Miami – Christmas, coming as it does at the end of the year, naturally prompts us to reflect upon the joys and the sadnesses of the year immediately past.
Perhaps no more thrilling victory occurred for us this year than Asafa Powell’s world record 100 metre sprint in 9.77 seconds at Athens. It reminded Jamaicans across the globe of the greatness of which we are capable.
We have also made our contribution on the world stage in 2005 through our country’s able, year-long chairmanship of the G-77, U.N. group which promotes economic and technical cooperation among developing nations. With a membership of 132 nations including Brazil, China and India, it is the largest Third World body affiliated with the United Nations.
At the regional level, Jamaica was successful, along with its Caribbean partners in inaugurating the Caribbean Court of Justice, headquartered in Trinidad and Tobago.
Jamaica and its overseas communities also celebrated, for the first time, Jamaica Diaspora Day on 16 June 2005. In South Florida, the commemorative activities went particularly well, as both the symposium and conference held in connection with this special annual event had overwhelming numbers of attendees.
In the Diaspora we also celebrated the successes of our literary artists such as Andrea Levy and Zadie Smith, who are both highly acclaimed British women writers of Jamaican parentage, and Christopher John Farley, a Jamaican novelist who also serves as a senior writer for Time magazine.
Even as Jamaica and its Diaspora experienced glory, so too was it rocked by the devastating effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. Some of us have lost homes and loved ones as a result of the terrible wrath of nature. Thankfully, Jamaicans have reached out, sometimes across the Caribbean Sea, to be of assistance to those of us in need and the outpouring of gratitude has been as overwhelming as the generosity which was demonstrated.
In this regard, On behalf of the Consulate General of Jamaica, I wish to thank those individuals and organisations resident in the Jamaican communities of the Southern United States for the selfless contributions they make of their time and resources to supporting and uplifting Jamaica and Jamaica Overseas.
Thank you, as well, for the yeoman service rendered by our honorary consuls in Houston, Atlanta, Nassau and Grand Cayman, Mrs. Beverly Ford, Mr. Vin Martin, Mr. Patrick Hanlan and Captain Robert Hamaty, respectively; by the Jamaica Diaspora Advisory Board Representative, Mrs. Dahlia Walker Huntington; and, in memoriam, by Mrs. Einez Yap, a pillar of the Jamaican business and philanthropic community of South Florida who passed away who passed away in May 2005.
As we celebrate Christmas, let us remain mindful that the reason for the season is the birth of Jesus Christ and that, in his coming, He brought with Him an eternal message and example of love for all humankind. In His example, let us embrace our responsibility to care for the less fortunate and, in so doing, to create a more harmonious Jamaican Diaspora and a more peaceful Jamaica.
On behalf of the Consulate General of Jamaica, I take this opportunity to wish a blessed Christmas and a rewarding New Year.
God bless you and God bless Jamaica.
C.P. Ricardo Allicock
Consul General
