I was having dinner (sumptuous marinated pork and brown stew chicken ... nice!). I reached down for the cup, and my fingers hit it so it teetered at a 45 degree angle.
My heart leapt. I don't even know where it went. I quickly righted the cup. Then I thought:What was that feeling?? I should not be this afraid of spilling a cup of water. I should not be this afraid of making a mistake.
Then I had an epiphany: time stilled for a brief second and deep realisation sank in. There it was: a profound thought in a less-than-profound moment: I should not be this afraid of making a mistake!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
New Project Coming Soon!
I've done putting it all on paper, and now, it goes to action. The project I've been working on for two years finally sounds sensible and plausible enough to see the light of day. So, over the next few days, my posts will be updates on where my project is going ...
My aim has always been to take Jamaican journalism to a level where the people being interviewed are more than just abstract news subjects. I've also had immense interest in and desire to see Jamaican journalism involve more young people. What if I could combine the two?
Look out for more details on my project right here!!
My aim has always been to take Jamaican journalism to a level where the people being interviewed are more than just abstract news subjects. I've also had immense interest in and desire to see Jamaican journalism involve more young people. What if I could combine the two?
Look out for more details on my project right here!!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Customer Service: you know what that means, right?
Jamaica is (well, was, up till recently) graced with three major phone services: LIME (formerly Cable & Wireless), Digicel (from Mossels), and Claro (from America Movil). Well, I have all three services (nah, that's not cause I'm rich - it's cause they're all so bad, you need all three to have something that even slightly resembles decent service).
So recently I had a run-in with a Claro customer service rep (CSR).
Rb: Hello. I'm trying to put this credit on my phone, and I keep getting an error message that the PIN number is invalid. I just bought the card, so that can't be right.
CSR: Ok. Before we begin, I'd like to take some information from you. Will that be alright?
Rb: Yeah. Ok.
CSR: What is your name?
Rb: Rb.
CSR: What is the number of the phone you're trying to put the credit on?
Rb: 123-4567
CSR: Ok Rb. Thank you for that information. Now can you please explain to me what is happening with your phone?
Rb: I'm trying to put credit on my phone and I keep getting an error message that the PIN number is invalid.
CSR: Can you please repeat that?
Rb: I'm trying to put credit on my phone and I keep getting an error message that the PIN number is invalid.
CSR: Ok. So you're trying to put credit on your phone and you keep getting a message that the PIN number is invalid?
Rb: That's what I said.
CSR: OK Rb. Thank you for that information. Now, in order to help you, I will require some more information from you. Is that ok?
Rb: Ok.
CSR: What is your name?
Rb: Rb Br.
CSR: And what is the number of the phone you're trying to pt the credit on?
Rb: 123-4567.
CSR: And you tried putting the credit on the phone and it did not work?
Rb: Yes.
CSR. Thank you very much for that information. OK. I'm seeing here that your credit is at $XX. So,that means the credit you tried to put on your pohone did not go on.
Rb (slighly agitated): Well, that'swhatisaid!
CSR: Well, OK. SOmetimes this happens, and we suggest that you wait for at least 10 minutes to see if the credit comes on, then call back if it doesn't.
Rb: Really.
CSR: yes. Thank you for calling Claro. WQe're always happy to help you. Is there anything else I can help you with.
*Click*. Rb hangs up.
So recently I had a run-in with a Claro customer service rep (CSR).
Rb: Hello. I'm trying to put this credit on my phone, and I keep getting an error message that the PIN number is invalid. I just bought the card, so that can't be right.
CSR: Ok. Before we begin, I'd like to take some information from you. Will that be alright?
Rb: Yeah. Ok.
CSR: What is your name?
Rb: Rb.
CSR: What is the number of the phone you're trying to put the credit on?
Rb: 123-4567
CSR: Ok Rb. Thank you for that information. Now can you please explain to me what is happening with your phone?
Rb: I'm trying to put credit on my phone and I keep getting an error message that the PIN number is invalid.
CSR: Can you please repeat that?
Rb: I'm trying to put credit on my phone and I keep getting an error message that the PIN number is invalid.
CSR: Ok. So you're trying to put credit on your phone and you keep getting a message that the PIN number is invalid?
Rb: That's what I said.
CSR: OK Rb. Thank you for that information. Now, in order to help you, I will require some more information from you. Is that ok?
Rb: Ok.
CSR: What is your name?
Rb: Rb Br.
CSR: And what is the number of the phone you're trying to pt the credit on?
