Montego
Bay, Jamaica |
Haile
Selassie Iniversity of Higher Reason |
Summer
2008 |
Montego
Bay, Jamaica |
Haile
Selassie Iniversity of Higher Reason |
Summer
2008 |
Haile High needs funds to expand its work in Jamaica. With five new schools in four parishes, the time is right to help make our proven concepts available to more locations. In our eight years of operation, we have never begged money; nor do we intend to now. However, we have some exceptionally unusual and exclusive premiums to offer those who have asked about contributing to our school. Here they are:
An exciting futbol match that Haile High arranged when tensions arose between the Police and Rastafarians in 2005. Never viewed before, this hard fought (and sometimes hilarious) game video is a must to anyone interested in futbol, Jamaica, and the quelling aspects of settling old disputes on the green turf of Jarrett Park in Montego Bay.
This DVD is offered as a premium for donors sending $20 or more to:
Lynn Abbott
153 Summer Street
Acton, MA 10720
(For addresses outside the continental U.S., please add $5 for shipping and handling. Allow 3 to 4 weeks for delivery).
The Haile Lion
And more exciting premiums to come …
The evening before the last class was held, Kali and Queen Sam sat out on the porch enjoying the Queen Menen Tarry. In recent months it had once again become a source of conflict. Now the next day Joe, a sign painter, would be coming to paint the wall. We had chosen the words and graphics but it would be up to Joe to bring our message alive. How this splendid creation was accomplished, Jamaican style, is another story! Stay tuned.
Tamesha joins Teboh and Palawas with the Binghi beat. All of our students are taught the heartbeat that is so essential to Jamaican music. Her Daddy is a Rastaman, so she is a natural on the subject… and loves to play at every opportunity.
Administrator of Haile High, Opal Kentish enjoys the rhythm of the Binghi Beat while Joseph paints the school’s mural on the garden wall. The man on her left is Ruddy Perry of Cousins Cove, who has opened his plantation there to our satellite school. His daughter Tasheika and wife Fern are its teachers.
On 14 May, Kali, Queen Sam and Cleo closed the door on the CottonTree location of Haile High for the last time. All the equipment, supplies and structure that had been its home for eight years was now in the hands of its students. It’s up to each of them to keep their part of Haile High active. Together we have learned a lot more than how to turn on a computer. Together we have built Haile High from a dream to a success. Now we are taking another step. Here are the caretakers and their missions.
Opal Kentish has been Administrator for Haile High since its inception. She will continue this role as she takes on the added responsibility for communicating with all the branches. She is ably assisted in this by Cleo Reid, Director of Curriculum. Together they will oversee the educational process at each school and conduct classes inna Opal yard on Saturdays.
Opal, a former shopkeeper, had a chance to relive those days as she tended the Kali Mart yard sale before the move.
Many of our students come from just up the road from Haile High in Flankers. Sisters Aneika and Veneika Smith will run the school there and hold classes in their new classroom on Saturdays. Both girls are talented in the visual and musical arts. Logically most of Haile High’s musical equipment befell to their care. They will soon be featured on YouTube in “Jamaica Phone Call”; a video shot at Haile High just before we moved.
Sashane Brown is the administrator of the first remote branch of Haile High. She holds classes on she Granny front porch. Bullet Tree is a two hour trek from Montego Bay. Maintaining communication with Haile High Central in Long Bay will continue to be a problem. However, Sash’s faith and determination always seems to find a way to overcome such problems.
Haile
High’s interest in Cousins Cove began with an
introduction to Derval, a deaf mute living there. Several
visits from Kali, Queen Sam and Kimone (our resident
sign language expert, pictured on the right) soon
had Derval communicating with his friends, Fern, Rudy
and Tashika Perry. This has been helped considerably
since Kimone and her two sisters (one of whom is deaf
mute) developed their own version of Patwah sign language.
Fern and Tashika will be administrator and teacher
since Haile High brought computers to this lovely
location.
Seventeen
years ago Kali first went to Accompong at the request of the
town to video record their historical celebration of winning
their independence from Great Britain in 1736.
During the
three months he was there, Kali stayed with Rubber
Cauley, who kept a small store in the center of town.
While he has retired from shopkeeping, The building
is still there and now houses the Accompong branch
of Haile High. Rubber’s grandson, Shevan, is the teacher.
