$150 Million Dollars To Dance And Prance?
$150 Million Dollars To Dance And Prance? Kmt!
Jamaica’s Minister of Youth and Culture Olivier Grange announced that the government has allocated $150 MILLION to Emancipation/Independence activities from August 1 onward.
The activities comprise facilitation of an “Independence Village”, finale as usual, the Grand Gala with dancing and prancing – as usual.
Am I living in a different world to these people?
Recently, a 23-year-old youth came into the yard and asked if I wanted to buy some flower pots he had made. Beautifully crafted items, but I do not need any.
He said to me, “Lady, mi is a hard-working person but nothing not running for me.” He was almost ashamed to ask me for a glass of ice water. So he will spend hours walking around in the hot sun, trying to get sales. I felt his frustration.
Is he and other youths in rural Jamaica bothered about the Independence celebrations? Do the young people locked up in adult institutions or living in state care get VIP invitations to this Grand Gala, just to break up the routine they have?
Methinks not. Every year we jump up and down, ‘nyam’ food and get drunk like the dutiful slaves who were granted one day off for their jollification before returning to the plantation.
Why not change the record? Why not use that amount of money to launch an “Independence Scholarship” for disadvantaged children or young people to further their education?
Or engage youths to build and develop services at a community centre in their district. After all, thousands of them are trying to be resourceful like the young man with the flower pots, but ‘nothing nah run fi dem’.
By Neo Makeba
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