Nicholas Alexiades

HIS480

Caribbean Immigrant Interview Transcript

Georgia Sutherland = S

Nicholas A. Alexiades = A

A: So I am interviewing Georgia Sutherland, I just wanted to go over the consent form now that we’ve
started the recording. I’ll read you the confidentiality statement, so, “your participation in the study is
completely voluntary, you may withdraw at any time. Your interview will be transcribed from the
recording and once the interview is transcribed the recording will be destroyed. The digital
transcriptions will be used by students in History 480 for their final projects, and additionally if you
permit, a copy of the transcription will be preserved to the New Haven Ethnic Heritage Center and/or on
the Digital New Haven Website. Your age, gender, year of immigration, and country of origin will be
made available to researchers, and you may choose whether or not you would like to be identified by
name. I actually have a pen in my jacket, sorry. (I stand up to grab my pen from my jacket)

S: So you record it and you edit it and…?

A: Well, uh, we won’t be editing it really.

S: Oh, so you’re just using that (gestures to the recording while reviewing consent form)

A: Yeah it’ll just be a full transcription

S: Sure.

A: Mhmm, read (the form) and just check everything you feel comfortable with, and then your signature
at the bottom, and I’ll sign it, and then we can start.

(Brief pause as Georgia reviews the confidentiality agreement, we verify the date and add our
signatures)

A: Ok. So, Georgia, I’d like to start the interview by asking you about where you were born.

S: So I was born in, I was born in Allman Hill in St. Catherine Parish Jamaica.

A: Now, is Allman Hill, um, a borough in a city, or is that a town, or…?

S: It’s just a very, a rural community. Yeah, so it’s a rural community.

A: Ok. Um, so can you describe a typical day in Allman Hill?

S: Would be?

A: Yeah!

S: Maybe I should use Golden River then.

A: Ok.
S: I think Allman Hill is really like the broader,

A: Like the region sort of?

S: Yeah, sort of, and that’s what’s on my birth records, but Golden River is a little area I really grew up in.
And you asked me if, what a typical day is like?

A: Yeah, sort of describe a typical day,

S: A typical day in the community?

A: Mhm.

S: You uh, wake up, you help with the chores, you get ready for school, you go to school, you come
home, you help with more chores in your home, then you go to bed then tomorrow its all over again. So
that’s on a school day.

A: So um, did you have to travel outside of Golden River to attend school?

S: Yes, just out of my little community to the adjoining community Above Rocks, and that’s where I
attended school.

A: Above Rocks, Ok

S: Yeah

A: So can you kind of, sort of describe your community to me? The one you grew up in.

S: So very rural, again. You walk everywhere, so you walk from one home to the next or from your home
to visit a friend’s home or a family member’s home. Rural as in dirt road, so the roads aren’t paved, and
uh, lots of trees and lots of vegetation, and that’s really all you see is vegetation. You have maybe a
church, and a basic school within that community itself. And that pretty much, lots of farmland and lots
of farm animals, farming fruit trees, stuff like that.

A: So was, were the schools connected to the uhm, religious centers, in that way? The churches, or,

S: Yes it was a predominately Catholic community, so the schools were catholic schools, which I
attended for basic school, or what we would call elementary school here. And also for, uh, we call it All
Age School but you would probably say the middle school, and also for high school. So they were all
Catholic schools.
A: So umm, going off of that, what role did religion play in your daily life growing up?

S: Growing up? Um, let’s think about it for a minute. Well it was um, we went to church every Sunday, to
the Catholic Church, every Sunday, and participated in Mass. Uh, well you know Good Friday was a
holiday as well so it was about going to Church, going to Mass daily from Friday to Monday. And uh,
religious education was also taught within schools, so that played a big role, since it was Catholic school
that played a big role in the curriculum as well.

A: Ok, um, now, could you share with me the names of your parents, and what they did for a living?
S: Now my parent’s names are Henry and Cinderella Thames, T-H-A-M-E-S. My father was a homemaker,
my mother, excuse me, my mother is, was, a homemaker, and my father was a tailor.
A: Your father was a tailor?

S: Yes, professional.
A: Did a lot of people in Golden River have, um, work in trades in that way? Um, I know that you said it
was rural, so it was primarily an agricultural community?

