Geography, Diversity and Jamaica!

“Can someone tell me the capital city of Jamaica?”, “Sir, is it King-Stone?” I replied. Our geography teacher replied, “No, but you are close, its Kingston!” This was my 7^th grade history and geography teacher, Mr. D’Silva. He was one of my favorite teachers, his teaching style was exceptionally interactive and creative, specially for the India of the early 1980s. That day I learned that Kingston was the capital of Jamaica, and later found out that Michael Holding, Bob Marley and Michael Manley were all Jamaicans. 

One of the most important subjects we were taught as youngsters was geography. There is nothing that creates connection between two people than when you indicate to the other person you know where he or she is from. It’s often surprising to find out how ignorant people are about where other people live or where they come from. There are politicians, despite the many resources at their disposal don’t know the difference between Iran and Iraq or that Africa is a continent not a country, that Thailand is no longer called Siam and Aleppo is in Syria!

Our world has changed dramatically, with the constant movement of people either travelling, fleeing or migrating to new regions. This movement of people has brought change to places which for years were homogeneous.  Our uni-dimensional lingo has changed, we now have global village, diversity, interdependence, interconnectedness, and many more to indicate this change but yet we still lag behind when it comes to the appreciation of this colossal demographic and cultural evolution. A Jamaican who now lives in Northern Ireland, has to deal with a brick coming through her window, because there are many who have yet to understand, that yes, there are Irish of Jamaican or even Chinese descent who are now part of Northern Ireland.      

The shaping of this global understanding must start at a young age, where children in school are  taught geography that at least teaches them where countries and people are located in relation to themselves. This hopefully will be the first step towards a wider understanding of the global community and their relationship to it, whether they live in America, Ghana, Bahrain, Japan or Jamaica.

Now in 2017 and many years after learning where Jamaica and its capital are located, I am reminded of what Bob Marley, the great Jamaican Reggae singer, sang so many years ago and perhaps underlining the challenge that the global community faces today;

“Until the philosophy which hold one race superior and another Inferior Is finally and permanently discredited And abandoned…That until there is no longer, first class and second class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes…Until that day the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, rule of international morality, will remain in but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained!”