Rb: 123-4567.
CSR: And you tried putting the credit on the phone and it did not work?
Rb: Yes.
CSR. Thank you very much for that information. OK. I'm seeing here that your credit is at $XX. So,that means the credit you tried to put on your pohone did not go on.
Rb (slighly agitated): Well, that'swhatisaid!
CSR: Well, OK. SOmetimes this happens, and we suggest that you wait for at least 10 minutes to see if the credit comes on, then call back if it doesn't.
Rb: Really.
CSR: yes. Thank you for calling Claro. WQe're always happy to help you. Is there anything else I can help you with.
*Click*. Rb hangs up.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Growing Wings - Metamorphosis to Exile
The following is an extract from my essay submitted to the 2011 World Bank essay competition, which was ranked among the top 200 essays submitted.
How Rural Communities Dispossess Their Best And Brightest And How And Why It Must Be Stopped!
Topic: YOUTH MIGRATION
Questions:
(1) How has migration affected you, your family, community and country?
(2) How do you perceive the benefits versus the risks of migration?
(3) What actions can you recommend for broadening opportunities for young migrants in their:
(i) countries of destination, and
(ii) countries of origin?
Summary
The grooming began early. As soon as they found out I was gifted – well, not really gifted, just smart with books and good at school – they started to drop hints and make preparations for the day when they would send me away. Because bright people don’t stay in St. Mary – a rural, farming parish located on the north-east coast of Jamaica. Apparently, if they do, they never get the chance to make anything meaningful of themselves, because in St. Mary, where opportunities are perceived to be scarce-to-nonexistent, all that talent and skill goes to waste.
My schooling and upbringing was an experience in growing wings. Consciously and unconsciously, my parents, teachers, relatives and friends were preparing me for flight from my home town. They had developed a culture of preparing their best, brightest and most skilled people to leave the parish and go elsewhere, mainly to urban parishes, in pursuit of tertiary education and well-paying jobs, and this culture perpetuated a cycle of brain-drain and poverty to which they had become accustomed.
This is my documentary, examining how and why I left my rural hometown to live and work in urban Kingston. I examine methods for a transformation of the dismal view of country and community that my peers and I are often subliminally taught, and suggest methods through which the process of cross-cultural, or rural-urban migration can be better harnessed to benefit sending and receiving countries/communities.
A Caterpillar Appears
I don’t know if anyone has ever said it before, but I believe migration – the movement of people from one place in the world to another for the purpose of taking up permanent or semipermanent residence, usually across a political boundary (National Geographic, para. 1) – begins in the mind. It starts as a thought, triggered by different events or messages that a person receives, processes and stores in his/her brain as he/she grows up. People will always be drawn to the places or things that are presented as most attractive to them. Migration is no different. People see more attractive opportunities in other places, are drawn to them, visualise themselves there, and then leave to reside in these more attractive places, with the hope of acquiring whatever it is that drew them to their destination.
Millions of people migrate annually for various reasons: better financial opportunities, employment, family ties, exile, health, climate … the list is inexhaustible. Whether for love or money, the general sentiment among migrants is that the destination, once reached, will offer far more and better opportunities and longer lasting pleasure than the location being left behind. This, in a way, conforms to the law of attraction.
I know I ought to go home and help build my community
But my family expects me to stay here and become great and make money ....
My friends and I grew up feeling this way. We all knew we weren’t destined to stay in St. Mary. We all knew we would leave.
When I passed the Common Entrance exam and I just knew I was growing wings. When I was a young girl, ‘foreign’ always held special appeal for me. It was this magical place where people went to get rich - a haven, an oasis, the Jamaican Promised Land. Though noone said it, I understood that if I could just get to ‘foreign’, I would come back wealthier, prettier, and generally much better off. It was later, when I grew up, that I realised that migration is not so simple an issue as that.
To be continued ....
How Rural Communities Dispossess Their Best And Brightest And How And Why It Must Be Stopped!
Topic: YOUTH MIGRATION
Questions:
(1) How has migration affected you, your family, community and country?
(2) How do you perceive the benefits versus the risks of migration?
(3) What actions can you recommend for broadening opportunities for young migrants in their:
(i) countries of destination, and
(ii) countries of origin?