S: Yes, it was primarily agricultural. So a lot of the women, or the wives, the mothers, stayed home and
some of them were dressmakers or they would make craft items, but primarily they were stay at home
moms, homemakers. The fathers would farm, some of them would have trades, like my father was a
tailor, you might have somebody that was a plumber. Uh, so just basic trades as those.

A: Ok, was it typical for women to be receiving an education alongside men in that, around the 60s and
70s?
S: Well, where I grew up, again, it’s very rural and most of the people that I know, my mother, my aunts,
my cousins who were older, most of them had as far as I can tell, just a basic education.

A: ok so through elementary school?

S: Yes and through High School, but not beyond that, of the ones that I knew. So most of them were
educated probably the high school level and that was the furthest. And as times changed, the 60s and
70s, that’s changed a lot, where as children we were encouraged a lot to go beyond just that, beyond
the high school level. You would move out of the community and then you would attend tertiary
education.

A: and tertiary is…?

S: Would be college, or university, or a business school, some form of education beyond highschool.
That’s what we would term as tertiary.

A: oh ok so I guess in layman’s, it’s like post-secondary education.

S: Yes, yes.

A: Ok, um, so can you describe to me sort of what school was like in the Catholic, they were integrated
classrooms I presume, Oh Co-ed rather?

S: Yes of course, certainly. We would go to school typically at say 5 or 6 years old. We would go to the
basic school which we would call kindergarten here, so the basic of things you would learn, your abc’s,
counting, and then, of course it’s coed, all the schools were, right up to high school. So then age four or
five or six or so you go to school and learn the basic things. Six years old you enter All Age School and
you stay in that environment from say age 6 to age 12 or so, and then come around age 13 there were
external exams you would take to go into high school. So going into high school was not a given as it is
here, there are external exams you have to take, and then the results would determine which high
schools you got into. Sort of like what you have here when you apply for colleges and you have the SATs,
and the scores of those determine what university you go to. So in the all age school, the results of
those exams determine what high school you go to, so it’s different.

A: So um, were the high schools located outside of the rural communities?
S: No. So I grew in Golden River and that’s where I grew up and lived, and the adjoining town is Above
Rocks, and that’s were the schools were, all three of the schools. So the Basic school, then All Age, which
would be the elementary, and then the high school. So in otherwords, each community might have their
own high school, or you have one high school serving a cluster of communities, so they were far and in
between. So my high school served a big, a very wide range of communities. So you have children from
all communities going there as opposed to here in Branford, you have Branford highschool and that’s
just for Branford high school, Branford students, so there’s a difference there.

A: right, right. Um, Sort of some of them were regionalized in that way.

S: Yes, definitely yes.

A: So um, you had mentioned over the phone that you spoke a local dialect, does that differ from
patois?

S: It’s the same, it’s patois.

A: So when you went to school, it was instructed in English? Can you describe to me that dynamic,
where patois was spoken in the house, home, versus in the classroom?

S: So when you are within your community where you have your friends your talking the patois among
your friends, your parents. When you go to school, you are taught to speak the English Language, and
even though you’re using the patois language within the school setting, you are being taught to speak
English or the English language and its proper usage. So the both were, you know, correlated, the both
were being used, we’d flip flop between the two just if I’m here, and I’m speaking to one of my sisters I
am speaking the patois most of the time, I find myself flipflopping, between speaking how I’m speaking
to you now and speaking the patois.

A: So, speaking of your sisters, could you give me the names of your siblings, and where you sort of fall
in the hierarchy, not hierarchy, but age, in that way.

S: Yeah, sure so, sisters and brothers, there are ten of us siblings, and I am number eight.

A: Oh! Ok, um…

S: Would you like to know their names, you thought I would say there were two of us.

A: Well that was one of my questions, I won’t ask you for all of their names, but could you tell me what
it was like growing up in that size of a household? That’s really amazing to me, my grandparents are
from Greece and when they would tell stories about their communities’ they were all large families, so
it’s interesting to see how that changes relatively swiftly.

S: Yes, so in my community that I grew up, again it’s rural and not many people leave the community. So
my mother had sisters within the community so we got to grow up with our cousins right within our
community; we could walk to their homes and vice-versa. So growing up also with that many siblings,
and the ages varies, so you’d have older siblings with younger siblings and it’s just like growing up in any
other home; we communicated with each other, we played with each other, we were very close with
one another based on the fact that it’s a rural community you had to come up with things to do
together. So you know, I would say that we had loving relationships, like any other families you had
disputes with one another and work through them, we had a lot of fun together, so just typical of any
large family also.

