Ethnography

I went to Jamaica on mission trip for spring break March 8-16. While we were there we actually got to stay in the house of some Jamaicans. Living in their homes and around them for a whole week, you learn a lot about their country. I interview O’Shane Jarrett from May Pen, Jamaica. He has never been to the United States before. He attends preaching school in Kingston, Jamaica and he’s 22 years old. Getting to talk to O’Shane helped me learn a lot about how he views the culture he grew up in, compared to how I view it coming from the American culture. The culture in Jamaica is very diverse. There are parts of it, like Montego Bay, that are very tourist built. It’s the beach, shopping, and hotels. But going into the heart of Jamaica where we were is the towns. You see what the culture is really like. Even the nice houses aren’t as good as American houses. Then you have the villages in the mountain, which is some of the saddest living situations I have ever seen or heard about. We got to see one house, just driving through, but O’Shane was telling me how hardly anyone in the mountains has electricity or running water. They have to use out houses and they just get used to everything else. It came as a shock to me because I can’t even imagine being without running water or electricity, but they don’t know any different. The motto of Jamaica is “out of any one person speaks volumes of our culture.” (That’s translated into English, so it may be confusing) In Jamaica, they have school just like we do. After kindergarten though, you have to pay for school. If you can’t pay, you can’t go. Secondary education, like high school, covers five years (grades seven to eleven) with an additional two years (grades twelve and thirteen) for those who want to move on to higher education. After the five-year program you get a certificate but if you complete the additional two years students may take the GCE which is an A-level exam and the standard criterion used for entry into university-level studies.
In Jamaica they listen to a prime minister and they have a democratic system. The primary religion is Christian, there are however a few alterations in comparison to church of Christ practices it's more in-tuned with Afro-centric tenets. The drum and the cymbals and singing are the main elements as for clarity on the political system. They have an election every four years. In this process they elect a prime minister