TABLE 2.2: SAMPLE OF COMPARISON GROUP MOTHERS AND CHILDREN Name
Occupation
Child’s name
1. Heather
Unemployed
Nutmeg
2. Lilac
Unemployed
Thyme
3. Hyacinth
Unemployed/hairdresser
Oregano
(part–time) 4. Gerbera
Higgler/ICI*
Cayenne
5. Begonia
Higgler
Rosemary
6. Petunia
Secretary
Saffron
7. Tulip
Unemployed/ Runs a bar
Chamomile
8. Zinnia
Basic School** Teacher
Fevergrass
9. Marigold
School Ancillary Worker
Spearmint
Bar Tender
Capsicum
10. Jasmine
* Higgler or ICI stands for ‘Informal Commercial Importer’ a government category for taxation purposes so that persons who buy goods abroad and bring them to sell in Jamaica will pay import duties. **Basic School is the term used in Jamaica for preschools. They cater to children aged 4 to 6 years; about 80 percent of children in that age group attend them. They are part of the Ministry of Education’s Early Childhood programme.
daughter of Buttercup. Vanilla lives in the United States with her father’s family and arrived in late summer to visit her mother. Efforts were made to have Vanilla’s teacher complete and mail the school performance response on her return to the USA, but this was not received.
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‘Geography’ of the interviews With the resolve that once a mother was interviewed, her child would also be found and interviewed (wherever that child may be), the researcher was led on some interesting paths to complete the samples for both the TMP and comparison groups. Visits spanned the parishes of Kingston, St. Catherine, Portland and Clarendon.
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May Pen, Clarendon, where the RuFamSo office is located, is a town with adequate roads. On the other hand, the school attended by Bay Leaf, son of Camelia, is located in a remote rural district in the hills of St. Catherine. Classes stopped as the faces of 300 children and their teachers were focused on this strange leydi cum in cyar to talk to Bay Leaf and Bay Leaf teacha (one student’s version of my visit in Jamaican Creole, which interpreted says, A lady has come in a car to speak with Bay Leaf and his teacher). By the same token, Frankfield, in the hills of Clarendon, is a picturesque, lush and beautiful part of the parish.