A: So um, what kind of activities would you and your siblings do growing up? You mentioned chores,
but,

S: For fun?

A: Yeah, for fun!

S: For fun we would play jump rope, we’d play uh, tops with our brothers, with the spinning tops, and
those would be made from wood. We would slide down the hills or the gullies, just typical rural stuff you
would do. We would chase each other, or you call that tag here, we would go to the rivers for
swimming, just visit friends or family within the community, typical stuff like those. Again it was rural so
we didn’t have any bikes or motorcycles or anything like that.

A: Sorry I’m just crossing some stuff out.

S: It’s fine.

A: What kind of food would your mother make growing up?

S: Uh, potatoes, yams, curried goat meat, beef, chicken, stews, vegetables, the typical normal foods.

A: Are there any sights or sounds, smells rather, that kind of evoke memories of your childhood?

S: Of my childhood?

A: Well, family meals,

S: Well we cook those meals here, so that would be the answer for that. We still cook some of those
meals so we are surrounded by that here in my home, in America, because we still cook some of those
meals from our childhood.

A: As a way of preserving and sharing those with your children?

S: Certainly, of course, and having come here as an adult. So I grew up there so I cook those meals here,
so its not a matter of remembering my childhood it’s just part of who I am. We’re living that still even
though we live here in America, so we still have that lifestyle and use it to ground ourselves, because it
was such a simpler lifestyle. So that’s part of what we use to ground our family here, my husband and I
to ground ourselves, and ground our children. Everyday for us reminds us of being back home.

A: Ok I’m just writing something down real quick.

S: Sure take your time.

A: Um, did you live in, err, in Golden River for most of your childhood in Jamaica?

S: Sure, so I lived there in the community where I grew up from say ages, uh, birth through to about
nineteen, right. Then I left that community and moved into the city, where there were more
opportunities. So I lived in Golden River for around until 18 or 19, and then I moved into the city for
some work, and for my post-secondary education. And so from that age until 31 when I emigrated here.
So I lived from age 19 to age 31 within the environment of the city of Portmore, and worked there, and I
emigrated here when I was 31.

A: Ok, I just want to take a quick break and check the recording.

(Recording pauses briefly, the file disappeared causing a brief moment of panic but it reappeared within
the application in tact.)

A: Ok, so you had just described to me briefly traveling from the rural community to um, what was the
name of the city?

S: The city that I traveled to was, uh, we would just call it Breighton or Portmore. So that’s where I
moved, from the rural community where I grew, Golden River, Allman Hill, to Portmore with an older
sibling, my older sister. So when I moved to live with her, I went to business school. That was the whole
idea, to receive a post-secondary education so I did live with my sister while I was going to business
school.

A: So, could you tell me about how you met Clement?

S: We go from all that to how I met Clement,

A: I don’t mean to totally derail the whole,

S: No, don’t worry that’s fine, so I met Clement in 1996 when I was out running, and we ran into each
other. We saw each other and, well, we didn’t fall over literally but we stopped and starting talking and
that’s how we met. In September of 1996.

A: So, after meeting each other, how did you get to know one another better?

S: So we lived a few blocks from one another, in Greater Portmore, and so that’s where Clement and I
met, and you know it was just a normal relationship where you dated and you got to know one another.
We spent time with each other and just did normal dating activities.

A: When and where were you married?

S: We were married there in Jamaica in August of 2000.

A: Ok, and how was the wedding ceremony?

S: Typical wedding ceremony, big, lots of friends. Uh, it was in a church, surrounded by our family and
friends.

A: So uh, you had married Clement after, um, sort of, establishing yourself in the city.

S: Mhm, Definitely.

A: So, um, can you compare the urban landscape and lifestyle to one another? I know they (the
differences) are stark but um, if you could,

S: Describe? Could you repeat the question?

A: Could you, sorry, could you describe the differences in lifestyle in the urban and rural communities?
S: Oh like it’s like night, and then day. So in the community I grew up we had no electricity, we didn’t
have running water within my home, so our water source was going to the river collecting water and
taking that back home or the rain, catching the rain water when it falls. That was growing up, in the city
you have all the amenities. So really it was night and day.

