Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

Standing outside the museum lecture theatre at the Mico University College, I watch as a modestly-dressed woman makes her way to class. She goes quickly to a chair at the side of the classroom and takes a seat. The young man seated next to her whispers something funny and she smiles.

Minutes later, she stands and takes her place at the front of the classroom. It's then that I realise she's not there to learn, but to teach.

Her name is Hyacinth Birch and she has filled this position since 1984 - lecturing at the teachers college in history and social studies after her graduation from the University of the West Indies.

Special project

This, however, was almost short lived as, she tells The Gleaner, after she had spent just a year at the college, the Ministry of Education decided to cut staff.

"And since I was the last to come on staff, naturally, I would be the first to go," she said.

It was at that time that the then matron of the college asked Ms. Birch to head a special project on which the school was set to embark.

"There was a collection of artefacts that the college had that was being kept by the Institute of Jamaica so, instead of cutting me off, I was asked to do research on the artefacts and was given the job to move them from the Institute to their new home at Mico."

Despite her first instinct, which was to turn down the offer, the passionate historian was convinced to stay on and, since then, has become the guardian of the small collection at Mico in its Africa museum.

"After researching many of the objects, I became very fascinated," said Ms. Birch. "They reminded me so much of the things I grew up with in the country. The grater, coconut brush and even the yabba pot are all things I'm familiar with, so I was right at home."

The museum now houses some 700 African, and over 100 Indian and Caribbean pieces. As an avid historian and researcher, Ms. Birch believes that knowledge of one's past and heritage is integral to one's growth and development.

Unaware of heritage

Hyacinth Birch on the job at the Mico museum - Junior Dowie/Staff Photographer She expressed her fear that many Jamaicans are grossly unaware of their rich heritage.

"Our children nowadays really don't know much about what former Jamaica was like, and they need to know," she said. "That's why places like these are so important."

"When the children come here and I take them around the museum, there is so much they don't recognise - the donkey saddle, the mortar, the three-legged pot - they don't know them."

Ms. Birch said the society is slowly moving away from its roots and is adopting, in some instances, an Americanised way of life.

She believes that this is one of the main reasons why the nation's young people are so troubled.

"We tend to think, what you don't know won't hurt you, but this isn't so. And as far as I'm concerned, some of the things I see on the television and hear over the radio we can do without," she said. "Our children can do without a lot of the information they're being fed."

The value system, often contrary to traditional Jamaican belief, which is being passed down to our children, especially through the popular media is slowly eroding our consciousness as a people, she further reasoned.

"Although these things were in the society before, they were never so rampant. Many aspects of our society were not so exposed to these things," Ms. Birch said. "As an individual from the rural area, I didn't know about a lot of things, until when I met the television and the radio."

Born and raised in the farming community of Pondside, Hanover, Ms. Birch recalls the simple days of growing up in the country.

"They were hard times, but we were happy. My father was a farmer. He would plant cane, yam, pineapple and banana. We were poor, but I can't say we were ever hungry."

As the first of nine children, she grew accustomed to hard work. Despite having to help out on the farm, Ms. Birch and her siblings had to spend time studying their books. This paid off with two of her brothers now serving as pastors and three of her sisters working as teachers.

"We were a close family, we stuck together and we prayed together. We had the care of both parents and I think that had a major impact on how we turned out."

Living as a family

Life at Mico, said Ms. Birch, is reminiscent of life with her family.

"Coming to work here at Mico is probably the best thing that could have happened to me. Growing up as a child in the country I never thought that I would end up being a lecturer at a teacher's college."

Ms. Birch reflected on her early days at the college and some of the students who have passed through her classroom, including politician Delano Franklyn, who, she said, was one of her first history students.

"He was a very brilliant guy," Ms. Birch said. "It was students like Delano who challenged me, especially in my first year as a lecturer. I had to stay on top of things."

Now in her 50s, the devout Seventh-day Adventist says she has lived a good life. Her only regret is that she hasn't been able to have a family of her own.

"Coming from such a big family I am used to having a lot of people around me," she said. "I would love to get married and I'm still keeping hope alive."

athalia.reynolds@gleanerjm.com