Hilary Robertson-Hickling

In the week that we mark Labour Day we need to recognise that as individuals, organisations and a nation we must reinvent ourselves to survive.

I was pleased to hear Erna Brodber speak of our "becoming free" through the medium of her recently launched book The Rainmaker's Mistake and through her life's work of transforming herself and her community through the application of her intellect and creative imagination. If Jamaica and Jamaicans could collectively engage in the process of reinvention then we could succeed in transforming our society.

Reinvention requires imagination and a vision of how else we could see ourselves and become. When Worthy Park, a well known sugar estate, becomes a rum distiller it has reinvented itself. The long history of the sugar estate as a place of production, exploitation, employment, economic and social significance has been well documented but the new possibilities in the 21st century where ethanol production and new uses of sugar cane can and must be explored. The company is also collaborating with another company which has been absorbed in a global giant which is the largest seller of fine alcoholic beverages in the world.

Focus on skills

The people who work on the sugar estate also have to reinvent themselves as the notion of unskilled or low skilled agricultural labour is now gone. Anyone who is watching the immigration debate in the U.S.A. and elsewhere will have heard that there will be afocus on skills not family ties in the future. Countries which once wanted cheap unskilled agricultural labourers will no longer welcome such migrants in the future.

Traditionally, we have seen ourselves as hewers of wood and drawers of water. Perhaps we could reinvent this as a country where we replant the trees and find ways of purifying the potable water that we used to be famous for producing. The possibilities of environmental activities must ensure that a healthy balance in nature's delicate ecosystem be preserved and developed for generations yet unborn. Perhaps we could transform servitude to world class service and produce a fine workforce capable of operating well in the competitive world of today. I recently heard of the story of Burberry, a fine British clothier that was moving its operations from a depressed area in Wales to somewhere in China as the cost of production was much lower there. This is the pressure that people, companies and countries face every day and it seems that it will only get worse.

Prepare for change

If we do not prepare for change it will overwhelm us. There are many ways in which we could reinvent ourselves. We could become a country which develops and demonstrates conflict management strategies which do not result in domestic, political and tribal murder. We could become the fitness capital of the world if we developed the nutritional, athletic and health prowess as well as our love of competition.

We could do many things but we have to apply respect for ourselves and our ancestors' efforts including their mistakes, and determine what and how we want to change and then just do it.