With the opening of the branch in Accompong, Haile High has taken the first step toward its ultimate goal of international schools all over the Third World. Stay tuned for more…the next step is Indonesia!
After hearing about a language expert’s explanation of why
Patwah is a better language than English (easier to understand
and therefore learn, clearer at communicating ideas and the
verbal part of the Jamaican culture) they decided that we
need to be more active in enlightening the world about Patwah.
Toward that aim, a writing assignment was developed, here
are the results.
Assignment: What have you learned at Haile High that has
meaning for you? Answer in Patwah and then translate into
English.
Since mi cum a Haile High mi learn how fe use a computa an nuff more ting. Haile High all teach mi fe swim a sea. A seven year since mi daya nuff thing mi get fe use computa a Haile High teach mi. Tanks to Haile High. |
Haile High gives me the chance to send e-mails to my friends overseas. When I came to Haile High it was first time using a computer. Haile High teaches a lot more things like Spanish, Sign Language, Art and Craft, swimming, drumming and much more. Haile High is a gateway to greater opportunity. |
When mi fus Cuma Haile High mi learn how to use a computa and how to use the keyboard an ya nowwa mi love most then mi teach how use a computa. And mi have mi own a class mi self. Class nice yo see. Mi teach a likkle girl an im name Tamesha. Mi se class nic yo sey mi love class. |
When I first came to Haile High I learn how to use a computer and how to use a keyboard and you know what I love most I have my own class and my class is very nice. I teach a lille girl and her name is Tamesha. I love class. |
Since mi cum a computa class mi learn bout fear*, all type of language and how fi use di computa an mi draw som tings and write som letta an nuff more tings. Mi love mi computa class. Mi float pawn mi back a swimming class. Di wata did cool afta dat wi go inna heat room in der did Hot |
Since I came to computer class and learn about fear*, all types of languages and how to use the computer and I draw some things and write some letters and a lot more things. I love my computer class. I float on my back at swimming class. The water was cold after that we go in the Heat Room. It was hot there. |
*Fear is not a subject at Haile High, however, we instruct that it’s an impediment to proper education. For more about fear, click here.
Conditions at the Cotton Tree home of Haile High have become so intolerable that the staff has decided to move. Under the constant bombardment of, noise, pollutants and intrusions, our happy home has become a hazard to the health and well-being of its students and teachers.
Here's a view of the destruction and inconvenience at the Cotton Tree, created by the coming of the new highway in Montego Bay. No consideration was given to the scores of businesses that have been isolated by the coming of the new road. Highway planning in Jamiaca, like most other projects, is non-existant. The new highway has already been named, “Murder Road” by those who must travel on it. Coke Heads and drunks run their cars at outrageous speeds, disregarding the lives of those who walk along the sides of it, and of those who daily use this high-speed “super highway.” As they say in Maine, “You can’t get there from here.”
Located just a few hundred yards from Sangster International Airport, and a hundred feet from Jamaica's busiest highway, our school is immersed in carcinogens and constant noise. When the wind isn't blowing in from the airport and highway, it is coming in from inland sources of bauxite mining, and burning rubbish from nearby automobile agencies. Adding to these unhealthy aggravations, the noise levels at the Cotton Tree have risen to decibels that far exceed standards set as safe for human ears. Constant noise from car alarms and horns blares throughout the day, and at night a dance hall bar rocks until 3am. Noise filth and despair fill the air at was once a beautiful setting.
Kali has been a resident at the former hotel for over 20 years. In the past seven years he has given his condo over to the school that he and his wife founded...a school that teaches computer skills to the handicapped. Kali remarked to this reporter, "It is no longer a viable location to carry on our work. Rather than trying to maintain the plumbing, electrical and structural erosion of the old hotel, we have decided to get out. This place has become a nightmare!" It is time to move."
This is a view of the phone and electrical mess that makes every day and night an endless mess of crashed computers, inaudible communications and constant outages of power and water.
Kernie Wright, a member of the Accompong Welcome Home Committee, recently visited Haile High in Mobay. In a discussion with Kaliflowa, he offered land and a place to build a new facility for Haile High on his property. In 1992 Kali lived in Accompong Town while he digitally archived what remained of the Maroon Culture there. His video, The Accompong Story will be released on Treaty Day in 2009.
