Mia's love affair with Jamaica - New Barbados prime minister captivated by the music, the food and the people

Within two hours of arriving in Jamaica in 1988, a young Mia Mottley was robbed of her wallet by then notorious gangster Sandokhan. Two days later, she came face to face with the devastating Hurricane Gilbert, which devastated the island.

"I came to get called to the Bar, and 30 years later, I am still not called," Mottley quipped in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Gleaner during the just-concluded CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James.

"I stopped to buy a newspaper in New Kingston, and next thing I knew, my wallet was gone," said the woman who made history just over a month ago when she was elected first female prime minister of the Eastern Caribbean island of Barbados.

This is something Mottley will never forget, but that bad first experience did not stop her from falling in love with Jamaica.

At that time, Mottley was staying with her friend Margaret Ramsay, who is now chief justice in the Turks and Caicos.

It was during a party two nights after arriving on the island that she was told that Jamaica didn't get hurricanes. "While there, I was telling everyone, 'There is a hurricane coming tomorrow', and they just ignored it, and sure enough, Gilbert hit the Sunday night."

Thirty years later, it still takes a lot of convincing for Jamaicans to believe hurricane warnings from the Meteorological Office.

Mottley said that she spent four days waiting to get a flight out. When she finally did, she was forced to leave her suitcase here "because the airlines weren't taking any luggage".

CHILDHOOD LOVE AFFAIR

Getting to the airport, she said, was a challenge, too, because there was not enough petrol in the car, and the lines were long at the gas stations. "We were literally in a line for hours before we could get to the airport."

She ended up with gastroenteritis, but nothing could stop her love affair with the island renowned for its music, athletes, food, picturesque beauty, and its people.

"From a child, I loved Jamaica. I would listen to Jimmy Cliff, Third World, Bob Marley, Jacob Miller, and when I got a little older, I started to appreciate instrumentals, so the likes of Monty Alexander, Ernie Ranglin were added to my list."

Mottley's love for music saw her becoming the manager of a band with jazz-reggae Bajan saxophonist Arturo Tappin, the first person she managed.

"In fact, Arturo started playing saxophone as a result of that band, but originally, he played clarinet and violin," said Mottley.

Years later, she founded the Jazz on the Waterfront cafÈ in Barbados, and she remembers hosting Caribbean leaders, including the region's most outstanding political figure, the late Michael Manley, and Barbados' first Prime Minister, Errol Barrow.

"I was always just involved in music, and this was how I met Mikey Bennett in the early 1990s during his involvement in Reggae Sunsplash, Chevelle Franklin, and people like Sharon Burke.

"There has always been, at some time in my life, a relationship with reggae music," Mottley revealed.

A regionalist at heart, Mottley, said that what she admires most about Jamaicans is their creativity, passion, and naturalness.

"Caribbean people, in general, watch how we talk, watch how we relate to each other. There is a fluidity. It is like a theatre."

Using David Ruddock's song Bacchanal Lady as reference, Mottley said that when you listen, you see the painting of the lady before you. "When you hear the lyrics of Caribbean music and how Caribbean people walk, you can understand."

FAVOURITE FOOD

Mottley would not say where her favourite place in Jamaica was, but when it came to the food she loves best, it is jerk pork and sweet potato.

Now that she has departed the island, it is safe to reveal that although she had all the luxury-dining options at her hotel, Mottley spent two nights and one afternoon eating lunch and dinner at the famous Scotchies in Montego Bay.

She declared that the sweet potato at Scotchies in Ocho Rios is nicer than the one in Montego Bay.

In delivering remarks during the opening of the 39th Meeting of the Heads of Government Conference, Mottley declared: "Jamaica, a country which, I openly confess, will always have a special place in my heart. And curiously, I must share with you, it started in adversity with my first visit to Jamaica, where in spite of a loss of property on the first day and meeting Gilbert on day 3, Jamaica's untamed natural beauty has been for me a source of constant inspiration.

"So, too, its vibrant, passionate people, the very spice of our Caribbean creativity. Jamaica is a haven where I come, often, to find peace and perspective. And even when I am not here, its music inspires me always."

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com