Summary
The grooming began early. As soon as they found out I was gifted – well, not really gifted, just smart with books and good at school – they started to drop hints and make preparations for the day when they would send me away. Because bright people don’t stay in St. Mary – a rural, farming parish located on the north-east coast of Jamaica. Apparently, if they do, they never get the chance to make anything meaningful of themselves, because in St. Mary, where opportunities are perceived to be scarce-to-nonexistent, all that talent and skill goes to waste.
My schooling and upbringing was an experience in growing wings. Consciously and unconsciously, my parents, teachers, relatives and friends were preparing me for flight from my home town. They had developed a culture of preparing their best, brightest and most skilled people to leave the parish and go elsewhere, mainly to urban parishes, in pursuit of tertiary education and well-paying jobs, and this culture perpetuated a cycle of brain-drain and poverty to which they had become accustomed.
This is my documentary, examining how and why I left my rural hometown to live and work in urban Kingston. I examine methods for a transformation of the dismal view of country and community that my peers and I are often subliminally taught, and suggest methods through which the process of cross-cultural, or rural-urban migration can be better harnessed to benefit sending and receiving countries/communities.
A Caterpillar Appears
I don’t know if anyone has ever said it before, but I believe migration – the movement of people from one place in the world to another for the purpose of taking up permanent or semipermanent residence, usually across a political boundary (National Geographic, para. 1) – begins in the mind. It starts as a thought, triggered by different events or messages that a person receives, processes and stores in his/her brain as he/she grows up. People will always be drawn to the places or things that are presented as most attractive to them. Migration is no different. People see more attractive opportunities in other places, are drawn to them, visualise themselves there, and then leave to reside in these more attractive places, with the hope of acquiring whatever it is that drew them to their destination.
Millions of people migrate annually for various reasons: better financial opportunities, employment, family ties, exile, health, climate … the list is inexhaustible. Whether for love or money, the general sentiment among migrants is that the destination, once reached, will offer far more and better opportunities and longer lasting pleasure than the location being left behind. This, in a way, conforms to the law of attraction.
I know I ought to go home and help build my community
But my family expects me to stay here and become great and make money ....
My friends and I grew up feeling this way. We all knew we weren’t destined to stay in St. Mary. We all knew we would leave.
When I passed the Common Entrance exam and I just knew I was growing wings. When I was a young girl, ‘foreign’ always held special appeal for me. It was this magical place where people went to get rich - a haven, an oasis, the Jamaican Promised Land. Though noone said it, I understood that if I could just get to ‘foreign’, I would come back wealthier, prettier, and generally much better off. It was later, when I grew up, that I realised that migration is not so simple an issue as that.
To be continued ....
Friday, December 30, 2011
Jamaica Election 2011 Roundup
Winners: People’s
National Party (PNP)
Colour: Orange
Leader: Portia Simpson-Miller
Losers: Jamaica Labour Party (JLP):
Colour: Green
Leader: Andrew Holness
The Electoral Commission of Jamaica’s (ECJ) all-island preliminary results:
People’s National Party (PNP): 41 seats
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP): 22 seats
General reaction in nation:
SHOCK. It was a surprise sweep. Many expected it to be a close contest, but not very many thought that the PNP would win, or that they would win by such a large margin.
High Points:
- Little to no violence. One of, if not the most peaceful we’ve ever had.
- By most accounts, it was a smooth election process.
Areas of Concern:
- Low voter turnout. Stats from the ECJ indicate that approximately 52.10% of eligible voters exercised that right. What of the other 40-odd%?
Important Questions:
- Where do we go from here?
When the noise and excitement has finally settled down, Jamaicans will awake to the reality of the same hardships they faced before the elections. The question will become: can we cross it?
- What does the other 40-odd% of the nation want?
They did not vote, many claiming that they refrained as a statement of their dissatisfaction with both parties. Well, now a party is in power that they say they don’t want. What of it?
Colour: Orange
Leader: Portia Simpson-Miller
Losers: Jamaica Labour Party (JLP):
Colour: Green
Leader: Andrew Holness
The Electoral Commission of Jamaica’s (ECJ) all-island preliminary results:
People’s National Party (PNP): 41 seats
Jamaica Labour Party (JLP): 22 seats
General reaction in nation:
SHOCK. It was a surprise sweep. Many expected it to be a close contest, but not very many thought that the PNP would win, or that they would win by such a large margin.
High Points:
- Little to no violence. One of, if not the most peaceful we’ve ever had.
- By most accounts, it was a smooth election process.
Areas of Concern:
- Low voter turnout. Stats from the ECJ indicate that approximately 52.10% of eligible voters exercised that right. What of the other 40-odd%?
