to love the busy/hectic lifestyle). Oh boy, was I ever sooooo wrong. I would be very content with living in Mandeville with a very little pay. Rastafarians would feel privileged for his or her own way of living. I could never imply that they are less privileged because they do not live the life that is idealised within the North American context. I may feel privileged if I am truly content with the lifestyle that I was living that was less idealised, but also less hectic, less stressful, and more emotionally fulfilling.

However, am I truly privileged?
When I had my little accident and when Eve came to see me in the hospital, the first thing that I said to her was… “I am very glad it happened to me because I have insurance. I don’t want the locals to fall through the gutter, especially if they don’t have health insurance” (the gutter was fixed within 2 days because Mr. Rowe made sure that it will be fixed right away by informing the Mayor and the Secretary Manager). It may be so that the gutter was fixed within 2 days because I worked for the Council.

If I am comparing myself to the less fortunate, I am definitely privileged but I think feeling “privileged” may not be as simple as looking at it from just the standard of living point of view.

My definition of "catcalling": I'm using this term not so much in a negative way but rather people saying something to get your attention.

Before coming to Mandeville, I was fully informed by the previous interns and Lisa that there will be many incidences of “catcalling” and I will be referred to as “Ms. Chin”. I think I was fully prepared. Catcalling or hissing from the local guys, I don’t associate this as a gender/culture difference and not certainly because I am a female. I might get more attention because I am the only of an Asian descent in Mandeville, not because of my gender. The way males act towards females (catcalling or wanting attention), it doesn’t matter where you are, guys are guys and they think they have the entitlement to act the way the do (referring to some guys).

My behaviour or attitude has not changed much. I don’t act or behave differently because I am in Mandeville. Anywhere I may be, if a man wants to have a friendly chitchat…I will chat but if a man disrespects me and initiates an inappropriate conversation, I will not tolerate it.

I believe Jamaica endorses equal rights. The previous prime minister was a female and the current Mayor of Mandeville, Manchester is a female. I can certainly say that although Canada endorses on “equal rights”, this may not be surely depicted in our society (political realm). We did have a first female prime minister but the people of Canada never elected her (she was in power because Brian Mulroney resigned). So considering this factor, I can say that there is a less of a gender difference/division in Jamaica.

I have been in Mandeville for a little over a month now and so far I have not experienced culture shock. Instead I experienced what you can call a reverse culture shock.

It was a very quiet Sunday afternoon. Eve and I went to the market to buy certain goods not realising that all the stores will be closed. We were seating at a Juicy Patties eating a beef patty. Across the room I noticed a Caucasian woman walking towards me, then a teenage girl, a teenage boy and a man. It’s quite rare that we see Asian or Caucasian because Mandeville is not a tourist area. So I thought it was interesting to see the whole family taking a vacation in Mandeville. Then, I noticed another girl, boy, then boy… one after another and it ended up being a multitude of teenage boys and girls walking in my direction. The strangest thing about it was that the girls were all wearing white v-neck t-shirts with colourful plaid skirts that were halfway between their knees and ankles. The boys were wearing pink polo style shirts with black pants/shorts. So imagine this! Approximately 15+ Caucasian boys (including 3 older men) all dressed in same outfit and 15+ Caucasian girls (including 5 older women) all dressed the same. It was so strange seeing a multitude of Caucasian people wearing a same outfit, and all of sudden I realised how weird I am going to feel when I return to Toronto. So we discussed how important it is going to be for both of us to attend debriefing session held by CIL.

When I spoke to a couple of people about environmental issues, they seemed to care very much about preserving the natural environment. Also, the official plan in Manchester (Local Sustainable Development Plan) strongly advocates for future development to be carried out in a sustainable manner. However, there is no current set of programs that promote recycling but I am certain that such programs will soon be initiated by the Planning department, the local government and/or the PDC. The people from the PDC and the local government constantly tell me that it is all about educating people and making the public aware of preserving the environment.

About two weeks ago I was talking to the secretary manager (Mr. Palmer, Manchester Parish Council) and he has informed me that while he was visiting Toronto he saw someone get out of the car and walked towards a garbage-can to throw away his garbage. He emphasised on the fact that this had happened during the night-time so my first response was “yes, it is very safe in Toronto and that I feel as though that Mandeville is quite safe as well”. He agreed, but his response was very different from how I understood his comment. He couldn’t believe how someone could make the effort to throw away the garbage in a garbage-can instead of tossing it anywhere, especially when it was dark outside. That’s when I realised I have misinterpreted what he was saying, especially when he informed me that he puts his garbage in a plastic bag in his car then throw it away when he gets home. I was very glad to hear that this was what he observed instead of someone tossing their garbage outside.

The story that I told may not be directed to “recycling” per se. but I believe the secretary manager was very impressed with the cleanliness of Toronto. He explained that individuals should care and take responsibility of their own city/town. Recycling programs can start at a small step. The people that I spoke with can initiate a recycling program within Mandeville, then the program can grow to encompass Manchester then grow even larger at a national level.