A: So traveling to the city in the late 80s must have been, was it a culture shock in that way? How often
would you travel to the cities prior?

S: Prior to that, just very, very seldom. We would travel to the city if say there was a school outing, like a
field trip, or uh, if you were going to visit family members that lived in the city, or if you were going to
the doctors. So your visits to the city were very, very, very limited, more purposeful than anything else.
So it wasn’t so much of a culture shock, the fact that I visited there, so I kind of knew what to expect, the
buildings, the paved roads, I had imagined the motor vehicles on the road and things like that. I wouldn’t
call it a culture shock per say because by then I was aware of what it would be like, but just not living
there. But acclimating yes; growing up walking everywhere and now you have public transportation or a
motor vehicle to travel in, so those were stark differences. There was electricity, running water, you
were surrounded by more people, you know, it was a bigger environment for you to navigate, but I
didn’t see it as much of a shock because that was the next phase of my life and I was excited to enter
into that other phase as my life was progressing.

A: Could you describe to me your daily commute as you were attending business school?

S: Right, so my sister drove; she worked within the area that I went to school, so she would drop me off
at school, and that was in the morning. In the afternoon, because I got done with school before I got out
of work I would take the bus, or just the public transportation to get back home to my sister’s house
where I lived.

A: And what where your classes like? In business school?

S: The classes were just generally centered around the business idea, and um, smaller classes, about 20
to 30 pupils per class. They would go from maybe 9 o’clock in the morning to about 2:30, so it was
similar to a high school or college setting.

A: Ok, and after graduating, how were you able to apply that education to your career?

S: Right, so after that I became a secretary, that’s what I did, and I was able to apply some of those skills
I learned in my everyday job.

A: So um, when did you have your first, er, did you have Kurt (your first child) when you were living in
Portmore?

S: So Kurt’s my step-son.

A: Oh, ok. I see. (we laugh)

S: So I inherited Kurt when I got together with my husband.

A: And Gianna you had after, er, is she your step-daughter as well?

S: Gianna is my biological daughter. That I had, I had her at age 25, and she is not, she’s my husband’s
stepdaughter. So when my husband and I got together we brought two children into the relationship.
A: Right, ok.

S: And they were both born there in Jamaica.

A: So could you describe to me, I did some quick mental math, so Gianna wasn’t, didn’t spend that much
time growing up in Jamaica, what was it like raising a young child in Jamaica?
S: Uh the typical, the same as here I would say. The same as here. It was just her and I most of the time,
she went to school and we had a community of friends and family, so everybody helped. It takes a
village, so I did have a village of family and friends who supported me and supported here and helped
with her upbringing. So she went to a day-care, prior to her going to elementary school. Up until maybe
age four, and then she entered a prep school, which would be a private school on the island, so she
went there and continued to go there prior to us emigrating.

A: Sorry, (I pause and review my notes) What kind of hijinks would Gianna get into as a child? Like,
would she get into anything goofy or get into trouble?

S: Well you know, you would jump on the bed? She would go over to the neighbor’s house and I
wouldn’t know where she went. So just the typical stuff, playing with her friends, going to parties, just
normal things a childhood things.

A: mhm, so um, prior to 2001, did you know or have family/friends who had immigrated to the United
States, or had you traveled prior yourself?

S: No, but I did have family and friends who live here. I had a brother in Boston, and he came I think
around 1995. My sister immigrated here in the early 90s, uh, I had a sister who had emigrated to Florida
in the early 80s, and uh, friends and cousins as well, so there were people living here who were my
family and friends.

A: Ok, and um, had you communicated to them as you were getting ready to, had you asked them about
what their experiences were prior to coming?

S: No, no not really. I had read magazines and sort of saw the fluff of it all so I imagined that it was all
like what I saw in the magazines and then when I came I realized it wasn’t. Yeah so I never inquired
much because up until that point in my life I didn’t really have a desire to emigrate here. I don’t think I
had the desire to even visit here because I thought I was doing well by myself, so that idea to just go
somewhere else wasn’t really that interesting, at that time it was really nowhere in my mind. But the
opportunity just came up and that took me somewhere else in my life, and that’s how I came here.

