Category Global health and disparities

FMM 8 12 16 Jamaica Sweet!

“Lovely dainty Spanish needle With your yellow flower and white, Dew bedecked and softly sleeping, Do you think of me to-night?”~ Claude McKay.   For many years, I was totally loyal to Air Jamaica.  I refused to fly on any other airline when I flew home to Jamaica.  It was not just the beautifully sleek […]

FMM 7 22 16 Sound and Fury

“Or being hated, don’t give way to hating…”~Rudyard Kipling (‘If’). My father used to hate crowded places.  He did not go happily (if he went at all) to fairs or festivals, crowds of people and loud noises.  I tend to react the same way to multiple people talking at the same time, it seems confusing […]

FMM 7 15 16 Power Positive

“Love’s in need of love today.”~Stevie Wonder. The father of my children was a complex man.  He could argue all day on a variety of topics: sports, politics, injustice, you name it.  What animated him was the history of injustice perpetrated on Africa and people of African descent world over.  He was not a fan […]

FMM 7 8 16 He Ain’t Heavy

“Each man’s joy is joy to me; each man’s grief is my own.”~Joan Baez.  When I was a child I held my (only, older) brother in high esteem.  I basically thought he was the expert on everything.  He broke my heart when he told me the truth about Santa Claus (Father Christmas in our tradition).  […]

FMM 7 1 16 Look both ways!

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”~Theodore Roosevelt. Things and times have changed.  When I was no more than 7 years old, I was entrusted with an awesome responsibility: I had to travel home from school unsupervised.  This was in Manchester, a busy city in England.  Once a […]

FMM 6 24 16 In the Dark

“Common sense in an uncommon degree is what the world calls wisdom” ~Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  “Use your common sense, child!”  I remember being told this when I was young.  I imagine it was said in exasperation by one or other of my parents, probably in response to some obvious question I had asked.  Perhaps a […]

FMM 6 17 16 One Blood

“Fighting against isms and schisms”~ Robert Nesta Marley. Jamaica is a land of diversity.  Some are not prepared for the range of colors and races that co-exist in that small island.  The country’s motto is: “Out of many, one People”.  The outward appearance may reflect an origin in India, China, Africa, the Middle East, or […]

FMM 4 15 16 One Spark

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”~Aristotle Onassis. I once met a young woman who was too perky.  No matter the time of day, or the circumstances she was upbeat and chipper for no reason.  So annoying!  It wasn’t until I got to know her better that I […]

FMM 3 4 16 Grit in the System

“To love a place is not enough. We must find ways to heal it.”~Robin Wall Kimmerer. Nothing is ever completely bad.  There is always something to be learned.  I find myself at times mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, enjoying random photos and thoughts, stopping to smile at a cartoon or an uplifting thought.  Whenever I find […]

FMM 2 19 16 Productive Procrastination

“Imagination only comes when you privilege the subconscious, when you make delay and procrastination work for you.” ~Hilary Mantel. At work we often complain about the new generation, a set of young people who have no patience, no ability to wait for results.  As soon as they submit an assignment or complete an exam they […]