Hazel Louise Vaz, O.D., Teacher and Founder of Vaz Preparatory School
Jamaican educator and philanthropist Hazel Louise Chaplin Vaz was born on July 25, 1914, in Morant Bay, St. Thomas, the youngest daughter of Arnold and Caroline Chaplin. She attended Wesley Primary School and Wolmer’s Girls School and Tutorial College. As a child, she admired her older sister Sybil and wanted to become a nurse like […]
Jamaican Hall Of Fame: Horticulturist Hedley Edwards
In 1937 Jamaican Horticulturist Hedley Edwards founded his beloved Ardastra Gardens in The Bahamas. The Ardastra Gardens include an extensive array of exotic flowers and birds. Mr. Edwards named the garden Ardastra, which is the Spanish word for “Striving towards the stars,” because he felt it depicted a utopia where one could restore one’s spirit […]
Missing The Culture and Meeting The “Mother-in-law” : Memoirs Of An Illegal Alien Part 17
Work was going very well but the signs of Jamaica made me homesick. I remember one day walking home from work and a guy walking in front of me with a boom box on his shoulder playing reggae loudly. It was a tape with dancehall music the type of music you would not hear on […]
How to Play Jamaican Style Dominoes
Jamaicans play “draw” style dominoes. There are many variations to the “draw” style. Jamaican style dominoes are intense and a sturdy table is needed in most cases as players slam the dominoes. Six love (6 to 0) is one type of game Jamaicans love to play. In this game you must win six rounds. In […]
The Price of Bargaining – Letters from a Jamaican in China
Read any guidebook for China and it will tell you that you have to bargain for most things here. They are wrong. The truth is you have to bargain mercilessly for everything. Since western fashion is limited here it’s not uncommon to have a friend with the same shoes or shirt as you. It’s not […]
Jamaican Hall Of Fame: Leonie Forbes
Leonie Forbes a.k.a “Ms. Lee” is Jamaica’s First Lady of Theatre and Film. She studied Theatre at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She has acted in several film roles and has appeared in pantomimes put on by the LTM National Pantomime in Jamaica, West Indies. Ms. Forbes was also a T.V. personality […]
Famous Jamaicans: Cindy Breakspeare
A former Ms. Jamaica, Ms. World and a recording artist, Cindy Breakspeare was born on October 24, 1954, in Toronto, Canada. She migrated to Jamaica when she was four years old. Ms. Breakspeare attended the Immaculate Conception Academy and shortly after graduation, she became romantically linked with Robert Nestor Marley. In 1975, she entered the […]
Glorifying God And Searching For My Roots In Ghana
Glorifying God and Searching for my roots Mah-jue Good Morning Ackwaaba Welcome Medaase Thank you I left LAX for Tamale on Tuesday 7/12/05 along with Pastor Wayland Wong, Sarah Lau and 6 pieces of luggage in tow. Pastor Wayland’s United Premier card took us to the head of lines and the flight to Frankfurt […]
Memories of Back a Yaad
Hole Im! Hole Im! Teef, Teef! A union of voices shouted. Even Mame got into the act, screaming her lungs out without knowing who is the culprit. If a ebba ketch im ye see. I almost ask what the hell y’u think you can do, but did not as that would be deemed impolite. Poor […]
A Jamaican Big Up
big up yute maneveryting strongirie to di familyseh hi to you mami how is you gurlfrenshe pregnant againahhhh….I see you don’t playwell, I comming home one day tormented at night I long for the flightand it will soon comeand we’ll have much funriding in the sunevery single dayexploring the island from negril to mobay so […]