Drums4 Peace
on George Hamilton (Jamaica), 30/Aug/2010 00:01, 34 days ago
This past weekend we went to Robin's Bay, on the north shore of Jamaica. It's a lovely two hour drive through the mountains with lots of curvy turns, pretty villages, beautiful scenery; all dotted with fruit stands.We searched in vain to find accommodation near Robin's Bay in advance but everything was booked up because of the Drums4 Peace festival. The reason we too were going. But just before heading out we were able to borrow one air matress that would accommodate 2 and a tent that slept 6. We weren't really sure what we were going to do with a tent and one air mattress and no other bedding, especially being two couples. We knew other, but this suddenly seemed a bit too close. Nevertheless, being adventurous, we headed out with our emergency shelter in hand. Luckily we were able to find hotel rooms in the Robin's Bay Hotel at the last minute. The hotel manager took pity on us and found us rooms, not just any rooms, but rooms with an ocean view. This is the view from our window below.We had driven to Annotto Bay to participate in the Drum4 Peace festival at Strawberry Fields Together, a resort on Robin's Bay and we weren't disappointed.We all went for a swim at the beach but there were sea urchins there and one of the beach visitors was stung while I was sitting under one of these palm umbrellas. He was brought to lie down on the bench I was sitting on and was in so much pain from the sting in his toe that he was crying and clutching his heart. This was an adult male, crying in pain from what looked like a stubbed toe. It was painful to watch so I went to the front desk and asked for medical assistance. They gave me two cotton balls and an almost empty jar of hydrogen peroxide. That seemed to help him and he was eventually able to get up and walk home but none of us went swimming in that beach again. Ah, the importance of beach shoes, which we did have mind you, it's just I'm not used to putting them on yet.On Saturday night the Drum4 Peace festival kicked off with a bonfire, drummers, entertainers and poets. It was truly a magical evening and we participants were encouraged to pick up some drums and join in. Robert did. We ate pizza with jerk sausage and drank fish tea. I had my first Ting, a grapefruit soft drink, a favourite in Jamaica. OK, so I had 3 Tings by the end of the next day. It's quite refreshing.It doesn't matter where you go in Jamaica, there's always beautiful flowers to admire.The white flower below is another of the intriguingly beautiful Jamaican flowers. The white flower seemed to be growing out of a red flower which looked a lot like the red ginger growing outside our apartment door, but red ginger reputedly has small white flowers and these could never be considered small. The stem looked like bamboo and the leaves like orchid leaves. Since I can't find any reference to flowers on bamboo on the net, maybe it's an orchid. I'm asking anyone out there who knows what it is to let me know.This last plant just interested me because it had a red leaf and I knew the leaves were starting to turn in Canada. It made me realize how lucky we are with our endless summer.And when I'm not looking at the beautiful flowers, I'm mesmerized by the colourful people, especially the rastas who always have the most peaceful expressions and biggest smiles. And I love their hair, oh how I wish I had hair like that.George played the maracas at one point. The little girls in the space between his hands each gave him one to play and then walked away and played with each other. Later I noticed the little girl in the yellow dress being escorted by one of the drummers so she must have been sent out into the crowds with a mission to get everyone beating to the rhythm of the drums. She did good.And Robert kept drumming...day and night! In the picture above you can see he's being taped by the television camera.And then as we were leaving, the TV crew came over and interviewed Laura on her thoughts of the festival.Rasta elders!The performer above's name is Jamaica but I don't know how she spells it so it's difficult to find on the net. I'd heard of her before this weekend.These guys above were excellent. Sorry, I can't remember any of the drumming group names but they all seemed to work with each other seamlessly. For all I know these people could have been from several drumming groups but when they were drumming and singing together there was no way you could tell they hadn't been practicing together for ever. An amazing lesson on harmony.We had a lovely weekend of drumming and poetry where we learned that yesterday marked the 5th anniversary of the devastation by Hurricane Katrina."Listen to the drums of peace, its in your heart beat. Play your drums for peace for all violence to cease.Spread the message to every street corner and lane. In every car, mini bus and plane. In every Lexus and Lada deportee sponge bob and Prada.Listen to the drums of peace, its in your heart beat. Play your drums for peace for all violence to cease. Like the walls of Jericho violence will come tumbling down. Build a fortress of peace and let love abound."Hugh (Zigga) Shim