This was the name given to Haile High’s garden. It was named after Haile Selassie’s wife, and was treasured as a symbol of love and caring for our environment. For years we have fought to keep this one remaining spot of the nature that once abounded here at the Cotton Tree. Two months ago our sanctuary was smashed by the arrival of a container belonging to the neighboring car rental agency.
It remains unfixed. The original cost to Haile High for the wall would have run our school for three months. Now it sits in disrepair waiting for the day when it will all be bulldozed to make room for more cars.
Many of the trees and plants were planted over 20 years ago when Kali first took residence at the Cotton Tree. Even Hurricane Ivan was unable to destroy this little spot of beauty. Ivan did manage to blow our Ethiopian apple tree into a 40 degree tilt upon its neighboring lime tree, which still supports it to this day. They get along very well and each year the apple tree sheds its blossoms to create a soft, vermillion carpet on the earth below.
| Our little garden also contains a plum tree, a sweet sop tree and a recently planted banana tree which, after two years, is finally yielding its first fruit. Here is the first bunch of bananas that our tree has yielded since being planted in 2006. Now if no one steals them, we will be able to enjoy them on the Day of Commencement 2008. |  |
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Queen Sam and Cleo look on as Veneika checks Haile High's banana tree. It won't be long before the fruit will be ripe enough to add to the Saturday luncheon menu at the school. |
| Here is a cluster of Ixora, growing in the garden of the Queen Menen Tarry. |  |
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Though heavily damaged by Hurricane Ivan, Haile High’s Ethiopian Apple tree still bears abundant fruit; albeit somewhat small in size. This is probably caused by the tree having lost half of its root structure in the storm. Plants regenerate quickly after Hurricanes here. |
| Fallen apples litter the garden. They seem weak and don’t stay fastened until fruition, as they once did before the damage. Small and soft, yet delicious. |  |
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Among the many other trees in the garden, our plum tree is a favorite. This year it is bearing plums in greater abundance than ever before. Other trees in our garden are: Sweet Sop, Sour Sop, and Lime. |
| Ras Barry lends his expertise to the surfacing of our garden wall. It will soon be painted and enscribed by the students in preparation for the video we have been working on for the past seven years. Stay tuned. |  |
| Jezuan, Kali and Sashane at Bullet Tree, Westmoreland where Kali had driven to deliver another computer to Sashane’s school to replace one that had been damaged by flooding. Click the picture to see more about Bullet Tree … |  |
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| Okeya's first visit to Haile High | Sharlene is deaf but that didn't stop her from learning at Haile High since Kimone can sign in Patwah! |
| Tamesha helps new students: Sharlene and Okeya. |  |
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| How soon they grow up! Above, Vaneka at seven on her first day at Haile High. Right, Vaneka at 11 ready for the new school year. |
Everisha
Hood; age eight, on the first day of school.  |
 Another hard day at Haile High and new friends made! |
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Roxanne is pulling a 95 at her “Technology High School”. She is very interested in photography, so Kali began teaching her Photoshop. She caught on real quick; the others following with curiousity. |
Vaneka,
Sasheena and Roxanne look on as Opal instructs Yanice.
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 We put Vaneka to work teaching John's grandson, Ricardo, how to swim. |
When Queen Sam and I conceived of a school whose precepts had never been tried, we had no idea how effective the results would become… Haile High was designed as a working model of what could be accomplished with a sparsity of funds to achieve effective results in an area that is denied children of the poor in Jamaica. It is a model that could sweep the world, if allowed.
In the beautiful culture of "Patwah", which is the backbone of this great nation, lies a hidden command that “one must teach the other.” This is how Haile High is structured: We teach one young student about computing (or one of the other subjects in our curriculum) and she turns around and teaches ten others…all of whom had a slim chance to learn such skills before the advent of Haile High. She teaches them in her language and the results are startling. Even classes in our Dorothea Simmons School of English are taught in patwah…not by route; but by love and understanding. And yes, teachers from abroad are taught patwah as a prerequisite to what they may contribute here when they come to help.
The government of Jamaica does not support education. There are no school buses. Libraries are small and sparse. The schools that poor children might attend are secular and charge tuition. Those who control education are hell-bent to abolish the original culture (a culture referenced as the language they term "patois"…another foreign word)! It is a travesty of common sense that the foreign language of English be forced upon a culture whose resident language is, by far, more fluent, meaningful, and simple in its structure.
