Welcome to Small Excellence

The object of Small Excellence is to discuss small nations in detail – socially, politically, geographically and explore other aspects of their being.  In so doing you will become better acquainted with each “small” countries’ excellence. 

Transcript

WELCOME TO SMALL EXCELLENCE

I’m Ngai, your host, and I hail from the tiny island nation of Jamaica, although you may have figured that out already from my accent.  At the time of this recording, I’m 79 years old and I decided to do a podcast, speaking about countries that may not have a loud voice on the global stage but have a rich history and have stories deserving to be known.  

This first season of Small Excellence is dedicated to my beautiful, charming, picturesque homeland, known mostly for the lovely people, great music, the dance scene, tasty foods, and an amazing landscape of majestic mountain ranges, vibrant green foliage, rivers and pristine beaches with clear blue waters that surround the country.  I was inspired to share my thoughts on Jamaica for a couple of reasons:

1.     We all have a unique perspective or voice and I wanted to share mine.  But my interests are vast and span decades.  That said, the difficulty was figuring out what I should or better yet could comfortably speak about.  One such subject is Jamaica.  Many of my life’s milestones occurred here – my birth, the lion share of my education both academic and otherwise, I met my wife and married here, welcomed all 3 of my children here and so much more.

2.     I heard British rapper, author and scholar, Akala (who is half Jamaican himself) in an interview refer to Jamaica as “a cultural juggernaut”.  I didn’t really internalize how true that statement was before.  That said, I want to highlight some of our contributions to the world and show how brightly we shine.

Now, I am aware that internationally many people know of Jamaica.  Alright, they mostly know of the music and the dancing.  Jamaica is more than this.  For those of you who are familiar with the island maybe you'll find this podcast refreshingly celebratory of an amazing little corner of the world that some may not be able to spot on the map and who knows, you may learn something new.

Stay tuned for upcoming episodes and get more acquainted with Jamaica.  I’m going to speak about the food, the music, how the culture evolved; celebrated national treasures and of course, I’m going to talk about the people - from historical figures to the “everyday” person.  It’s my hope that you will take something away from these episodes.

As the Jamaican phrase goes; walk good, meaning take care.  So, I’m going to end by saying, walk good, my friends