Sweet Jamaica…What a Nice Place fi Live!
- suzettecampbell
- Jun 20, 2024
- 7 min read
Updated: Jul 30, 2024
I was invited by the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment & Sport to write and voice a podcast for Jamaica's Diamond Jubilee, dubbed I LOVE JAMAICA. It was an honour to do it. The podcast is presented by Minister, Olivia Grange and also features Barbara Blake Hannah, Vivian Crawford and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Marisa Dalrymple Philibert. Below is the transcript of my segment. Happy Independence Day!
Recently, I saw my 12-year-old son watching the hit 1990s Cable & Wireless commercial dubbed ‘In Touch’. I can hear it now. “Oh, can’t you see we’re the one love generation, welcoming a brand-new day…so let us keep in touch.” It gave me the feels back then and it gives me the feels today. I imagine it gives Malik the feels too because he played it for days. It was a worthwhile investment in a 3-minute song and video by a corporate company and remains on my list of top Jamaican corporate advertisements of all time. Why? Because even as it sold a product, it paid homage to the best place to live on earth? The place I am privileged to call home…Sweet Jamaica.
It’s the same feeling I get when I hear the National Song for Schools and the National Anthem of Jamaica, the most beautiful in the world. I am not biased. It really is. It is masterfully written and composed with a dash of fun, as we all get to say “Jamaica…BOOM!” It’s no wonder Veronica Campbell-Brown shed a single tear as the flag was raised during the medal ceremony at the 2000 Olympic Games where she struck gold in the 200m, the first sprint gold for a Jamaican woman. Big moment! Big tune! Tears. I actually got a scar on my foot and had to wear sandals to work for 2 weeks after practically running that race with her and bumping my toe on a desk in the office. I do not hesitate to stand at the Carib cinema when it is time for the National Anthem to be played.
By now you have guessed I am fan of track & field and I love music. What’s a girl to do when she is from the country that gave the world it’s fastest human being in Usain Bolt and the song of the century, One Love and album of the century, Exodus, both by Bob Marley? Behind Bolt and Marley are so many other amazing athletes and musicians. A little dot on the map can boast of a clean sweep in the women’s 100m at the Olympic Games twice! And now we can add the World Championships to the list. If you missed Beijing 2008, Tokyo 2020 and Oregon 2022, head over to YouTube fast!
The world often ponders the secret behind the athletic prowess of a small nation which in no way matches the financial or infrastructural resources that First World athletes are privy to. We often quip that it is in the food. I have not had nicer food anywhere in the world. The Jamaican Motto is ‘Out of Many, One People’, based on the population’s multiracial roots. Perhaps the richest element of Jamaican culture is the food with its blend of African and Asian influences.
Breakfast is tantalising with the world-famous Blue Mountain coffee and a plate of our national dish, Ackee & Saltfish, which is often paired with roasted breadfruit. I found the history behind our food to be so fascinating when I researched it. To feed slaves cheaply in the 1700s, the breadfruit was brought from Africa. Today, it is a favourite roasted, boiled, or fried. On a warm summer day, there is nothing like a cold Red Stripe Beer and a serving of jerk pork or jerk chicken. To hide their whereabouts, the Maroons devised “jerking”, a method of spicing and cooking pork underground so that smoke would not be seen.
Cassava, a root tuber, was cultivated by the Tainos and is still used today to make "bammies", a flat toasted wafer eaten with fried fish. Gloria’s in Port Royal and Hellshire Beach in Portmore are some of the best fish and bammy spots in Jamaica. Many of us are skilled enough to replicate these dishes at home, like curried goat which must be had at any major celebration and ‘nine night’. I cook a mean curried goat if I may say so myself! Asian influences make the curry a spicy delicacy!
I could go on for days about the yam from Trelawny, sorrel wine at Christmas, bun and cheese at Easter, rice and peas on Sunday, cornmeal porridge, sweet potato pudding, our fruits like Otaheite apple and vegetables which are standard on our menu. Perhaps the magic is in the food, after all. So magical that we don’t play about our food. As we would say in Jamaican Creole, “Wi love nyam”. I once did a vox pop with Jamaicans in the diaspora and the majority highlighted food as the thing they miss most about Jamaica. I often joke about losing weight whenever I travel abroad because I miss my yaad food so much, I just struggle to eat overseas.
