Letters

On behalf of Una James

THE EDITOR, Madam:

It is extremely unfortunate the fate that has befallen Lee Boyd Malvo and his mother Miss Una James. As I watched the story unfold I constantly thought of the many Jamaican mothers who have left home to seek their fortune abroad. I remember even as a child in school how students whose parents were abroad would boasts as if it was a great achievement.

Every Jamaican family has a Una James. The evidence became even clearer as I watched Greetings Across the World on Television Jamaica (TVJ). Mother after mother sending greetings to their two, three even five children in Jamaica. As I watched, my heart went out to Miss James.

I thought of the many whom had been so unkind, so unsympathetic to her. It could easily have been a member of our families. Many have remained silent, our women's organizations have been numb failing to publicly tackle the issue. There is a kind of silence, which I interpret as subsuming shame and guilt. Shame on the part of those who understand that the adventures of these women to seek work or upliftment elsewhere comes from the absence of opportunities locally. Guilt from the many who know Una James and accept that there have been many like her and there will be many more.

She is in our lives as our sisters, our friends, our aunts even our mothers, who have made the ultimate choice in seeking to achieve the greater prize of a better life for herself and her child. Una James' decision to rely on others to care for her child is one made daily in Jamaica. The Western Union advertisement which saw a mother checking to make sure her daughter's school fees had arrived and she was in school is very typical. This being the case, I am shocked and saddened by the response of many persons to Una James' predicament. While the initial response of anger towards her is understandable, this matter raises what has been a serious issue in Jamaica for decades. Many have left and for years have failed to become 'straight', others were to send back for children who they never saw again.

Children have died and their mothers only witnessed the burial on a tape carried to them by another relative. The stories are painful and many, this one simply took on international significance. Maybe it is time we embrace the unfortunate circumstances which have resulted from this particular struggle for improvement and seek to improve the conditions which create these cravings to seek a better life at whatever cost.

Let us mourn with her. Malvo is also our child, a son of our soil, let us pray for him and the many other children whose parents have chosen this path to seeking a better life for them. No one can determine whether its right or wrong, the fact is it will continue for a long time to come. Lets hope and pray that the conditions which create the need to seek better elsewhere will dissipate if not disappear.

I am etc,

SHELLY LAWSON

shannjm@hotmail.com

Wellington Drive

Kingston 6

'Via Go-Jamaica'