Important Questions:
- Where do we go from here?
When the noise and excitement has finally settled down, Jamaicans will awake to the reality of the same hardships they faced before the elections. The question will become: can we cross it?
- What does the other 40-odd% of the nation want?
They did not vote, many claiming that they refrained as a statement of their dissatisfaction with both parties. Well, now a party is in power that they say they don’t want. What of it?
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Loving Inmates Back To Destiny
She’s short. Not much over five feet high. But this height belies the
power of a woman on a mission to change her world - one inmate at a
time. She’s special because she’s a woman who has worked mainly with men
- and not the best kind either. These are men who society has cast off
as ‘offenders’, ‘criminals’, ‘hopeless’.
“We impact them by loving them, letting them know that in spite of what they’re going through, we’re here to love them, that God still loves them,” she says passionately. Throughout the interview, she repeatedly emphasises the need to love these fallen men past their failures. And that is what the organisation she founded in 2009 is all about. Friends With A Heart Outreach International was created with the specific aim of helping inmates and ex-offenders to lead better lives and reintegrate into communities.
“People make mistakes, but we have to get to a place where your situation does not determine your future. You may have failed at something, but you are not a failure. Don’t give up on life,” she quietly urges. Then she smiles, leans back, and waits for the next question.
Vivienne Nash, 46, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, though she has spent most of her life in her country of residence, Canada. The challenges in her life came early: at 17, she got pregnant with her only child – a girl. She explains that it wasn’t easy to take care of her daughter and attend school, though she was lucky to have the support of the child’s father, and her own mother.
Then, during her last year of college, she was incarcerated in Fort Augustus in Kingston, Jamaica, after she was caught trafficking drugs.
“It was an ordeal,” she explains, “I learned alot. When you’re in prison, you have a lot of time to sit down and reflect on what you want to do, where you want to go.”
After being released from prison, she went back to Canada, where she started getting serious about her religion: Christianity. According to her, “I realised that I’d tried everything and nothing else worked … . I actually found God in a nightclub ...” – something she admits is a unique experience – “you expect to meet guys and chill at a nightclub, but that’s not what happened for me – at least, I didn’t meet that kinda guy.” And she smiles as she remembers.
“We were the last four persons to leave. There was a heat that came over me. I told my friends I would go outside to wait in the car. When I got to the car, I started crying, started repenting. I remembered stuff back from way back and then the last thing I repented for was all the drugs I brought into the country.”
After that, Vivienne started to turn her life around. She was national director for one of Canada’s largest prison ministries – Prison Fellowship Canada – for three years. During that time, she travelled all across Canada and developed a better understanding of the prison system, becoming increasingly concerned with the limited provisions made for inmate rehabilitation. That was when she got the idea for Friends With A Heart Outreach International (FWAH). She felt the need to use the knowledge she had gained, and the passion she had for helping inmates, to do more for these fallen soldiers.
Her outreach group was registered in Canada in May 2009. The Jamaica arm was registered in 2010. Though both are still in the early development stages, Vivienne explains that these groups are making a difference in the lives of inmates in their host nations.
“We have women going into different institutions in Canada: to the Grand Valley Institution for Women and West Detention Centre. We have about 30 volunteers at the moment. Every Sunday, we have a chapel service, and we do one-on-one mentoring.”
Then she tells me about an exercise she did with inmates at the Tower Street Correctional Centre in Kingston, Jamaica:
“I asked them to just write on a piece of paper -– no names or anything – guilty or innocent. When I got back to my room and sat down to read the notes, most of them said guilty. And that made me realise that they really trusted us. I’m sure they didn’t say that to the judge. But that really affected me and made me want to do more for them.”
Although Vivienne has a secular job, she dreams of the day when she will be able to work in her outreach full-time. Sure, there are days when she gets discouraged, but she says these are the times when she has learnt to encourage herself. Eventually, her goal is that “wherever there’s a prison, we would have some sort of representation … I see us building a facility that will be able to function to its fullness, holistically – like a training centre for people to be trained/equipped to go back into society.”
It’s a big dream. And a small start. But she believes God will help her to achieve it. And she continues to find motivation from the stories she daily hears:
“This one inmate, he said he got involved in criminal activity through politics,” she says. “You know when politicians give young men guns and money for votes? He became an area leader, and I don’t know if the politician became nervous or what, but he reported him to the police and they arrested him. I know he committed murder. He’s told me about that. But, listen, I’m sitting here listening to a young man. I’m hearing the heart of what society calls a criminal. I’m speaking into his life. What I want people to understand is that we’re a Christian organisation but we don’t only deal with with Christians. Our whole purpose is loving people back to destiny.”