Down goes a breadfruit tree that Kali helped plant 20 years ago, as space is made for more cars at the rental agency that now engulfs HaileHigh. The sad part is the necessity of the fly-by-night-mentality that pervades, when all figures indicate that Jamaica will default on its ponderous international debt, and fall into bankruptcy in early 2008. So many trees. So many children. So little care.
Throughout history the first goal of a conquering entity, when it invades another culture, is to abolish that culture's language and force upon its subjects a new language that is virtually impossible to master. I speak and write and teach English. I can testify that it is one of the dumbest and most contrived tongues in the lexicology of verbalization. Many astute scholars of English agree with that condemnation, and also foresee the difficulties that fester when a foreign language is forced upon an established culture.
Jamaica is in the throes of a commercial revolution whose strategists and investors are mostly foreign. Jamaica is ripe for this invasion from abroad. It has sold off nearly all of its natural assets to foreign control...all for the fast buck, which is quickly siphoned off the top by citizens loyal only to self gain. Students of affluent Jamaican's quickly shun their native language and strive to speak only the "proper" English of commerce…which they never fully master! (An embarrassing testimony to the indelibility of Patwah). In the wake of this egregious stampede lie the remnants of the slave culture that Jamaicans threw off in the 1800's. The present economy is so thrashed that the new enslavement works like a charm. Few laws protect those who find work, and the candy of quick credit forges the new chains that continue to make Jamaica one of the poorest and most crime ridden nations in the world.
It is not the intent of Haile High to thwart the ongoing disintegration of a once great country. That is none of our business. We are here to teach those who will be left standing later, when the ashes of misspent opportunity have cooled. Our students are taught subjects that do not grow old and obsolete. Our students are taught to use what is available, and how to pass it on to those less fortunate. Our students are taught that Love and Caring are the prime assets of survival in a world gone mad with a rampant disease called “quick gain”
Haile High is being forced to move from the location it has enjoyed for a decade. We will leave our beloved Cottontree in May and continue elsewhere. We refuse to be victims of the grim reaper of ill-gained profit. Jah will prevail!
What I had expected has come to pass. Keble & I
were having a beer on the porch when we heard some men down
below discussing the removal of the school's garden. It
was Upay (our 1st encounter), one of his lieutenants
and Mr. U's terrier; a little architect-type with a clipboard. I
let them have it and stated firmly that we were to have this
property, untouched, until I leave on the 18th of May. I
told them that we deal directly with Mrs U in Miami and that
she and my Queen made that agreement. The terrier waved
me off. I let him have it from above and had to whistle
loudly to overcome his endless edicts. Upay said we
should speak. I invited him in, gave him a Heinie and
sited him down on the porch. After some bantering, I
learned that they are getting ready to place 2 containers where
the garden is. I said that a decision to give-up the
school’s garden wasn't mine to make. He offered
to buy me out. I said that money was not the issue and gave
him the GreenPeace monologue and how if people cared about
the trees and pickney dem, the world would be a better place
to live. I further stated that the school had been working
on a music video for several years and we have records
of all the costs to date; that if they take the wall, the suite
would be very expensive. Especially, since the video
opens with the Binghi Drummers in the Garden 2 years ago, and
ends with them there again at the end…yet to be shot. That
I was here primarily to finish the video before we were out
in May. It's Berlin all over again. What's with walls? There
was also a lot of violin music about how the kids love the
trees and garden. I really laid it out. Keble was sitting
right there and heard the entire history of the school, and
a wrap-around that left Upay speechless. Upay stood for
a long time, his ponderous shape looking somberly out, over
his empire. After a while he mumbled, "I guess
we'll have to make other plans."
I gave him a tour of the school (but not before he tore his
new shirt on my razor wire)…and he was flabbergasted. He
had no idea of what we do here. After he had left, Keble
expressed how taken he was by the encounter…and totally
hip when I asked, “how big should the van be?” He
agreed that we have a good arguing point. I would trade
a mini bus for my garden. Oh, Mr sincere, Upay, said
that he had meant to speak with me earlier. How nice. The
containers I learned, are due tomorrow. In my discourse
I also mentioned the impending collapse of the Jamaican Economy,
and how well monitored internationally our web page is. We
would have to report every detail if the take-over were hostile.
