Peter Espeut | Getting things right

This week I enjoyed three particularly good experiences.

On Tuesday – Read Across Jamaica Day – I was invited by the chairman of the Marcus Garvey in Slhools Foundation, Major (Ret’d) Effiom Whyte, to read for the children at Crayon College, an early childhood institution in upper St Andrew. I read (with animation, of course) two of Aesop’s Fables for the bright five- and six-year-olds, who themselves could already read better and more fluently than several adults and older children I know.

How is it that some children learn to read before they even get to primary school, and others are still illiterate after six yeas of primary school and five years of high school?

The class of about twenty children I read for had two teachers, and they occupied a good-sized classroom with a small collection of books and a number of teaching aids. They knew the map of Jamaica, and could point out the names of the parishes and their capitals. They were eager to answer questions and were enthusiastic and energetic in an orderly sort of way.

These children loved to learn, and were learning. I wish this was the experience of all Jamaican five- and six-year-olds! If only we could create a learning environment for all our children to realise even half their potential: where would we be today as a nation?

If only we could only get our education system right!

On Sunday afternoon I took some of the younger members of my congregation from Hannah Town/Denham Town/Tivoli Gardens to the National Pantomime Trash and Hype at the Little Theatre. It was a delightful experience! The theatre was full with mostly groups of primary school children from rural Jamaica. We sat near to children (and their parents and teachers) from Little London, Westmoreland, and Bath, St. Thomas. Bless those teachers for organising cultural excursions like these! Education is much, much more than book learning!

NOT JUST SPECTATORS

The plot was simple, and the children got it! The actors had the audience in the palms of their hands. The kids were not just spectators but participants in the theatre experience. They shouted the expected responses in chorus, and shrieked and screamed on cue, and sang along with the catchy music. The song and dance was in the best tradition of Jamaican pantomime, and the late Barbara Gloudon would be proud of how her daughter Anya is carrying on the tradition.

The first National Pantomime I remember attending as a child was Queenie’s Daughter in 1967, with Louise Bennett and Rannie Williams, Lois Kelly-Barrow and Adelita Colfelt, and Errol Levy as the young male lead (I saw my Land in the Morning, and Oh! But She Was Fair). Mapletoft Poulle led the orchestra in the pit at the Ward Theatre. My parents bought the vinyl record of the sound track, which we played often.

The Pantomime plot is always the same: good wins over evil; those who try hard, conquer adversity; cheaters never prosper; and you always find true love in the end. I wish real life followed this plot. Our real-life experience is that that political cheaters prosper, people try very hard with the little they have and remain poor, and that too often, people let other people down.

But there is much delight in watching the samfie man and the femme fatale getting their just deserts; and the triumph of the underdog; and wishing that the same would happen in my life. A live interactive performance with live musicians is a special experience, much better than watching a flick on the silver screen or on television.

I just wish more of our young people could have this formative experience, on both sides of the stage. Participation in drama, music and dance develop a side of our character and personality that otherwise would lie fallow. Playing musical instruments in concert with others, making choreographed bodily movements, and unfolding a plot from a script, prepares us for real life in a way that just watching cannot.

TRADITIONAL FOLK SONGS

I am surprised at how few of our traditional folk songs today’s young people can sing by heart! I grew up with Shine Yeye Gal, Fan Mi Soja Man, Fan Mi, Judy Drownded and Hog Inna Mi Coco, A Root Out Mi Minty. As young people with musicians among us we would spends hours singing show tunes and folk songs, and we staged our own plays and concerts. I have plans to relive my youth with the young people in my congregation.

And then last Wednesday I joined in holy matrimony two septuagenarians. When I declared them husband and wife, and invited: “You may kiss the bride”, you should have seen the enthusiastic osculation! I was happy that a number of young people were there to witness the joyous occasion.

As a clergyman of over 25 years’ experience, I have baptised hundreds, buried dozens, but only witnessed fifteen marriages.

There is a lot spoken and written about love, and much of it is soppy and sentimental; to listen to some, love can hardly be distinguished from eroticism. Far from the fantasy of Hollywood and Mills & Boon (I date myself), living with someone in a committed relationship requires negotiating skills and patience. Marriage requires endurance through good times and bad, sickness and health, and maybe even extreme poverty.

One of the tasks of shepherds is to prepare young people for good family life, competing with Netflix and YouTube, and the evils therein. We invite married couples to share their life experiences – including the joys and sorrows; but for marriage to become something yearned for, young people need close-up real-life examples of happy if struggling couples, and interaction with their peers that builds strong friendships.

The struggle continues!

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and Catholic clergyman. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com