A: What influenced your decision to travel and leave Jamaica?

S: My husband, because by then, during the period where we were dating from when we met in 1996 to
when we got married in 2000 his father had been living here all the time, and he has family here. So he
had been going through the immigration process, where his father was applying to the different
departments to have him move here along with Kurt. So that’s how they came here, and we were dating
during that period, and then in 2000 Clement came back and we got married, and then thus started the
process of me coming here.

A: Ok, I see. Clement had been in the process,

S: While we were dating, yes, and then after we got married that started the process for me.
A: So did you have family and friends in Jamaica who were, how did they react to your decision to leave?
Were they generally supportive?

S: They were generally supportive, but my friends were sad because they wouldn’t get to see me as
often. But most of my family and friends were supportive, it was a huge decision for me to just leave my
life and my family life there and to come here. So that was a very, uh, while it was a happy decision it
was also a little bit of a, there was a melancholy I felt about it, because I was leaving my family there. My
parents were still there, my friends are there because that’s all I knew. Even though I had siblings here
you weren’t that close with them because you weren’t in such constant contact. So it was a melancholy
kind of feeling, not sad or happy but inbetween. Happy that I’m coming to start a new life with my
husband and the children, but sad because I was leaving what I knew behind.
A: How did you acclimate in the first year after immigrating?

S: Terribly. So when I moved here in 2000 I was pregnant, so I came pregnant,

A: and that was with Tahj, your youngest son?

S: Yes, so I was pregnant with Tahj when I immigrated here in uh, April of 2001. So acclimating I would
say was really difficult for me. I had the support of my husband and my extended family members that
were here but the part that I struggled with the most was that I felt alone. I didn’t feel like I had a
community like I had when I was there, of my friends and my family. I moved here to Branford and I
knew no one, so that was difficult for me to get adjusted to. It was difficult also for me to be a stay at
home mom, since I had worked all these years, so I did struggle with that. And with the family setting, as
opposed to when I was there it was just with my daughter and now I have a family, an extended family
of my husband and Kurt and being pregnant. So I struggled on a psychological basis in the first few years
immigrating here.

A: Not to jump back and forth, but I wanted to ask you about when you were in Portmore, or Greater
Portmore, how you sort of balanced the relationship between your working and professional life and
um, uh, raising Gianna, in that way?

S: Uh, let’s think about this for a minute,

A: You mentioned it took a village,

S: It took a village, but I don’t know. I just think that uhm, I think that a lot of the struggles that families
go through, or think they go through. I mean I had my daughter so I had to do whatever it took, I didn’t
see it as a chore, I enjoyed it, and I balanced it by knowing I had to work and I know I had to look after
Gianna. Gianna had a normal childhood, she was involved in things at school, we went out together, we
spent all our time together. It was just normal for me, I didn’t look at it as “oh this is such a chore,”
because psychologically I was in a good place, it was just what I did.

A: So, how did Gianna adjust to the immigration process? Coming to Branford to be more specific?

S: Uh, I think she probably struggled a little bit just because of the, uh, lack of diversity, within the
Branford environment, and I think that is something she struggled with growing up. She didn’t grow up
with children looking like herself, and I think she did struggle with it in her early school years here. So
uh, but she had us, her family, and she made friends within her community, here, and we’ve lived here
since 2001. So she made friends within the community, but I think the lack of diversity was one of the
things that bothered her.

A: What was your, why had you and Clement chosen Branford to travel to and make your home?

S: So when Clement came, he went straight to New Haven, because that’s where his family was, and uh,
Kurt, Clement and Kurt went to New Haven. And while Kurt was living here, Clement had a brother and
sister in-law living here in Branford, and Kurt spent some amount of time with them here (in Branford). I
think Clement liked the community and chose to settle within, so when I came here Kurt and Clement
were living in Branford, and then I came and that’s how I ended up here. So I don’t think we sat down
and chose it per say, but Clement liked the infrastructure within the community of Branford and we just
kind of settled here. We didn’t sit down and say “oh for this period of time this is where we’re going to
settle,” and I think that’s typical of a lot of immigrants, you just come to a particular area and you stay in
that area.

A: I was just curious about, uh, Branford as opposed to someplace else,

S: New Haven?

