Today was my first day of work at the Ministry of Health! I thought I would give you a sense of where it is. On the map on the right, you will see five red circles that roughly make up an "M" shape. The general rule is that you don't venture into the M. In fact, I was told that U.S. diplomats are forbidden from entering the M region. The University is far from the M (around the water, top right), and New Kingston (the trendy region) is just above the M. Where is my work, you might ask? At the little "A" bubble... right on the water... in the middle of the forbidden M.So my adventure today down to "downtown" was far more eye-opening than my time in Kingston thus far. The poverty in the region is clearly visible, from the shantyish housing to the shabbily dressed people. The Ministry of Health is within a compound, however, surrounded by palm trees and on the water - you would never know that the area around it is so poor. In fact, the neighborhood to the left of the "A" was where all the madness occurred recently with the infamous Jamaican drug lord. Anyways, don't worry parents, within the confines of the government building it is very safe!
I really like the group that I'll be working with! Everyone is very charismatic and loves talking about the things to do in Jamaica! And everyone is so smart! They seem to really be passionate about the health care field, and making the proper care accessible to Jamaicans. I will be sitting with the health care economist, who is going to help me design my cost-analysis model. Then I will work with all the other health units to gather the necessary data. All of my work will fall under the family planning unit, who is running the broader HPV/cervical cancer study.
Fun facts of the day:
1. "Ya mon" is not slang in Jamaica. It is used in conversations between very senior professionals.
2. Jamaican MBA students do not slack off. I have a project due in 11 weeks. My team wants to start on Saturday.
3. Avocados are called "pears." Tomatoes are called "salad." Rice and beans are called "rice and peas." Luckily, soda is not called pop.
4. We got a pamphlet today on the "Jamaican language," also known as patois. It sounds like grammatically incorrect English. Luckily, it has a section on how to get rid of unwanted attention in patois (I kid you not):
" Mi aarait bai myself a mi no niid yuur kompini"
Translation: I am fine by myself and I do not need your company.
Jamaica is trying to make patois an official language. Sign me up.
Anita, your patois was sooo cracking me up. Girl u r learning fast, I forgot to teach u a little something here, but I see u r holding ur own :-). Now u will just have to learn to spell it a little better. Patois is also known as 'broken english', so grammatically incorrect English is totally right....LOLOL!!!
ReplyDelete" Mi aarait bai myself a mi no niid yuur kompini"
ReplyDeleteTranslation: I am fine by myself and I do not need your company.
Correct translation: Me alright by myself, and I me no need your company. (Though yours is grammatically correct, while the real translation isn't :-).....Good job Missy!
Interesting. I speak Patois too but mine is broken french. I guess we islanders do have a lot in common after all.
ReplyDeleteI want to learn too! =)
ReplyDeleteWha' a gwaan! Patois(ie Jamaican creole) is English based but, there are certainly very strong West African influences, among other influences. The pronounciation and vocabulary are very different from English despite the heavy reliance on English words.
ReplyDelete