Ten years ago, I would not have believed someone if they had told me that there was such a thing as "too much travel." I have rethought that one. The last few months of my life have contained too much travel by far. I am glad that this season of particularly hectic travel is coming to an end with these few days in Kingston.
There was a time when every trip I took involved lots of reading, research, and preparation. I crammed a few moments of sightseeing into every conceivable minute. I've changed a good bit since then, but I am committed to not letting travel become routine. While the excitement of "going fast" on an airplane that I saw in Leah and Sophia last week is not really part of my regular travel routine, I still marvel when a 747 rumbles down the runway and somehow lifts into the air. I still am entertained by funny, highly artistic hand-painted signs in Africa. I continue to see both the incredible diversity of this world and our inherent similarities. The list of cities I've toured in the meeting-free early hours of the morning remains substantial. And I do love food in all of its cultural forms. I'm learning that I'm becoming a bit famous for my culinary adventurousness in the small circles in which I move.
Lunch today was at a popular cafeteria-style fast-food shop in a commercial district of New Kingston. The lines were long, the surroundings spartan, and the daily offerings listed on a board above the counter. There was an "express lane" for those interested only in Jamaican "patties" and "loaves." Patties are savory baked meat pies in a flaky yellow-tinted crust. Loaves are a baked yeast-based pie filled with meat or vegetables, often the popular Caribbean green callaloo. The heavier dishes consisted of meats and vegetables serves with "rice and peas," a mix of rice and kidney beans. I had a spicy curried mutton, stewed with the bones, peppers, and spices until tender. The influence of West African, Lebanese, and Indian cuisines are evident.
Although I've traveled to distant and remote places visiting theological schools, this is my first visit to Jamaica and to the whole Caribbean region. I am here visiting the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology and conducting the fourth of six research visits for my dissertation. Kingston is a city unlike any I have encountered. It nestles beneath four hills at the foot of the Blue Mountains along the southeastern coast of the island. Unlike many cities in the world, the poor tend to be concentrated in the "old city" at the center, near the waterfront, while more prosperous suburbs climb the hills. I'm told that this is due in part to the violence that characterized the city in the 1970s, causing many who could to escape upward. The historical center today is a slowly reviving place, filled with scarred-yet-sturdy colonial architecture and a seeming resurgence of commercial activities and development. One year ago, a major military operation closed the entire center city while government forces sought to capture a leading criminal figure. The press is filled with reports of how the murder rate has declined 40% over the course of the last year. Yet as in so many places, the underlying social causes of conflict remain and fester beneath the surface.
One of the things I love about my job is the ability to interact meaningfully with institutions that are seeking to make a difference. CGST is an organization with deep roots, where the president can speak at length on the continuing influence of slavery and emancipation in the 19th century on family structures in Jamaica today. It is a place that has become a leading center for counseling of married couples, traumatized children, and victims of violence. Like so many theological schools, it is trying to find its way in a rapidly changing environment, learning that models that worked even five years ago are not working so well today. Change is the theological educator's constant companion. I'm not an advocate of change for the sake of change. Rather, I long to see institutions that have a good sense of who they are, who are able to value what has worked well in the past, but who are able to find new and creative ways to strengthen their work in a way that has a real impact of learning in church and society. Institutional development, board governance, curriculum design, faculty development and such things are hardly exciting subjects. Yet I am more and more convinced that it is these kinds of "deep change" interactions within institutions that helps to bring about positive change in society in the long-term. It is not a quick fix. It is not easy. Engagement in such questions can at times be a glaring reminder of the fragility of humans. Yet it is a work based in hope, a sense that true education and transformative learning can be restorative, peace-giving, and life-changing.
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