A: Well New Haven or a more urban like where you lived prior.

S: Well, right, so then I didn’t have much to do with the decision, to say “lets live here in Branford,”
because that’s where I came to. It’s a good town, it’s a good infrastructure, it’s separate than New
Haven where it is a much larger community, and more urban as to say Branford. I think maybe because
we grew in settings where it was much smaller, we probably felt more comfortable in a smaller setting.

A: So, do you feel as though Tahj may have missed some experiences, being born and living in the U.S.
his entire life, versus Gianna’s experience traveling?

S: Well I don’t think Gianna remembers much about her childhood in Jamaica, because she came here
when she was so young, so she just has distinctive memories. They are memories that stick out.

A: So does she have more of a sense of, not “Oh I went to school here and I would be doing this,” but
rather more, uh, events or places,

S: Right, so if you were to ask her I don’t think she remembers a lot about going to the school that she
went because she was so young. She has memories of specific events, going to my parents, where I grew
up in the community. That was a lot of fun for her, being with her grandparents and just getting to be
free, run around and walk barefooted and stuff like that. So she remembers stuff like that because it was
a fun memory for her, uh she doesn’t remember much about any friends that she had at that age. Again,
you tend to forget those things if you moved away from those things at such a young age; I mean she
was only six when she came here. So I don’t think Tahj misses any of those things because Gianna
doesn’t talk about them. When we do travel home, and we’ve traveled home quite a few times with
Tahj, since he was young, he would see the contrast with how we grew up there and how he is growing
up here, there are no similarities at all.

A: So uhm, your parents continued to live in Golden River, have you taken Tahj to visit them there?

S: Yeah,
A: you mentioned the um, he of course acknowledges the contrast, (I pause to gather my thoughts)
sorry,

S: No take your time,

A: I guess, when you revisit it, is there a sense of nostalgia? What sort of feelings does that evoke?

S: For me? (I nod) So I came here in 2001 and the first time got the opportunity to go home was 2005. I
was so excited to go home I couldn’t contain myself, and when the plane landed in Kingston I was so
overwhelmed I started to cry. I was just so overwhelmed because I moved here and I just felt that I
didn’t have such a sense of community and I missed that, and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until
the plane landed and I was back in my familiar settings again. So I was so overwhelmed and grateful and
happy to be, uh, getting the opportunity to go back home and see my parents, and friends and other
siblings because I hadn’t seen them in that many years. And when you grew up in such close proximity
and being so close with your family that’s a very long time to be apart from them. So I was so grateful
and happy to have the chance to do that. That was the first time that Tahj went there, and also when
Gianna and Kurt got the chance to go back to Jamaica as well. It was a very happy time.

A: So uhm, I mentioned the culture shock before, how did you, was there anything, any, what did you
have, What was the most difficult thing for you to adjust to? You mentioned the psychological stress
adjusting, but in the community was there anything you had trouble grappling with?

S: Yeah, so again the lack of diversity, so I didn’t see a lot of people that looked like me, and so the
apprehension is there about how you’re going to build friendships with someone who is of a different
ethnicity, than uh, you are. One of the things that helped me was I became involved with my church, so
there was a family that Kurt was very friendly with during his young years, and they introduced me to
their church, and that really helped me a lot. So during the time when I was staying at home, and I did
stay at home from 2001 until 2005 when I worked here in America, so during my time at home I was
introduced to the family and I started going to church, and uh, that’s where I started to build rapport
and relationships, and that’s what helped me start to get out in the community a little bit more and help
get acclimated.

A: And what is the name of the church and its location?

S: The name of the Church, it’s on Leetes Island Road, it’s the Branford Evangelical Free Church, and I
still attend to today. And also I mentioned that my husband’s brother, one of his brothers live here in
town, and my sister-in-law Anne Marie, so she really helped me as well. We would get together, she
would come over pick me and take me to her home, I would meet others and develop friendships and
relationships with more people within the community, so that helped as well.

A: Did you become involved in, um, your children’s education? Like, I guess, I’m curious if you um, got
engaged in school boards or the parent teacher organizations in any way,

S: I didn’t, I wasn’t involved with any of that. You know, I would help them with their school work when
they got home, but I wasn’t involved in any of those things.

A: Did you, um, would you participate, or, I’m trying to think,

S: Go to the conferences? Yeah, school conferences,

A: Sporting events?