So, here I sit in the study of the Founder of Haile High School,
pondering the battles I’ve fought throughout the 20 years
in Jamaica…And of the rewards that make the effort infinitesimal
in scale to the pleasure these kids have given me.
Save the trees! Save the kids. Save your ass! Christ
is coming, and he ain't coming on no donkey.
Prophesy
Kali I
Greetings
This is an update to the story that has been developing here
since Haile High was ordered out off the premises it has occupied
for the past 7 years.
“We’ll just have to make other plans” can
mean many things here on the rock…one may find that
it often contains a well-leaded clause. I still haven’t
seen Keble since the meeting with Upay. As I was wondering
if he may be in a row boat heading for Belize, the roar of
a back-hoe announced the forthcoming entertainment. So
much for my day at the beach!
All the employees at Upay’s were running around like
antennae-less bees. Cars were being moved back to where
they had been moved the day before, then removed again. It
seemed more like a ritual designed to stir-up enthusiasm for
the main bout, rather than anything constructive. And
now, here it comes, the main event, up the road!!
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Apparently no one involved in the project knew what 45 feet was, nor of the 65,000 lbs it weighed…but it came chugging up the hill on an 18 wheeler at about 9am. My batteries were charged and I was ready for combat! It would have been a shoo-in for them to have landed the container in the spot where my garden stood…had I complied. Guess what? I hadn't. And it looked like the wall would stand. But then, there was the troublesome fact that a back-hoe was standing by. If the worker ants were unable to land the container, the garden would have to go. |
| Then the fun began: It took a crew of about 12 screaming workmen all morning to get the 18 wheeler up the grade. Everything was going joyfully wrong, so I decided to pop a cold one, burn a spliff and sit back and watch the show from my porch. I have never heard so much yelling of orders and counter orders. Everyone was personally and totally in control of the shituation, as is the nature of every Jamaican…each of whom is an expert in the science of advanced confusion. | 
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Soon the truck was rendered useless as something slipped, letting the massive, steel box slide off into the gully. Then there were several rounds of fervent jacking, shoving, grinding, banging activity. It seemed like Upay might have one big turd stuck forever up his driveway. Then the back-hoe came to the rescue and with much struggle, the truck was freed from the tangled mess. Then came the arduous task of righting the container and swinging it about and dragging it into place beside Haile High's still intact garden. Noticeable was Upay's absence. Apparently he had escaped to Kingston where he was secretly managing the show via cell phone. Also missing was any sighting of Mr. U and his Gauleiter with the yellow shirt and clip-board. |
| Alas! After a long struggle, the container was finally urged into place next to the garden wall…but not before knocking down one section of blocks at the end. To show how close to the event Upay was (via satellite); before the rubble had settled, one of his henchmen had apologetically assured me that he had just spoken to Upay on the phone and that the wall would be repaired as soon as the boss returned to MoBay. My! Has the diplomacy changed here recently… |  |
So here I sit looking out at my little garden, which is now
overshadowed by a massive, blue container. In retrospect
it is the precise wall I had dreamed of since Upay began his
clamorous invasion of the Cottontree years before. It
blocks the view and noise of his industry, and provides Haile
High with the first acoustic break it’s had since we
began video taping our progress. In essence, it's just
what we needed. The bonus is the confusion and further
lack of space Upay is now suffering with his new acquisition.
The tide has changed, and that box is going to be there forever.
Of course, throughout the event, I came down from my porch
and made several forays into the confusion to take photos. Everyone
seemed courteous, for a change. Not until later, when
I looked into a mirror, did I find out why. That's when
I discovered I was wearing that shirt Buzz had swiped
from the Fed when she was a hobo in the California desert. The
one with the Patrol Agent's badge on the front and the large
round ‘United States Border Patrol’ emblem on the
back…not something I usually wear in public…especially
in hostile nations.
Love and Peace, from Paradise on a hot poker
Kaliflowa
ps It is 7am Friday and another 18 wheeler
and Container have just pulled the grade. I may have
rejoiced too soon…stay tuned
Haile High mourns the loss of a truly conscious man. Lucky Dube was murdered in Johannesburg, South Africa, at 8:30 pm, October 18, 2007. He was 43 years old. Click here for more on Lucky Dube…
Click on the photo to see Haile
High’s newest publication: ‘The Path Less
Trod’ |
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