Carolyn Cooper | Positive vibrations from talawa Jamaica

There’s so much that’s good about Jamaica. But we don’t always acknowledge just how many truly exceptional people this country has nurtured. We keep focusing on all of the negativity that weighs us down. I’m certainly not going to rehearse our long list of tribulations here. If you want to get your daily fix of bad vibes, read the top stories in the newspapers and listen to the nightly news.

I’m bigging up just two of the extraordinary Jamaicans who have put us on the map. My text of scripture comes from Bob Marley’s sermon on the rock, Positive Vibration:

“If you get down and you quarrel every day

You’re singing prayers to the devils, I say

Why not help one another on the way?

Makes it much easier”

One of the outstanding Jamaicans who is making life much easier is Georgia Crawford-Williams, a consultant sociologist and talk show host. She came up with the brilliant idea of LifeSavers Wipes, an instant glucose monitor. To develop the product, she collaborated with Dr Peter Nelson, senior lecturer in chemistry at The University of the West Indies, Mona, and Shannon DaCosta, a chemical engineer. The team’s brilliant wipes just won the IDEA Short-Life Product Achievement Award for the nonwovens and engineered fabrics industry, out of a global field of more than 150 entrants including giants like Johnson & Johnson!

In a heartwarming video, Georgia gives thanks to those who supported her, including the most valuable player, her husband, Emil Williams. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PuR9G9sJko&t=74s

She also expresses anxiety about the next generation: “I fear that when young people hear wi seh wi lickle but wi talawa, they don’t understand what we mean. My entire product was developed in Jamaica. My scientists were educated, born and bred in Jamaica and they are nothing short of brilliance.

“As it relates to funding, funding came from my family and friends. And I tell you, scientific research is never cheap. But my grandmother, she had 11 children and we a poor people. Dirt lane, no water, no light! And mi call everybody an mi beg a ting. Yeah? I remember when it was that I was starting; it was in the midst of COVID-19 and my brother, who sells to hotels, im deh pon im face. An im seh, ‘Georgia, mi a go sell two goat.’ My mother is a retired teacher. Outa her pension, shi gi mi a ting. Every sister I have, Kerry, Sheryl, Evelyn, gi mi a ting. My nephew [Rushaud], who is a college student, outa im part-time money im gi wi a ting.”

LANGUAGE OF THE LANE

Georgia easily switched from English to Jamaican as she spoke from her heart about her roots, the help she got from her family and friends and what it means to be a talawa Jamaican. I asked her in which language she conceived the LifeSavers wipes. Without hesitation, she said it was the language of the lane. She told me she was vividly reminded that we have to help one another on the way.

Georgia’s mother, Lena Braham-Crawford, took one of her neighbours who was going blind from diabetes to the FISH medical clinic. That’s another good news story. The Foundation For International Self Help Development Limited is a non-profit organisation that was established in 1985 by Professor Louis Grant, a microbiologist and pathologist at The University of the West Indies, Mona. He wanted to provide affordable medical, dental and optical care. Approximately 18,000 patients from all over the island are treated at the clinic each year.

When the doctor at FISH examined her patient, she bawl di living eye water. Blindness could have been so easily avoided if early testing for diabetes had been done. When Georgia heard the diagnosis, her immediate response was, “No, man, dis cyaahn right!” She wanted to make things right and she certainly has. Enjoying her success, Georgia says, “Ah feel like Usain Bolt. Just without the money.” The next stage is getting the product into global markets. Georgia knows the money will definitely come.

SMALL BUT DANGEROUS

The other talawa Jamaican is Ian Gooding who just won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature for the film Encanto. He and Lorelay Bové also copped the Art Directors Guild Animated Feature Film prize for Encanto . Jeffrey Cobham, former managing director of the National Commercial Bank Jamaica Ltd, told me a familiar story about Ian’s father:

“Ken worked with National Commercial Bank, and many times would sit in my office telling me how worried he was because Ian spent all his time drawing. Ken was afraid that Ian would have to depend on his brother, a mathematician, to survive!” Ken had nothing to worry about, as his son’s brilliant career has proven. Many Jamaican parents still don’t understand that working in the creative industries is a viable option. They’re hung up on conventional professions like law, medicine and engineering.

Ian claimed his destiny, despite the reservations of his father. After Campion College, he did a degree in motion graphics and character animation at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1990, while he was still a student, he began working with Walt Disney Animation Studios. He’d co-directed and produced a short film, The Housekeeper, which opened the door. He hasn’t looked back.

The Jamaican linguist Frederic Cassidy defines the word talawa in his book Jamaica Talk, first published in 1961. It “seems to have the basic sense of strong, tough but goes beyond the physical to mean dangerous, even bad, or if applied to a woman, immoral”. I suppose, it’s fear of the power of woman that makes female badness unacceptable. But that’s another story.

Cassidy notes that “‘Me lickle but me talawa’ may mean any of these things: Don’t underestimate me; I may be small but I’m dangerous!” The powerful creative energy of many Jamaicans can so easily become a destructive force. Instead of singing prayers to the devils, talawa Jamaicans must affirm the positive vibrations of our commanding presence on the world stage.

Carolyn Cooper, PhD, is a teacher of English language and literature and a specialist on culture and development. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and karokupa@gmail.com.