S: Oh of course, certainly. They have always just played soccer, with the town, so I would take them to
the soccer events, mostly it was just with the school or town they would be involved in. So I would take
them to and from the games and the practices.

A: Did you find that was, that was a helpful way of, sort of, bridging that, some of the apprehension with
the other parents?

S: Of course, definitely. Because you get to talk about your children, you get to meet other families with
children and speak with one another. So that did help as well.

A: Ok, what sort of similarities do you see between your Catholic parish here and the one you attended
at home? Er, in Jamaica, in Golden River?

S: So, excuse me, I don’t go to a catholic church anymore, and um, I just segued from going to the
Catholic church from when I had lived in the city. So it’s been a while since I’ve been to a catholic
church, but I’m going to imagine they are all the same, it’s a Roman Catholic,

A: I’m sorry I don’t mean to interrupt, is it (Branford Evangelical Free Church) a protestant church or?

S: Roman Catholic, that is the way I grew up. I attend an evangelical free church is what I believe it is
now. So that’s the name of the church, definitely not Roman Catholic, but we read from the bible, we
sing the hymns, we celebrate each other within the church.

A: I’m just gonna check the time (looks at phone, notes) Sorry I’m just taking a second to order myself.

S: That’s fine.

A: I guess I’d like to know how actively your family considers yourselves members of the Jamaican
Diaspora? You mentioned that you cook and try and keep some of the traditions alive in that way, so,
what sort of a role does it play in your daily life?

S: I’d say it plays a role in my everyday life, because I haven’t forgotten where I grew up, and again that’s
what keeps me grounded. It’s kept me humble, it keeps me grateful, and again I moved here when I was
31 years old, I was already my own made adult. So I still live my life, not to say that I still live there, but
my values that I grew up with, those are what I raise my children by and what I still live by. So even
though I live in the United States I’m still a Jamaican at heart, and I remember the way I grew up and
kind of use that within my everyday life. Some facets of it are just involved in my everyday life still and
will continue.

A: So uh, do you identify with other Caribbean immigrants, or Hispanic immigrants specifically? I guess,
was there an active Caribbean community here that you were able to engage with after traveling?

S: Here? No, some of my siblings are here so, um, you know I’m close with them. Their friends that we
have here are Jamaican people that we have met, so we have kept in touch with them. I am still involved
with the American side of it, but we try and keep in touch with the values that I grew up with. I’m not
involved in any groups for Jamaican’s per say, but it is still a very active part of my life.

A: Mhm, ok, so do you notice any differences in attitudes towards multiculturalism in the United States
versus the Caribbean, or Jamaica rather?
S: What do you mean?

A: Well, in recent history, very recent history, nativism has been on the rise in the U.S., and I was curious
how that plays, or uh, is there a similar sentiment towards, I don’t know… How do Jamaican’s approach
the question of immigration, that’s what I’m asking?

S: So your thinking now, with the amount of restrictions they’re placing on say, building the wall or other
things that relate to those,

A: Well, I’m more curious about attitude towards, er, growing up, was there ever discussion about
immigration, or other people? I think I read that there was a small white and Chinese population in
Jamaica, and I was curious about the interplay between those groups.

S: I mean, when I lived there, I never, well the number of whites or say Chinese, that has certainly grown
over the years since I left. And I noticed that because when I would travel home, I would see larger
groups of them, or more of them involved in everyday life, especially in the city areas. So I would
imagine they are there likely for work, just on a working basis, I don’t know if they have emigrated
there, maybe they are working on contracts for companies, and they travel back and forth. I wasn’t
involved with that when I lived there, if that is what your question is leaning towards.

A: I guess, I think I’m just curious about the attitudes towards the,

S: Ok the attitudes Jamaican’s would have there towards somebody like you then if you were to be
there,

A: Sure,

S: I mean again, I wasn’t around anyone, I didn’t know anyone that was of a different ethnicity then, to
say, living and working there. I wasn’t in close proximity while I was living there, I never heard of any
disparity when somebody was of a different ethnicity, I never heard of any violence towards them,
nothing of that sort. But traveling home as I said, there was a larger population living and working there.

A: Um, did you ever feel pressured to assimilate or forgo certain aspects or traditions of your culture
after coming here?