This article is part of a writing assignment for Voices of Our Future a program of World Pulse that provides rigorous new media and citizen journalism training for grassroots women leaders. World Pulse lifts and unites the voices of women from some of the most unheard regions of the world.
“We impact them by loving them, letting them know that in spite of what they’re going through, we’re here to love them, that God still loves them,” she says passionately. Throughout the interview, she repeatedly emphasises the need to love these fallen men past their failures. And that is what the organisation she founded in 2009 is all about. Friends With A Heart Outreach International was created with the specific aim of helping inmates and ex-offenders to lead better lives and reintegrate into communities.
“People make mistakes, but we have to get to a place where your situation does not determine your future. You may have failed at something, but you are not a failure. Don’t give up on life,” she quietly urges. Then she smiles, leans back, and waits for the next question.
Vivienne Nash, 46, was born in Kingston, Jamaica, though she has spent most of her life in her country of residence, Canada. The challenges in her life came early: at 17, she got pregnant with her only child – a girl. She explains that it wasn’t easy to take care of her daughter and attend school, though she was lucky to have the support of the child’s father, and her own mother.
Then, during her last year of college, she was incarcerated in Fort Augustus in Kingston, Jamaica, after she was caught trafficking drugs.
“It was an ordeal,” she explains, “I learned alot. When you’re in prison, you have a lot of time to sit down and reflect on what you want to do, where you want to go.”
After being released from prison, she went back to Canada, where she started getting serious about her religion: Christianity. According to her, “I realised that I’d tried everything and nothing else worked … . I actually found God in a nightclub ...” – something she admits is a unique experience – “you expect to meet guys and chill at a nightclub, but that’s not what happened for me – at least, I didn’t meet that kinda guy.” And she smiles as she remembers.
“We were the last four persons to leave. There was a heat that came over me. I told my friends I would go outside to wait in the car. When I got to the car, I started crying, started repenting. I remembered stuff back from way back and then the last thing I repented for was all the drugs I brought into the country.”
After that, Vivienne started to turn her life around. She was national director for one of Canada’s largest prison ministries – Prison Fellowship Canada – for three years. During that time, she travelled all across Canada and developed a better understanding of the prison system, becoming increasingly concerned with the limited provisions made for inmate rehabilitation. That was when she got the idea for Friends With A Heart Outreach International (FWAH). She felt the need to use the knowledge she had gained, and the passion she had for helping inmates, to do more for these fallen soldiers.
Her outreach group was registered in Canada in May 2009. The Jamaica arm was registered in 2010. Though both are still in the early development stages, Vivienne explains that these groups are making a difference in the lives of inmates in their host nations.
“We have women going into different institutions in Canada: to the Grand Valley Institution for Women and West Detention Centre. We have about 30 volunteers at the moment. Every Sunday, we have a chapel service, and we do one-on-one mentoring.”
Then she tells me about an exercise she did with inmates at the Tower Street Correctional Centre in Kingston, Jamaica:
“I asked them to just write on a piece of paper -– no names or anything – guilty or innocent. When I got back to my room and sat down to read the notes, most of them said guilty. And that made me realise that they really trusted us. I’m sure they didn’t say that to the judge. But that really affected me and made me want to do more for them.”
Although Vivienne has a secular job, she dreams of the day when she will be able to work in her outreach full-time. Sure, there are days when she gets discouraged, but she says these are the times when she has learnt to encourage herself. Eventually, her goal is that “wherever there’s a prison, we would have some sort of representation … I see us building a facility that will be able to function to its fullness, holistically – like a training centre for people to be trained/equipped to go back into society.”
It’s a big dream. And a small start. But she believes God will help her to achieve it. And she continues to find motivation from the stories she daily hears:
“This one inmate, he said he got involved in criminal activity through politics,” she says. “You know when politicians give young men guns and money for votes? He became an area leader, and I don’t know if the politician became nervous or what, but he reported him to the police and they arrested him. I know he committed murder. He’s told me about that. But, listen, I’m sitting here listening to a young man. I’m hearing the heart of what society calls a criminal. I’m speaking into his life. What I want people to understand is that we’re a Christian organisation but we don’t only deal with with Christians. Our whole purpose is loving people back to destiny.”
