Monday 14 July 2008

Hats Off For Mrs Linton


From the 1950s, Mrs Faith Linton has been an ardent supporter of the Jamaican language. I met her for the 1st time earlier this year when a group of fundraisers from the British and Foreign Bible Society came to Jamaica to do some interviews in order to make a fundraising promotional video for the "Luuk Buk" Project.

The truth be told, I've not met someone who is as passionate about our language as Mrs Linton. Mi se, enurji aa pashan did jos a kum outa di uman so! "Oh God!" I prayed that day, "Give me as much passion."

I met Mrs Linton for the 2nd time last Thursday at a Breakfast hosted by the Bible Society of the West Indies at the Knutsford Court Hotel. The Breakfast was used as an occasion to update clergy on recent developments a propos the Jamaican Creole Translation Project (JCTP); to remind them of the rationale behind JCTP; and to listen to the suggestions/guidance the attendees had to offer.

During the Breakfast Mrs Linton made a 15 minute presentation entitled "The Bible in Patois Debate." Actually, the title is somewhat misleading for in her wonderfully delivered presentation, Mrs Linton argued in favour of a bilingual education policy.

Mrs Linton is an elderly Christian woman; however she continues to fight with the strength of a strong black Jamaican woman. Yesterday the editor of the Jamaica Gleaner shared with the public a letter he received from Mrs Linton entitled "Patois is our mother tongue." In the last paragraph of her letter, Mrs Linton says:

"Here in Jamaica, our children will continue to experience academic weakness and
failure until we apply the bilingual approach to education in an all-out,
systematic way. This is the way to ensure that our children become as fluent in
English as they are in Patois."

Hats off to you Dr. Linton. Your continued effort to defend our Children's right to be educated in their mother-tongue is praiseworthy, is to be admired.

1 comment :

jsferreira said...

I didn't know Mrs Linton was black.