S: No, no, I’ve not experienced any of that, and I can say that with certainty.

A: Ok,

S: I just feel like I can be whatever I am, I don’t feel any pressure to be different.

A: Um, you had mentioned something earlier about differences in lifestyle, I think when we were talking
about how Gianna was adjusting, what would you say is the largest difference in lifestyle when living in
say, Portmore versus Branford?

S: The major difference that I’ve noticed is the lack of community. By my community I mean a support
system. And it could be that I’ve just not been exposed to a situation where I see that existing, but that
would be, if I were to point any differences out that would be it for me. I felt like when I lived there I had
more of a sense of community within my community, whether it be your neighbors or friends, it felt like
you were just supported. You had a community that supported you but it’s such a faster paced society
here in America, and I think people would really want to be that community, but they just can’t maybe
because they have to work to achieve goals or they’re busier. It’s just a faster paced society as opposed
to on the island where “it’s no problem man,” you know, that kind of thing. So that would be the big
difference for me with living and living here, I don’t always feel like I have the sense of community
where I have a support system. I don’t know if could be apprehension on my part to try and build that
system, but that’s the one thing I could say is completely different.

A: I think, um, that’s something that’s been on the rise, it’s a trend, where life seems to be accelerating
rapidly. So I treasure moments when we’re able to sit down,

S: To talk about it,

A: Right, and sit down and have that sort of, a moment to breathe.

S: Definitely, right.

A: Um,So you mentioned you started working again in 2005, what did you do?

S: What did I do? So I became a bank teller at Citizens bank, and I’m still doing that today, except now
I’m with a different company as a lead teller. So that’s what I’ve been doing since 2005 when I started
working here.

A: Do you feel that working again after having spent some time raising your family and, did it help sort
of, readjust, or um,

S: Get back some kind of independence?

A: Yeah, and, uh, can you speak to that a little bit?

S: Yes, and I am grateful for the time that I got to spend at home in the formative years with the
children, especially Tahj, because that’s paid off a whole deal. We got to spend time together, I think it
really helped that I was just here, I think it made for a stronger family unit, so I was here at all times with
the children at home. But it was exciting to start working again and have a little more independence of
my own and to contribute to be able to contribute to the family as well. So it was an exciting time.

A: Just trying to think if there are any other specific things I have to ask. Thank you so much this was
more than I could have ever asked for.

S: It was my pleasure.

A: I am curious, what are some of the dishes you still like to cook?

S: That I like to cook? Curried Goat, I cook curried goat at Christmas time, or if we’re having family over.
There’s ox tail that we would cook there as well. And um, trying to see, we don’t make a lot of the
Jamaican dishes anymore, especially since we’re gearing towards a healthier lifestyle, cause some of the
Jamaican dishes are very rich, rich in calories and um, carbohydrates as well. I like to make rice with
beans, even though I don’t do it very often. There’s ackee and saltfish that I would make from time to
time, which is our national dish in Jamaica.

A: Could you say that again? I just want to write it down

S: Ackee, A-C-K-E-E, and uh, saltfish.

A: Ok.

S: Saltfish I mean dried cod, salted, dried cod, so that’s our national dish and I would make it here from
time to time here as well. And Soups, rich soups, chicken soup with pumpkin, so those are some of the
things that I enjoy making when we’re having family and friends over.

A: I think uh, food is really the most evocative thing

S: It sure is, it’s comforting as well.

A: Well that we get to share with one another. My family we still, our cooking is very Greek, so it’s nice
to have that connection that, as you said, is very grounding.

S: It really is, and it brings you together and your family all know it so they know what they’re having,
they remember it from their childhood, and it’s nice to be able to do that and to get to together. Even
though we’re not living there it’s still nice to have that little part where we can say “ok this is something
that I’m going to prepare, that I know everybody is gonna get to partake of and enjoy.”

A: Um, ok, so is there anything you would like me, or any other future students or researchers to know
about your experience?

S: I think we’ve covered enough for what you’re looking for,

A: Ok Georgia, thank you again so much, this was more than a pleasure and more than I could have
asked for. I’m gonna end the recording now we’ll finish up.

(Recording ends, we discuss briefly again the destination of the transcripts, and I promise to provide her
and her family with a link and copy once it is prepared.)