This article is part of a writing assignment for Voices of Our Future a program of World Pulse that provides rigorous new media and citizen journalism training for grassroots women leaders. World Pulse lifts and unites the voices of women from some of the most unheard regions of the world.
Monday, December 5, 2011
So Here's The Big Idea ...
The following was submitted as my final assignment before being selected as a WorldPulse Voices of the Future 2011 Correspondent:
Stories. Letters strung across a page that can do so much! The world is full of 'em - big ones, little ones, long ones, short ones, sad ones, funny ones, dull ones, bright ones. There are histories, his-stories, and her-stories ...
Women. Mothers, daughters, aunts, nurses, teachers, brokers, bosses, wives, lovers, providers, supporters, helpers, friends ... The hats they wear ... The roles they play, and most importantly, the stories they have to tell.
Sometimes, if you sit still enough for long enough, you can almost hear the world talking ... almost. And sometimes, when you look into a woman's eyes, you can almost see and feel her story ... almost.
For as long as I can remember, I've written. It's a passion, a fascination, an outlet ... a love. I've particularly enjoyed writing in journals and diaries. Sometimes, they are places to record memories, moments, events - to chronicle growth and development.
What if the world didn't have to search a woman's eyes to try to find her story? What if she freely, willingly opened her diary to the world and told them stories they wouldn't otherwise know? What if that story so gripped the hearts and imaginations of men that it revolutionised their perspectives, attitudes, lives? What if it completely redefined journalism as we know it? What if that story was multiplied by hundreds, thousands, millions?
What I want - what I've always wanted - is real simple: to change my world, one story at a time.
I believe in the power of the written, spoken, read and heard word. And, obviously, so does WorldPulse. I want to develop the versatility to tell any woman's story from any corner of the globe so well that her voice will not be misrepresented, misunderstood, ignored, or worse, unheard. I want to compile a set of diaries that reflect the heart of WOMAN - a powerful collection of stories from around the world. I know I have to start small. I know I have to start where I'm planted, so the immediate desire is to reveal the untold stories of the Jamaican woman.
Being a VOF participant allows me the chance to be a more effective tool. I can be sharpened, recalibrated (where necessary), smoothed out and learn how to do the job with grace, beauty, strength, femininity. And as I learn, I can also teach. As I receive, I can also impart. I can be part of the beautiful cycle of positive, everlasting change - a thunderstorm, if you will - that starts with the incredibly remarkable power of one.
Stories. Letters strung across a page that can do so much! The world is full of 'em - big ones, little ones, long ones, short ones, sad ones, funny ones, dull ones, bright ones. There are histories, his-stories, and her-stories ...
Women. Mothers, daughters, aunts, nurses, teachers, brokers, bosses, wives, lovers, providers, supporters, helpers, friends ... The hats they wear ... The roles they play, and most importantly, the stories they have to tell.
Sometimes, if you sit still enough for long enough, you can almost hear the world talking ... almost. And sometimes, when you look into a woman's eyes, you can almost see and feel her story ... almost.
For as long as I can remember, I've written. It's a passion, a fascination, an outlet ... a love. I've particularly enjoyed writing in journals and diaries. Sometimes, they are places to record memories, moments, events - to chronicle growth and development.
What if the world didn't have to search a woman's eyes to try to find her story? What if she freely, willingly opened her diary to the world and told them stories they wouldn't otherwise know? What if that story so gripped the hearts and imaginations of men that it revolutionised their perspectives, attitudes, lives? What if it completely redefined journalism as we know it? What if that story was multiplied by hundreds, thousands, millions?
What I want - what I've always wanted - is real simple: to change my world, one story at a time.
I believe in the power of the written, spoken, read and heard word. And, obviously, so does WorldPulse. I want to develop the versatility to tell any woman's story from any corner of the globe so well that her voice will not be misrepresented, misunderstood, ignored, or worse, unheard. I want to compile a set of diaries that reflect the heart of WOMAN - a powerful collection of stories from around the world. I know I have to start small. I know I have to start where I'm planted, so the immediate desire is to reveal the untold stories of the Jamaican woman.
Being a VOF participant allows me the chance to be a more effective tool. I can be sharpened, recalibrated (where necessary), smoothed out and learn how to do the job with grace, beauty, strength, femininity. And as I learn, I can also teach. As I receive, I can also impart. I can be part of the beautiful cycle of positive, everlasting change - a thunderstorm, if you will - that starts with the incredibly remarkable power of one.
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