Jamaicarunnings Serial- "the Girl from the Lane"

The Girl from the Lane Installment # 9

Jamaica sits just a little over 90 miles from the southern tip of the island of Cuba in the West Indies and just over 400 miles south-east of the Florida peninsula. Since the popular uprising in Cuba in 1959 that saw the ousting of Batista buy Fidel Castro and the adoption of a Communist ideology, the United States has subjected the island and its Communist regime to a range of economic and political sanctions designed to isolate the regime, spread social discontent and bring it to its knees. In 1976, the Communist revolution that saw to the ascension of Fidel Castro to political power would only have been 17 years old. The United States political interests were keen to prevent the spread of this Communist influence in the Caribbean region. The region formed part of the non-aligned grouping in a world shaped by the “Cold War” between “East” led by the Soviet Union and “West” led by the United States of America. Jamaica’s populist Prime Minister- Michael Manley was Chairman of the Non-Aligned group and spoke out in support of his friend and island neighbour Fidel Castro. The wave of discontent created by this un-sanctioned alliance between the two provided a huge platform for the political rise of Edward Seaga in Jamaica.
Playing on the Communist bogey sentiments that prevailed at the time, and ably supported by western interests, Seaga trounced Manley at the polls in late 1980 to win the seat of government. The platform on which Seaga won his electoral victory was “To make money jingle in the pockets of ordinary Jamaicans” and to “Bring order and decency back to the Jamaican society.”

This was the socio-political setting of Jamaica in the mid -1980’s. Most of the business people who had held back their investments in the island in the latter part of the 1970’s were now prepared to re-invest in Jamaica. This provided a period of hope for hard-working Jamaicans, many of whom made personal investments in developing themselves.

The end of the Diploma programme meant a few extra hours with her children in the evenings after work for Sheila. The course programme had been quite hectic and Sheila told herself that she would use the opportunity now afforded to catch up on her sleep. This would be even more fruitful during the summer break as she would not have to be up as early for the remaining thirteen weeks in order to catch the bus into town. How she hated having to chase the buses in the mornings. How she wished she had a car. This however seemed like wishful thinking. But it was a pleasing thought after all. She would be able to easily handle the rigorous commute to school after work in the evenings. She would be able to take her children on outings on weekends. The more she thought of it the more real the thoughts became. That was when Sheila decided that this summer she would learn to drive. After all, you needed to have a drivers licence to be able to operate a motor vehicle.

That Saturday morning Sheila paid a visit to the supermarket parking lot at Newlands in Portmore. It was well known that the Portmore driving instructors went through their paces with their clients. Many provided what was known as the “Short Course” where for Ja$6,000.00 a Private drivers license could be had in a matter of six weeks. The client would be given 10 lessons behind the wheel at a cost of Ja$600.00 per one hour lesson. A fee of Ja.$5000.00 was to be paid to the contact at the Examination Depot and you would be a licenced driver. It was no wonder there were so many road accidents. Most of these people never faced the examiner. They simply signed the forms with what passed for them as a signature and went to the nearest Tax Collectorate to pick up their licence. Most would never be able to say what was contained on the forms. This was Jamaica.
Sheila was not prepared to participate in such schemes. She was determined to do this correctly. “The proper way” as her mother would say. Furthermore, what kind of example would she be setting for her children? A handful of these instructors actually followed the rules and offered the correct or “Long Course.” Sheila opted for the “Long Course.”

The company Notice Board usually contained general communications from Personnel Department, The Sports club, as well as inter-departmental correspondence that would be of information value to members of staff. It was Margie (generally regarded as the department’s mouthpiece) who made the others aware of the vacancy in the company’s Marketing Department for a Marketing Assistant. Without hesitation Sheila crafted her application to the Personnel Department for the position. The job requirements were for candidates with a Business Administration background and possession of a valid driver’s licence, both of which were already in her hands. All she needed was a chance to sit with the personnel representative. The chance came a few weeks later.