Before I make us all hungry, let’s dance. From Mento to Dancehall, our music has always been backed by amazing dance moves, which are a blend of African and European influences. Many Jamaican dance moves have been replicated the world over and we can always spot them. I believe it is in our DNA, as one hardly comes across a Jamaican with ‘two left feet’. As for me, I will dance anywhere. When the music hits, I move. Be it a party or a trip to the supermarket. During my university years, I attended nearly every campus party and visited most night clubs in Kingston. It’s one of the things I missed the most during the covid lockdowns, although I had not partied like that in years. Being locked away, brought back memories of those days when I was free without a care in the world.
I recently attended Reggae Sumfest just to see the Dave Kelly tribute which was delivered by dancehall kingpins Beenie Man, Bounty Killer, Baby Cham, Wayne Wonder, Frisco Kid and Spragga Benz. Oh, the glorious 90s! It was a great time to be alive, to experience the best of dancehall and to learn some for the best dances ever! I was lost in that Dave Kelly tribute. What a genius of a man to have produced some of the best dancehall rhythms we have ever heard from the 90s to early 2000s. A traditional Jamaican street dance featuring a big sound system like Stone Love or Bass Odyssey is still on my bucket list. I was too young back when they ruled the ‘dance’ with the biggest Dancehall hits of the glorious 1990s. Perhaps they might have a special staging one day and I will have that experience.
Like a husband who falls in love with his wife’s beauty every now and then, that’s how mesmerised I become occasionally when I admire Jamaica’s beauty. The warm sun, the white sand beaches, some with turquoise waters, the beautiful mountains and rivers are all simply breath-taking. Of our 14 parishes, there is something unique to love about each. Fascinating! Portland and St. James are among my favourites. Both are in stark contrast, as if to truly separate the East from the West. The city of Montego Bay so powerful in its stature as our tourism mecca, while Port Antonio is so serene as its stillness gives one the opportunity to be one with nature and truly enjoy island life. The South Coast has been calling me for a while and I do mean to check it out, as Treasure Beach in St. Elizabeth is so beautiful. It’s a shame that I have never done the Appleton tour, but I will soon with a designated driver. Rum, here I come!
It is not broken English. It is a Jamaican Creole or Patwa, a language in its own right, spoken by a unique people with lilting accents. Our language fascinates me. And it is partly what makes our storytelling so unique and hilarious. Big up Miss Lou! What a champion of our language she was, as she made the world embrace and a people proud to open their mouths and speak the language they know and love. Everything is funnier in Patwa! Jamaicans laugh a lot. Some of the most serious situations are swiftly morphed into jokes. Despite our social ills, we are a whole vibe which cannot be replicated. But wait! I recently saw an Irish man on Tik Tok do just that and it is hilarious.
This is Jamaica’s 60th year of independence and what a summer it will be! I am happy that the World Athletics Championships is happening in July as by the time August 6 comes around, we will have much to celebrate as our athletes make us proud. This Jamaican will be standing for the National Anthem in her living room every time we strike gold. I will eat ‘til mi belly buss, sing every festival song I know and dance like no one is watching. What a joy to be Jamaican! I would not to be any other nationality. As Tony Rebel sang, “What a nice place fi live…Sweet Jam Dong!”
If only we could learn to love each other some more, it would undoubtedly be the most perfect place on earth! Before God and all mankind, I pledge the love and loyalty of my heart, the wisdom and courage of my mind, the strength and vigour of my body in the service of my fellow citizens, I promise to stand up for Justice, Brotherhood and Peace, to work diligently and creatively, to think generously and honestly, so that Jamaica may, under God, increase in beauty, fellowship and prosperity, and play her part in advancing the welfare of the whole human race.
This, our national pledge is a beautiful reminder of our duty as Jamaicans. Jamaican…I would not want to be called anything else!
I am Suzette Campbell
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Note: Originally published on August 6, 2022
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