THE EDITOR, Sir:
MOST OF us fortunate enough to have benefited from scholarship opportunities to study in developed economies such as Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States within the past decade, were invariably bonded to return and work in Jamaica usually for a minimum of three years.
The only legitimate way to escape this bond was to repay the cost of the scholarship (a very expensive prospect in some cases and I know in my case it was an impossible consideration).
So many, though admittedly not all, of us returned. And depending on the length of time we were away, we all experienced varying degrees of re-settlement issues, such as acclimatising ourselves once again to the heat and the stifling bureaucracy and bandoolism which characterises doing business in Jamaica.
STARVATION
Some of us, I am sure, immediately thought of re-migrating the minute our bonds expired, or as soon as we could feasibly liquidate the outstanding amounts. Not only was it proving difficult for many of us to find employment to actualise the training we had received and the hard won skills we had garnered I know of one Ph.D. scholarship graduate who had to accept a position teaching first to third form students in high school or face starvation. But we had also seen the future of business, industry, environmental management, engineering, etc., in our adopted countries and we were increasingly frustrated at the slow progress Jamaica was making in these areas.
CRITICAL AREAS
Jamaica seemed to be in a time warp in many critical areas of development while the rest of the world was apparently moving at an accelerated pace. Some of us did re-emigrate, which is not entirely all bad. Michael Lee-Chin, for example, is a scholarship awardee who eventually settled in Canada.
Certainly the prospects for employment and entrepreneurship are greater up north but that is not the whole story. Some of us remember the bitter cold, which drove us home after our tenure had ended. I know that the first time I had to shovel snow in minus 40 degree weather I felt like the prodigal son longing for the pleasures of my father's house. I remember thinking no human being should have to endure this! So we came home.
But I cannot deny that I have found myself straying unto the Canadian Immigration website on numerous occasions and downloading the self-sponsored migration form with regularity. But I never go through with it, even in my most desperate times, as I am now motivated by self-interest to stay in Jamaica.
You see, I now I have a wonderfully inquisitive and brilliant son and I would not trust his education to the North American system. Don't get me wrong, I am sure that the educators there are competent and the pedagogy sound. However, I am concerned about the high level of distractions available for children in that system.
As a parent, it is one less thing to worry about that my child is being exposed to God-knows-what at school. I am also quite certain that the cost of a good quality Jamaican education will never equate to the cost of a similar education up north. So I am stuck here, at least until my son finishes school. But I don't think it's all that bad now that I have re-adjusted, and whenever I get a bit despondent I simply stick my hand in the freezer for a good five minutes and that usually cures my wanderlust and angst!
I am etc.,
MAURICE TOMLINSON
Kingston 6
