Land of My Parents
by Shirley Yarde

My first trip to JA was 4 years ago in early January. My parents and older brothers and sisters were born there, so I grew up listening to the fascinating stories of life in St Andrew and longed to experience it myself.

I was not prepared for the 'I'm finally home!' kind of feeling, after not really being or feeling at home in England. I shed tears of joy on those plane steps as I breathed in my first breath of Jamaican air, felt the heat envelope me and looked across the plains. My first thoughts were, 'this is my parents homeland. I'm home!'

I had the most wonderful 2 weeks of my life! I learnt very quickly that you must never, ever spent 2 weeks or less in JA, it goes too soon.

I am planning my second trip now for this year and intend to stay as many weeks as I can squeeze in, so I can see the real Jamaica (not the tourist part, which is so predicable and quite frankly, boring!).

Jamaica is my country (even though I wasn’t born there) because this is where feels like home to me; this is where my future was being formed, in the minds of my parents.

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